The theater is full of two populations: middle-aged couples and gaggles of nervous, giggling girls.
“This is going to be so bad,” a group of high schoolers say. “Why did we come here?”
As the lights dim, viewers are greeted by the innocent and fragile Anastasia Steele. She is just as plain, vapid and witless as her uninterested expression suggests. Despite the movie’s reoccurring emphasis on her intelligence, Ana is not given any characterization to render her human.
“There’s not much to know about me,” says Ana to the cold and calculated Christian Grey. Seattle’s youngest billionaire, Christian’s intensity is a stark contrast from the plainness of Anastasia Steele. During her interview with Christian for her university’s newspaper, he sits unnervingly close to her and hands her a pencil embossed with his name.
If Christian having his own helicopter isn’t pretentious enough, his line of school supplies seems a bit excessive. Nonetheless, Anastasia seems taken by his cold demeanor and is instantly hooked.
“I exercise control in all things,” Christian says when asked to what he owed his success. The whole audience sits straighter and practically gasps.
What follows after this strange and stunted dialogue can only be described as a serious of brief, bizarre and borderline frightening encounters with the handsome Christian Grey, who just happens to know where our fragile protagonist is at all times. He also showers her with first editions of books, a new computer and an extravagant new car.
All of these gestures appear to be outwardly romantic, but red flags start to appear early on in the dialogue. Anastasia’s complete absence of personality in contrast to Christian’s domineering control presents an issue early on. And while the relationship moves almost turtle-slow, the plot is without development.
Once Grey realizes that Anastasia is without sexual experience, the problematic archetype of the hunter/hunted is brought to the forefront. Anastasia becomes Christian’s conquest, and she states that she “belongs to him” after their first sexual encounter. This struck me as off, because there is no intercourse on this earth that is important enough to change a person’s worth before or after sex.
Christian presents Anastasia with a contract detailing his sexual demands. Christian’s requesting Anastasia to be his submissive would entail ultimate control over her, including what she ate, wore and was willing to do in the bedroom. Anastasia spends the entirety of the 2-hour film debating whether or not to sign this contract, and she goes back and forth wondering if she’ll lose her free will. Meanwhile, Ana continues to engage in sexual activities outside her comfort zone, thus affecting her feelings towards Christian.
Consent is indisputably necessary for any sexual relationship to work. Perhaps if Fifty Shades of Grey emphasized this, the movie would be able to stand up to criticism about it being an advertisement for domestic abuse.
A particularly unsettling trope is the idea that someone needs to have a tortured, tangled past to be interested in a Bondage and Discipline, Sadism and Masochism relationship (BDSM). Because of his childhood sexual abuse, Christian states that he now desires to subject women to punishment. Having a particular sexual interest does not need to stem from a childhood trauma, and it is unfair to the BDSM community to imply that there must be some terrible reason for their behavior.
An accurate portrayal of BDSM would include open dialogue about consent and what a person’s limitations are. Christian’s gruff contract only describes his desires, despite Ana’s hesitation to sign her life away to him. Christian spanking her for eye rolling is abusive, as she has not expressed clear consent that she would want this.
*Trigger Warning for Violence and Abuse*
The last scene in the movie is perhaps the most disturbing. Ana is in tears, and Christian continues to strike her anyway. There is no use of a safe word telling him to discontinue the behavior, and the entire scene clearly lacks basic consent. Christian’s emotional, physical and sexual control over Ana is not an accurate representation of what a true BDSM lifestyle involves. The movie shows no communication, no respecting of limits and no mutual desire for the behavior.
Fifty Shades of Grey is a disgrace to strides made by the feminist community and for victims of any type of assault or abuse. Three novels and one terrible movie adaptation only perpetuates negative stereotypes about BDSM and blurs the lines between abuse and consented activity.
Fifty Shades of Grey consisted only of similar arguments between main characters followed by poorly lit sexual activity. If a $7.50 movie ticket is burning a hole in your pocket, consider donating to a battered women’s shelter instead.