Review of Fifty Shades of Grey (2015) by Bereal M — 16 Jun 2015

A billionaire with an exclusive penthouse condo, private helicopter, private jet, over a half dozen expensive, luxury cars, CEO of his own company. Very plausible. A 27 year-old billionaire with all of this already in place, even though he was adopted at age four by a wealthy family. Not so plausible. (Compare: "In 1987 Gates was listed as a billionaire in Forbes magazine's 400 Richest People in America issue, just days before his 32nd birthday.") Between the ages 15 through 21, Christopher Grey spent six years as a submissive to a married woman who was his dominant. Then, consider that he had 15 submissives in the one particular "play room" we see in the movie. The book says that the standard Submissive-Dominant contrasts were for three months and that he had four long term relationships in his life. If you do the math, fifteen submissives, each lasting three months is 3.75 years (45 months). Some of the submissives lasted more than three months. We aren't told when he started his company or when his net worth hit one billion, but this information suggests that he had roughly six years, give or take, to accomplish this level of wealth. I'm assuming that perhaps he went to college and either dropped out (like Bill Gates did) or he graduated at age 21. How many Bill Gates are there in the United States? Even if he did not attend college, it's not too plausible that Grey could be a billionaire. Maybe the point was to make him unquestionably powerful, influential, extraordinary, and sexy to Anna.

Anna's character is more conceivable. She was a virgin at age 21 or 22, no prior boyfriends, graduating with honors (thesis notes) in English literature, with no definite plans upon graduation except for moving to Seattle with her friend and roommate. (Just so happens that Mr. Grey resides in Seattle.) She fell hard for Grey due to her vulnerability and because she was not attracted to any of her peers. Enter the Knight in Shining Armor and she cannot resist him no matter what.

There were so many telltale signs that she shouldn't get involved with a man who tells her point blank that he does not do romance; he only fucks---hard. He warned her three times. She is lucky that Grey did not destroy her when he reconciled the condition of her virginity. In this respect, Grey is confusing as to what he is being that he could "make love" on this one occasion. It could be that he decided that a woman with zero experience was an opportunity he shouldn't pass up.

Aside from the fairytale of a 27 year-old billionaire, the problem with the movie is that it confuses the issue as to what Christian Grey really is. If the information provided by Wikipedia is accurate, he seems to fall under one of the four classes of "sexual masochists", rather than one of the four classes of "sexual sadists". Yet, Anna says to him "You're a sadist!" and he does not really respond or deny her labeling. Is he in fact a sadist because of the type of punishment he administers such as whipping women with a belt and having them count each time they are struck? Not until I saw that only people who must engage non-consensually could be a killer, rapist or a dominant that inflicts serious injury, was I convinced that Grey was not one of these people. (And, there is doubt that "only" is accurate?) I would have preferred that Anna's research on BDSM covered this ground because the movie producers and directors have a responsibility when dealing with sensitive topics with main stream audiences. Secondly, wouldn't Anna's character who leads a very constrained life have this very concern that her life might be in actual danger?

When Grey and Anna had a "business meeting" in a conference room, at his office, to negotiate the terms of the SD contract, it seemed that some viewers could easily confuse some of the practices that can be deemed non-BDSM with BDSM only behavior.

How was Grey able to control his actions and how was he able to respect the limits set by his submissives? He was sexually abused at age 15 having been seduced by an older woman to become her submissive, after all. (Isn't that statutory rape?) And, this is on top of abuse in the first four years of his life by his biological mother, a drug addict and prostitute. Remember, he tells Anna that if he told her why he must punish women so severely, she would not have anything to do with him. Part of the reason he had some self-control might be because he needed to win the trust of his female submissives, which he needed in order to maintain the consensual relationships. The answer might also have to do with the doctor (probably a psychologist) that he confided in and the paid sex he utilized in his training to become a dominant, according to the book. The movie should have touched on these aspects of Mr. Grey's behavior as the issue was left wide open. Having formal written contracts does not imply an ability to have self-control and the capacity to respect for another's limits or preferences. Without self-control the contract terms can be easily breached.

The good thing about the movie was that the sex scenes, although I've read that they are covered in 20 minutes (roughly 18% of the movie), were kept minimal in number and filmed or edited to give the audience a brief view of the actual sexual activity so that our minds can fill in the rest. The romance story was the emphasis, rather than, a full exhibition of soft porn.

I'm not sure what the movie intended to say about BDSM. Even if there was no intentional message, it does send out some harmful or distorted messages.