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| Beyond the sex and the clichés, beyond the predictable storyline and improbable shootout scenes, Fifty Shades takes the classic “good versus evil” essence of every great epic to another, more complex level. In the end, despite all the carnality, Fifty Shades turns out to be a spiritual fable about the redemptive power of unconditional love — something so rare in real life, yet something we all aspire to give and receive |
For me, the most shocking bit of the Fifty Shades trilogy came at the very end when I discovered that Clara Adams was born in 1970. That makes her nearly a decade my junior. And she isn’t even the main protagonist, dammit, she is the heroine Anastasia Steele’s mother!
No wonder my friends are horrified that someone my vintage whose literary tastes ranged from Dostoevsky to Graham Greene, Philip Roth to J.M. Coetzee should suddenly be so fascinated by a pulp best-seller that critics have universally panned as “mommy porn”, an “S&M Cinderella story”, marked by abysmal writing.
Much of that criticism is valid. Yes, practically every chapter in each of the three books has explicit sex scenes — even the vanilla (non-BDSM) is pretty steamy, and then there are the floggers, whips, plugs and clamps to deal with. And, of course, it is a classic poor girl-meets-rich man story that has been the staple of romances from Jane Eyre to Pretty Woman.
The writing, Ana’s first person account throughout, is clichéd and repetitive — Ana “oh my” keeps biting her lip; Christian Grey is always “glorious” or “mercurial”; and there are only so many ways you can describe an orgasm, especially when you have up to six at every romp in bed (or elevator, bathtub, billiard table, work desk, you name it…)
So why have I, like millions of others across the globe, succumbed to its magic and can’t wait for another three books, this time from Christian’s perspective, to turn the trilogy into a, pardon the pun, sextet?
Because beyond the sex and the clichés, beyond the predictable storyline and improbable shootout scenes, Fifty Shades takes the classic “good versus evil” essence of every great epic to another, more complex level. In the end, despite all the carnality, Fifty Shades turns out to be a spiritual fable about the redemptive power of unconditional love — something so rare in real life, yet something we all aspire to give and receive.
Ana is the core of the book. She starts out as gauche and innocent but also brave and curious and as the story progresses, she grows as a person, and it is her innate goodness, her generosity, her strength and her capacity to give (even though Grey does all the giving in material terms) that has a transformative power over Christian, and elevates their sexual chemistry into a tale of enduring love.
Feminists might be appalled at the “regressive” content of the book since Ana is cast as the “submissive” who bows to the “dominant” with all his chauvinism and control freakery. Yet Ana never gives in, and she never gives up. By the middle of Book Two it is clear that Ana is the one in control, and in a stirring scene, refuses to use that power even as Christian kneels before her in submission. Instead, she meets him face to face, leading to his final catharsis from the demons that have stalked him since he was a little boy, and scarred him for life despite being adopted by a “perfect family”.
Since Ana tells her story in first person, and is unassuming to a fault, it takes a while — and a few re-readings — to realise that she is neither wimp nor witch. She is crazy about Christian, of course, but she is also generous in her other relationships — with Ray, the stepfather whom she adores, with her best friend and room mate Kate, with her buddy Jose. And she also manages to deal with her adversaries — Grey’s ex-submissive Leila, his ex- dominant “Mrs Robinson” and the villainous Jack Hyde — with a courage that belies her own self-deprecating view of herself. That is why Ana becomes someone we care about, someone whose difficult journey we share and applaud, and in whose triumphs we rejoice.
That is why too, an unwanted caress by Jack Hyde is far more repulsive even to the reader than all the “kinky f***ery” Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele indulge in. And for those who think that Grey’s billions may have something to do with Ana’s undying love, I would like to believe that even if Jack Hyde and Lincoln Timber ever manage to destroy his business empire and leave him penniless, Ana will always be with Christian, with their little son Ted and soon to be born Phoebe in a humble home.
I was not a born romantic. But I am going a little soft in the head. I am 50, after all, and greying…
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Fifty Shades of Grey is not just a spanking publishing success, it has spurred sales of ropes and ties, inspired the erotic reworking of classics, moved music charts and spawned exotic holiday packages.
t2 tracks some of the bizarre effects of the BDSM bestseller.
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BOOKS
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- The number four book is the new number one on the New York Times best-seller list. Why? Because the first three spots were, are and will be booked by the Fifty Shades trilogy. This despite a drop in sales of the E.L. James books for the first time since they were published in May 2011.
- Thanks to Fifty Shades, classics like Pride and Prejudice, Northanger Abbey, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea and even Sherlock Holmes are being given an erotic twist. So, while Jane Eyre and Rochester have “explosive sex”, Catherine has bondage sessions with Heathcliff, and Holmes does it with Watson. These raunchy romps will be published as e-books under Clandestine Classics collection by Total-E-Bound. The first steamy five will be released by the end of this month.
FILM
- Universal Studios has reportedly signed on the producers of The Social Network, Michael De Luca and Dana Brunetti, for the Fifty Shades of Grey film. Their most daunting task? Casting for Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele, of course.
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MUSIC
- Even the classical music industry has not been spared the mega effect of “mommy porn”. The 16th century choral piece Spem in alium composed by Thomas Tallis and recorded by Tallis Scholars and used in the book during a bondage session involving Ana and Christian has knocked Luciano Pavarotti off the perch on the UK classical singles chart!
TOURISM
- Hotels in Seattle and Portland, two central locations for the trilogy, are offering Fifty Shades packages. S&M amenities are not included. Hotel Max, which features in the book, is offering a Fifty Shades of Seattle package that covers all the in-Seattle experience from the trilogy. That includes “chauffeured town car service, a helicopter tour of the city and a private 4-hour skippered sailing excursion on Puget Sound with gourmet picnic and a bottle of Bollinger Grande Annee Rose 1999 champagne, a favourite of ‘Mr Grey’ himself” announces the hotel website. The Edgewater Hotel offers a Shades of Romance package. Apart from the trip on Puget Sound, the bottle of Bollinger and a map of Seattle points featured in the books, there’s a demo drive in an Audi (remember Christian buys an Audi R8 for Ana?)! Heathman Hotel in Portland, where the Steele-Grey trysts began, offers a Charlie Tango (Christian’s helicopter) package including drinks and dinner at the hotel’s restaurant and, of course, a helicopter ride over the city.
- Virgin Atlantic is planning to make the trilogy available as audio books on flights. The audio books were reportedly planned to spare female passengers from prying eyes as they devoured the Christian-Ana sexathon.