Fifty Shades of Grey = Disney Porn
If Walt Disney were to animate "The Story of O", I think it would be exactly like the "Fifty Shades of Grey" series.Since I was young, whatever book I started reading, I finished. There is one exception, "The Ruins" by Scott Smith, what a dismal piece of crapola that book is! Since there are three books in the "Fifty Shades" series, I felt compelled to read them all. I'm glad I didn't have to buy but one.
While Ms. James writing improves somewhat by the second book, I can't help but visualize a Disney princess and prince. C'mon! Anastasia and Christian - those are Disney names if I ever heard one! The books are quite improbable, even for fiction. Nonetheless, they are addictive in an "I-don't-need-my-brain-to-read-this" way. Easy, uncomplicated reads for when you need a break from reality.
What I don't understand is all the hoopla about the BDSM aspects of the books. There is hardly any. I've read harder and more erotic sex scenes in Laurell K. Hamilton, "Anita Blake" books . Granted most of the sex in those books is with vampires and werewolves, but still, Ms. Hamilton writes raunchy, rough and kinky with delicious descriptiveness. E.L. James, not so much. There's lots of talk about sadism, bondage, submissiveness, dominance in the "Fifty Shades" series but not much that type action. Don't get me wrong, there's scads of sex going on, Anastasia and Christian, screw around like rabbits in heat, but it's romantic, loving sex for the most part. Dreamy sex between two perfect people with perfect bodies that haven't hit 30 yet!
That a man of 27 years old could be a Master Dominant AND a Captain of Industry was the first clue that Ms. James books were not going to be mind-bending. The second was that the heroine was 21 years old, flat-out gorgeous and was still a virgin! Hello, Disney? (Okay, I'm a jaded old witch!) What intrigued me was that these books became, mostly by word of mouth, HUGE bestsellers because of the BDSM and/or sex. Seriously, what were all these women reading before? Did they never pick up a "bodice ripper" at the supermarket or check out Henry Miller or D.H. Lawrence at Barnes & Noble? Did they only ever read "Fan Fiction"? While I'm puzzled about all the fuss, I'm happy women are reading something!
The "The Fifty Shades" series didn't arouse me, it amused me. I'm not a Disney fan, except for the villains and they don't turn me on, either! In my opinion, the attraction to the books is that they stir remembrance of "first love". Anastasia and Christian are young, beautiful, they have their whole future ahead of them and they are totally in love with each other. They have the kind of relationship that happens, if we're lucky, once in a lifetime. It could be that women are jumping men's bones because reading "Fifty Shades of Grey" reignites the fire they want to rekindle or starts the spark they've always dreamed about. It could be they want the happily ever after, (Cue - singing cartoon birds and squirrels) if only for a few moments.
