With all of the publicity about the anti-women side of 50 Shades of Grey, I decided to watch it with a girlfriend and find out what all of the fuss was about.
I have to say, I was neither shocked nor disgusted by this film but what I was shocked by was the media attention to it...I DO NOT SEE THE BIG DEAL!!!
Peo
She knows what she is getting in for right off the bat and she is the one who makes the rules...the scene with them having the meeting about the contract; she says what she doesn't want to do and he complies. He asks her to stay, she says no, and he lets her go.
He buys her nice things....this does not mean he is controlling her, I would LOVE to get new clothes, a new car and a laptop and anyone who says they wouldn't is lying. This does not mean she is whoring herself out to him, in fact, she desperately tries to give the stuff back yet he won't accept them. We know he doesn't do the whole love thing, maybe this is his way of showing he cares. Accept it with good grace love!
She ASKS to be shown what the 'worst' is...not in a 'she's asking for it' kind of way as in she ACTUALLY says "I want you to show me the worst it can be, so I know". He asks her 3 times if this is ACTUALLY what she wants, and each time she says yes. Afterwards, she tells him he will never do that to her again. Not asks, tells!
She then walks away.
She. Walks. Away.
This is a powerful thing for a woman with her Cryptenite, someone who she would do anything for. When you can walk away from that, it sucks and you hurt, but you also feel very much empowered, I know, I have done it! At the end of the day, you may not agree with S and M or the story, but maybe this is what the film is actually intended for; make women and men alike stand up and say "this is not what we want to be, we don't want our sons treating women like this and we don't want our daughters to feel they have to". Maybe this film has brought something great...maybe this film gets people talking about the problems of gender inequality. And maybe it is just a film that some people didn't like and others did.
Either way, hats off to the granny's out there buying rope. You know who you are...
