I am late coming to the 50 Shades of Grey party. Not to imply there is a group mentality about the trio of books because I believe they can be very divisive among readers and writers alike. It isn’t really erotica, it’s too hard core, it’s too soft core, it victimizes women, it empowers women, it’s poorly written, it is the best thing I’ve ever read! Pick a bandwagon and someone has jumped on it in relation to this book. It’s even won popular culture credibility being parodied on Saturday Night Live as well as by Ellen DeGeneres. That a book about a man who contractually negotiates his sexual relationships with women is stacked by the hundreds on a table at Costco is in itself an oddity; but that the President of the United States has even made a joke about the First Lady reading it creates an even odder juxtaposition-when is something more popular than it has a right to be?
Are Christian Grey action figures complete with authentic spanking motion in the works? Will there be a 50 Shades of Gray theme park where visitors progress through various red themed adventures to emerge on the other side in a vanilla colored world? Absurd? Yes; but not more so than the overhyped phenomena surrounding this trio of books. Before my point is interpreted as merely 50 shades of purple, as in sour grapes, don’t get me wrong I would love to be able to craft a story that could equal the success of these three volumes whether that be erotica, biography or any other genre. If that will ever happen in my lifetime is doubtful. My point is not the success of the books it is the manner in which they are being portrayed.
The idea of titillation isn’t new in the world of women’s fiction. Jacqueline Susann, Harold Robbins Sidney Sheldon and Judith Krantz created not only literary uproar but best-selling careers when they allowed readers to slip under the covers with their sexual fantasies. This idea of soft-core erotica did not originate with E.L. James as some would like you to believe-she is just the newest incarnation.
50 Shades of Gray is also not the first book to highlight the redemption and damage which is possible in the name of love. Yes, Ana redeems Christian. Just as Jane Eyre redeemed Rochester and Elizabeth Bennett redeemed Mr. Darcy. But the damage Christian Grey has inflicted on his collection of exes should not be overlooked. His pleasure was inflicting pain. Yes, they were always free to leave but as James’ books demonstrate at what cost? Just as Heathcliff and Catherine destroyed one another and poor Tess destroyed herself, the domineering, obsessive relationship Christian Grey requires leaves broken souls in its wake.
50 Shades of Grey isn’t a new idea whose time has come-it’s an idea that is being recycled, repackaged and resold to a public that has forgotten or lost sight of the revolution which began hundreds of years of ago to allow women (and men) to be lost in the fantasy of a story.
