"’Fifty Shades Of Grey’ isn’t a film that… can shock a lot of people" and is "a romance, you could even say is schmaltzy" says Jean-Francois Mary of France’s movie classification board (via Associated Press). And so, while the U.S. has given the film an R-rating, and Britain has stamped it with an 18 certificate, France has decided that children as young as 12 can see the movie. Because France. But for some folks, ‘Fifty Shades’ represents something a lot more serious.
The Washington Times reports that the National Center On Sexual Exploitation are one of the sponsors behind the domestic violence campaign #50DollarsNot50Shades, with the organization stating that some women "don’t end up like Anastasia; they often end up in a women’s shelter, on the run for years or dead.”
“The money you would have spent on movie tickets and a baby-sitter or movie tickets, popcorn and drinks will go towards serving victims of abusive relationships like the one glamorized in the 50 Shades series,” 50 Dollars Not 50 Shades says on their Facebook page. “Hollywood doesn’t need your money; abused women do.”
Meanwhile, the filmmakers themselves can’t seem to rise above the chatter about on-set battles between author E.L. James and director Sam Taylor-Johnson. The latter recently told E! she’s technically contracted for a potential sequel, saying cautiously, "I’m signed on. Let’s see how this one goes first." But don’t count on it.
According to THR, there have been "no discussions" with Taylor-Johnson about returning to direct. The battles she had with James have been widely reported, with the duo clashing on everything from the literal last word in the film, to how explicit the sex scenes needed to be. "She was given a lot of power, and she used every opportunity to flex that power," a source told the trade. "It was really challenging to control EL’s — I don’t want to say ‘crazy’ but — impulsive instincts."
Anyway, "Fifty Shades Of Grey" opens tomorrow, and if you really feel so inclined, you can watch it on one of 75 select IMAX screens. Or you can watch the "Fifty Shades Of Buscemi" trailer below… your call…
I\’ve read there\’s a scene in the film where Anastasia asks Christian to hit her as hard as he can, and he does. How might this affect domestic violence cases where the man can now say with some real chance of being believed that "she asked me to hit her."
If anyone needed less empowerment, it\’s that hack EL James. Her glorified plagarism of Twilight should have put her untalented azz in a courtroom, not on a red carpet. She\’s the luckiest thief in the world. And Sam Taylor Johnson knew she wouldn\’t be doing the sequel, but her stock just went through the roof and now she can have her pick of new projects. She took trash and made it palatable, she\’s the winner in this scenario.
"France has decided that children as young as 12 can see the movie. Because France."
Yup, we don\’t have a stick up our asses when it comes to sexuality. I guess that\’s why we are known to be great lovers.
50 Shades has NOTHING to do with BDSM. And BDSM has NOTHING to do with domestic abuse.
To Tom: Author empowerment is one thing, but being a control freak letting your fragile ego run rough shod over a multi million dollar movie production (when you have absolutely NO filmmaking experience) is another. I love the Fifty Shades series, and am seeing the film soon, however, I can acknowledge that the trilogy, though a compelling story, is not the most well written. E.L. James cannot seem to grasp she is not Gillian Flynn or Suzanne Collins (two better writers who helped adapt their books for screenplay and did a much better job). There is a reason that some writers shouldn\’t adapt their own work or be allowed excessive control on set. Jamie Dornan\’s performance has been shredded by critics (many of whom already hated the books (and yet haven\’t read it)) even though he is a BAFTA nominated actor. Why? Because E.L. James (who wrote the script with Kelly Marcel) kept his character the way she sees him (in her head) in her reverse sexist, misandrist mind as a wealthy sex object with seemingly limited verbal skills. Then she gave over expansion to Dakota Johnson\’s character for some pseudo female empowerment angle. Meanwhile, (from what I have seen from clips) Dornan has still managed to hold his own in terms of acting despite what he was left with. The bottom line is that if Universal doesn\’t find a better way to keep James in check, they are going to tank their own film series.
It seems like everyone takes this movie to seriously and forgets that it is just that a movie, a work of fiction. I\’m not saying abuse against women isn\’t serious because it is, it\’s just that I didn\’t find it truly represented in Fifty Shades of Grey..the lead character Ana had just as much power as the guy if not more because she could stop it with just one word and she could decide if that was what she wanted or not. I found that most of the sex scenes weren\’t that strong in the BDSM and more like just two people being adventurous in the bedroom. Wether that\’s your thing or not that\’s up to you but going crazy about this book promoting abuse is in my opinion a little to much because it\’s not..the women in the book series is willing to let him do those things to her and in a couple instances even asked for it, where in an truly abusive relationship she doesn\’t have a say, doesn\’t expect it and he usually doesn\’t stop when asked. You have to remember this movie is based on a work of fiction created from someone\’s imagination and she chose to share it. It\’s up to you if you want to be associated with it or not , wether you like it or not. Just try not to take something imaginary to seriously.
So people are upset that the consentual BDSM in 50SoG is going to exploit domestic violence, yet most of the same protesters advocate spanking children. Go figure.
For the last word on the whole phenomenon, and why it\’s really stupid for moralists to get exercised over this transparently silly fantasy, I highly recommend reading Laura Miller\’s think piece yesterday on Salon. She does a great job summarizing the material\’s appeal, and why it\’s no more going to lead women down the road to ruin than, say, a Marvel comix movie is going to make someone want to go out and destroy the universe.
Irony, considering the source material was pulp garbage.
"Author empowerment can only be a good thing" – ha, not in the case of Sh*tty Shades of Grey.
Author empowerment can only be a good thing; you see what drivel we get out of Hollywood today. The real writers–respectful of their craft–are all in tv. Of course the director won\’t be back. These franchise starters never are; there\’s a playbook for this crap, get with it, article. If STJ is so annoyed, let her write her own fictional series. What\’s that? She can\’t…