13 remaining questions about Fifty Shades of Grey
The 3rd movie in the Fifty Shades saga—really, this is a saga—came out simply in time for paradoxical Valentine's Day plans. Thus, I—an entertainment author and self-respecting enthusiast of awful movies—have decided it is about time to finally watch them, handling Fifty Shades of Grey and Fifty Shades Darker in the weeks before the ending comes to movie cinemas so that I'll prepare when points finally… climax.
If you are unknown, Fifty Shades of Grey (based upon an on the internet sensual tale transformed traditional bestseller) complies with university elderly Anastasia Steele, that substitutes for her roommate in the nick of time to interview 27-year-old billionaire Christian Grey. Both of them have chemistry and take place a couple of days, but Grey is kinky, with a rate of interest in BDSM, and Ana is a virgin that diverts a bit prudish. He purchases her a laptop computer and a car and shows up at arbitrary locations in her life to charm her. She experiments with his leading proclivities but is eventually a bit unpleasant with it when he spanks her and she recognizes how a lot he delights in it. She fallen leaves his house. Fin.
That is it! That is the entire plot! 2 attractive, white twentysomethings that plaything with the idea of dating but eventually experience from misaligned sexual orientations. And although Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan looked famously unpleasant throughout their push tour, doing not have what most individuals would certainly call "chemistry" or "basic human feeling" (the ambiance resembles courteous associates embeded an elevator), I need to say I sort of loved Johnson's efficiency: such as she can't think this is a movie either.
The reality is, it is not a poor movie. Truly! It is strongly fine. Its cardinal transgression is that there is hardly enough movie to take place at all: it is such as a charming funny minus all of the contrived shenanigans as well as minus the funny. Therefore I didn't dislike it… but I did have some questions, such as:
Why did Ana obtain her roommate's car?
Ana's roommate is writing a short article for the university paper about Christian Grey, but she was ill on the day their interview was scheduled so Ana consented to go and interview the entrepreneur using the list of questions her roommate had ready. That is a bit strange; as someone that meetings individuals expertly, I would certainly never ever send out my non-reporter roommate to go speak with a resource. Why would not they send out another press reporter from the paper? Or reschedule the interview? Or do it on the telephone? Or do it via e-mail (which they wind up doing anyhow because Ana does such an awful job)? But the real weirdness is a short disposable line as Ana fallen leaves to speak with Christian: "You can take my car," Ana's roommate says. And Anastasia does. She owns her roommate's car to Seattle to see Christian. But… why?
Anastasia has a car. She has a blue car. We see it in the opening up scene when she's leaving campus to return to her house. It isn't as nice as her roommate's car, certain, and you might, justifiably, extrapolate that her car isn't in great enough form to earn it to Seattle. But it's! Ana owns her blue car to Christian's workplace later on in the movie. I cannot determine why Ana would certainly not own her own car. Therefore, from this movie's very opening up minutes, I was confused and disoriented, such as I had been blindfolded in a stranger's sex room.
Are Ana and her roommate… intimate?
Listen to me out. When Anastasia is leaving to go do her roommate's interview for her (in her roommate's car), she kisses her on the
going
. I dealt with a roommate in New York for 2 years. She and I ready friends, and we have been friends since university. I have never ever once kissed her on the
going
. I do not think I have ever kissed someone on the
going
that isn't a charming companion. It's an intimate motion, such as picking lint off someone's fit coat.
And their experience goes also further: Ana's roommate steals a sandwich that Ana made herself, lifting it from home plate while flirtily increasing her brows. And she uses lipgloss straight to Ana's lips while both are preparing. And currently I ask you: why do you think Ana is still a virgin at 22? She's not spiritual, and she has an energetic social life with her friends. I'm not saying it is by any means atypical for someone to finish university without making love, but I'm also presuming it is feasible Anastasia hasn't already found a guy she really gotten in touch with because she was looking for a guy. Perhaps rather of overthinking Christian Grey's man-child propensities and requiring herself to become comfy with a sex-related vibrant that does not transform her on, she should appearance inside and examine her own sexuality.
How does Christian just hire beautiful, willowy ladies to help him?
Christian Grey is a technology billionaire, operating what we're informed is an extremely effective company. But every bachelor we see in his utilize is a stick-thin, gorgeous lady in porn-high heels. How is that not a warning? Does he request photos with resumes? I wanted the plot of this movie to have to do with a size-8 brunette with an incredible history in business admin that does not make it previous the interview phase of the hiring process and files a significant suit.
Anastasia also obtains the entire ambiance and Christian does not correct her. When he offers her an teaching fellowship (creepy), Ana responds that she would not in shape therein. "Appearance at me," she says. Not, "Oh, I'm actually not a company significant," or "Actually, I'm not truly interested in telecommunications or whatever." No, her answer is, I am not attractive enough to obtain an teaching fellowship at this business where it appears female workers are employed for their beauty. And Christian does not correct her! He's not such as, "What do you imply? We hire interns based upon their resumes and knowledge and you appear very on the sphere" or whatever. He simply goes, "I am," and gives her a smoldering look, totally strengthening the we-only-hire-based-on-looks point.
Danny Elfman did the songs for this movie?!
This is a concern I asked out loud as the opening up credit ratings encountered the screen. He did!
Does not Anastasia need ID to enter into the building?
This is the head office of a significant business enterprise, and Anastasia is impersonating someone to get inside. Literally, when she shows up, Christian's model aide phone telephone calls her by her roommate's name which suggests that her roommate never ever sent out a fast e-mail to allow anybody know that another person would certainly be being available in her place. We currently established how strange it's that she sent out her roommate and not another paper press reporter, now I need to wonder how lax security goes to Grey HQ.
Why is Anastasia impolite to her resource?
I know that Anastasia isn't a professional press reporter and this is her first interview, but what the screenwriters most likely thought was flirty banter is actually simply incredibly impolite and made me very unpleasant. She asks about his amazing success, and after that goes, "Perhaps you are simply fortunate." Reason me, Ana. He is a 27-year old billionaire giving you a couple of mins of his time to conduct an in-person interview for a trainee paper. "Perhaps you are simply fortunate"? And after that she also asks if he's gay, which again, got on the list that her roommate gave her, but that list was long, and they just obtained through such as 3 questions. Anastasia easily could have skipped that one, recognizing that it is not a courteous point to ask an individual you simply met.
How did her roommate have difficulty clearing a picture?
So, simply to recap, Ana's roommate is writing a short article for the institution paper about Christian Grey, well-known billionaire. And, somehow, we learn that she's having actually difficulty clearing some photos of him to go with the item. This allows Christian to invest more time with Ana by consenting to do an unscripted photoshoot, but also: what the heck? How exist no pictures available of a well-known billionaire? What does this institution paper normally use? There many archives and picture solutions such as Getty for this very purpose. And Ana's roommate literally mentions seeing pictures of Christian: she informed Ana that she thought he was gay because she never ever saw him with any ladies in culture photos. Someone that is the number-one most qualified bachelor in America (inning accordance with a website we see) and who's obtaining paparazzi pictures taken of him should have some damn photos available for a information article. At this moment, I simply sort of recognized perhaps Ana's roommate is… awful at doing her basic job?
Christian is sending… very mixed messages, right?
Throughout their first interview, Christian is incredibly flirty, and he asks Anastasia out for coffee. But 2 mins right into their day, before she also takes a attack of muffin, Ana delicately mentions that she's sort of a charming and Christian literally goes "I'll stroll you out," such as they're on SNL's parodies of The Bachelor and she simply confessed she actually has curly hair. That's not normal or courteous day behavior—if someone says something that makes you think, "Oh, this probably will not operate in the lengthy or short-term," the nice point to do is nicely finish your coffee, provide a hug, and move on with your life. Finishing the day at that very minute is one of the most dramatization queen habits I have ever seen.
He informs her that he's bad for her and they should not day. Alright, a bit severe, but fine. And after that he sends out her an extremely expensive present: the first version of her favorite book. This is a charming present! It is a present for someone you've been dating for many years. MIXED-SIGNAL. And after that Ana drunk-dials him, which university kids do sometimes, and rather of nicely dangling up and enabling her to move on with her life, he shows up at the university bar and brings her back to his resort room where he is very sex-related and very flirty. And after that the "I do not do love" man takes her out on a day on a personal helicopter trip. He is literally The Bachelor, a program that's all about claiming to be romantic.
So obtain your tale straight, Christian: do you do love or do not you? He clearly says, "I do not do blossoms," but how was initially versions of someone's favorite book any much less "romantic"? Does he know what that word means?
Why didn't Anastasia change before their day?
So Ana goes bent on a bar with her friends, obtains very intoxicated, and drunkenly phone telephone calls Christian that picks her up and brings her back to his resort to rest it off (he also changed her right into pajamas which really feels exceedingly incorrect). And Christian also sends out his chauffeur to have more clothes for her since she vomited on her outfit from last evening. A couple of questions here: first, the undressing—yeesh, right? But also, did the chauffeur go get clothes Ana currently has from her house? How would certainly he know where Anastasia lives? She's an university student who's moving out of her presumable trainee real estate after college graduation, so it is not such as it would certainly get on her driver's license. Did you have your university dorm on your driver's license? No. How did Christian's chauffeur enter into her house? Did her roommate allow an unusual guy she had never ever seen before that said he wanted to take some clothes? What the heck. And how is getting into her the home of steal some clothes any easier compared to cleaning the clothes that had vomit on them? They're in a hotel; they probably have a washing solution, or Christian is abundant enough to send out it out unique. If his chauffeur bought new clothes for her, how the heck would certainly he have known what dimension she is? Did Christian make his chauffeur examine the tags on the insides of an unusual girl's vomit-encrusted clothes?
And after that to earn points weirder: Ana is still wearing the outfit Christian's chauffeur picked out when she and Christian take place their day that evening. Did she not shower? She had a revolting, vomit-y drunken evening! Or did she shower and obtain back in the clothes an arbitrary stranger pulled for her? Why would certainly she do that? I imply, you had think you had want to have more spruced up for your first real day with someone. Was Christian's driver's preference that great that he happened to arbitrarily draw exactly the outfit she would certainly have decided to wear?
How is she comfy waking up and food preparation in his home?
After their sex evening, Ana wears the classic "early morning after sex" movie outfit of simply a man's white button-down shirt and starts food preparation morning meal, barefoot in his kitchen area, while dance along to songs. How is she comfy enough to do this? What 22-year-old virgin has the self-confidence to get up in an unusual man's house, after a very first day, find his songs gamer, play songs, and start preparing a fancy self-made morning meal? That is amazing, sociopathic self-confidence.
How does Christian sell her car?
A car is a significant purchase and item of property. Certainly, it is comprehended in this world that Christian is very managing therefore I'm much less interested in examining the morality of selling someone's car without them asking and more interested in the logistics. How do you sell someone's car without their knowledge?! Did Christian steal the keys? Cars have titles, and enrollment, and possession. No reliable dealer will approve a plainly taken car from a middle-aged guy declaring to be a 22-year-old called Anastasia Steele. Did Christian clear out her individual possessions? Didn't she have points in her car—CDs? Fitness center clothes? Anastasia is a bit miffed when she discovers out they sold her car so she can't obtain it back, and she requests the cash they sold it for, which, yes, hi, of course, comes from her. But she should have been freaking out because taking her car is literally crazy.
…Does BDSM not exist in this world?
For a movie ostensibly all about BDSM, Fifty Shades of Grey is shockingly prudish. It deals with BDSM as an unusual anomaly, an unusual personality problem, and not a typical sex-related fetish. It is such as, a classification on porn websites. Certain, it is usually a personal point because most people's sex lives are private, but private isn't the like insanely taboo.
You know how The Walking Dead exists in a universe where zombies don't exist as a cultural touchstone? I have to imagine that the same is true for Fifty Shades of Grey and BDSM. Why else do they treat getting turned on by domination and submission as an outrageously deviant burden? It's not like Christian Grey is a werewolf. He just has a Fetlife profile, and the money to upgrade from "Velcro on the bedposts" to "sex room."
Fifty Shades of Grey also has this weird perspective where they see the submissive side of BDSM as total martyrdom, letting yourself be hurt to bring the other person pleasure. But… people are turned on by submission too. A lot of people. BDSM is about finding people who are turned on by power and domination and pairing them with people who are turned on by obedience and pain. If it doesn't turn Anastasia on, she shouldn't do it. Period. BDSM isn't a sacrifice that she should be making for free cars. At one point she literally asks, "What do I get out of it?" And Christian Grey goes, "Me." That is not the correct answer at all! At that point, he should have sat her down and said, "Oh, this is actually supposed to be pleasurable for both parties, and we should talk about things that turn you on in order to make this satisfying all around." Sex shouldn't be a thing she has to endure in order to spend time with him. He shouldn't be blackmailing her with their relationship to get to whip her. But that's what he does! And it's very weird!
So it's strange that neither of them seems aware that there are people who enjoy being submissives in BDSM relationships, but it's also strange that the climax (sorry) of this movie comes about when she asks him to spank her, and he does, and then she freaks out. Anastasia literally asks Christian to spank her because she wants to feel what turns him on, the thing that drives him. He tells her he is going to spank her with a flogger six times. He spanks her with a flogger six times. And then Ana becomes furious and kink-shames him all over the place saying things like, "This is what you like??? This is what turns you on??? Hurting me??? Seeing me like this!?!?!?"
And it's like…. Girl. That's what BDSM is. You asked him to do that. He did. You have safe words—"yellow" for when you're getting concerned, and "red" for when you want to stop—and you didn't use them. So, yes. You should leave. Obviously you and Christian have completely incompatible sexual preferences in this bizarro vanilla universe.
How does Christian always know where she is?
No fewer than three times in this movie does Christian find Anastasia at some location even though she didn't tell him where she was going to be. The first is at the hardware store—even though she had told him she worked at a hardware store, she didn't tell him which one. The second is at the bar, where she drunk-dialed him. The third is mother-effing Georgia, where she's visiting her mother. Not only does he actually fly across the country, but he's able to show up at the exact restaurant where Ana is eating.
Ethics of his stalking aside, I see a more sinister underlying subtext: digital surveillance. It's incredibly vague what Christian's company does. He's a billionaire with investments all over the world, but the most detail we get is "telecommunications." I posit to you that Christian and his company have the resources to monitor the location of every single cell phone in the country, and the infrastructure so that technology is readily available for their CEO to access.
Fifty Shades of Grey is not a boring film about a couple discussing their turn-ons; it's a subtle and deceptive film about the power we've given technology companies over our lives. It's basically Citizenfour. I humbly contend that Fifty Shades of Grey is the best Black Mirror episode to date, where the exploration of the insidiousness of technology is lurking, almost invisibly, in the background, behind all of the talk about butt plugs.
You know how The Walking Dead exists in a universe where zombies don't eksis as a cultural touchstone? I have to imagine that the same is true for Shades Shades of Grey and BDSM. Why else do they treat getting turned on by domination and submission as an outrageously deviant burden? It's not like Christian Grey is a werewolf. He just has a Fetlife profil, and the money to up-grade from "Velcro on the bedposts" to "seks room."
Shades Shades of Grey also has this weird perspective where they see the submissive side of BDSM as keseluruhan martyrdom, letting yourself be hurt to bring the other individu pleasure. But… people are turned on by submission too. A lot of people. BDSM is about finding people who are turned on by power and domination and pairing them with people who are turned on by obedience and pain. If it doesn't turn Anastasia on, she shouldn't do it. Period. BDSM isn't a sacrifice that she should be making for free cars. At one poin she literally asks, "What do I get out of it?" And Christian Grey goes, "Me." That is not the correct answer at all! At that poin, he should have sat her down and said, "Oh, this is actually supposed to be pleasurable for both parties, and we should talk about things that turn you on in order to make this satisfying all around." Seks shouldn't be a thing she has to endure in order to spend time with him. He shouldn't be blackmailing her with their relationship to get to whip her. But that's what he does! And it's very weird!
So it's strange that neither of them seems aware that there are people who santai being submissives in BDSM relationships, but it's also strange that the climax (sorry) of this movie comes about when she asks him to spank her, and he does, and then she freaks out. Anastasia literally asks Christian to spank her because she wants to perasaan what turns him on, the thing that drives him. He tells her he is going to spank her with a flogger six times. He spanks her with a flogger six times. And then Ana becomes furious and kink-shames him all over the place saying things like, "This is what you like??? This is what turns you on??? Hurting me??? Seeing me like this!?!?!?"
And it's like…. Girl. That's what BDSM is. You asked him to do that. He did. You have safe words—"yellow" for when you're getting concerned, and "red" for when you want to stop—and you didn't use them. So, yes. You should leave. Obviously you and Christian have completely incompatible sexual preferences in this bizarro vanilla universe.
How does Christian always know where she is?
No fewer than three times in this movie does Christian find Anastasia at some location even though she didn't tell him where she was going to be. The first is at the hardware store—even though she had told him she worked at a hardware toko, she didn't tell him which one. The second is at the bar, where she drunk-dialed him. The third is mother-effing Georgia, where she's visiting her mother. Not only does he actually fly across the country, but he's able to show up at the exact restoran where Ana is eating.
Ethics of his stalking aside, I see a more sinister underlying subtext: digital surveyllance. It's incredibly vague what Christian's company does. He's a billionaire with investments all over the world, but the most detil we get is "telecommunications." I posit to you that Christian and his company have the sumber to monitor the location of every singgel cell phone in the country, and the infrastructure so that technology is readily available for their CEO to akses.
Shades Shades of Grey is not a boring film about a couple discussing their turn-ons; it's a subtle and deceptive film about the power we've given technology companies over our lives. It's basically Citizenfour. I humbly contend that Shades Shades of Grey is the best Black Mirror adegan to date, where the exploration of the insidiousness of technology is lurking, almost invisibly, in the latar belakang, behind all of the talk about butt plugs.