I want to go ahead and let it be known I'm not trying to convince anyone to change their opinion about whether they like it. It's not my job to argue with anyone whether they liked it or not. You're completely entitled to whatever your opinion is, but I have to say just by reading tons of thousands of comments on articles, blogs, and other social media comments, that most people haven't read all 3 of the books and they form an opinion. I honestly want to know how are people victimizing a book character when they didn't really have an open mind to begin with about the movie and didn't read all 3 books? We live in a world where people do little to no research before they post something on Facebook, or social media in general. We've become very lazy and the irony in this is because we have all this technology right at our finger tips and we choose not to use it to benefit and educate us. I'm constantly telling people to educate themselves, not as a rude gesture but because it is a pet peeve of mine, if someone is going to have a difference opinion and argue that I'm wrong that the least they can do is be educated on the matter. This is not a matter of being right or wrong, but about being closed minded and opinionated just for the sake of wanting to have an opinion. I have no problem with people standing up for their beliefs but what I do have a problem with is how they are going about it in this instance.
There was a disney favorite of mine that lost a bet with their husband, so her intention was to hold a sign in her bra and underwear that said #consent because the movie didn't sit right with her. I have no knowledge that she didn't attempt to read the books, but only saw the movie. You all have probably heard this thousands of times since the movie came out and opinions were formed, but you will not understand exactly what and where the story is going unless you read the books. The movie left major parts out and turned down the sexual nature of it. I will admit when reading the first book that I was giggling about Anastasia's inner goddess most of the time and I did think some of the dialogue that Ana had in her head was giggle worthy, (*cough* Her own Christian Grey popsicle *cough*), but it made the book bearable for me. Some of it felt like fan fiction a little bit, but I had this dire need to finish all 3 books to get to the bottom of this story.
I'm going to spoil some things for you guys who didn't read/see the movie, so if you don't want me to ruin anything, don't read ahead.
A lot of people are saying Anastasia was raped. This can't make any more sense, because in both of the movies and books she's constantly day dreaming of Mr. Grey because she can't seem to shake the effect he has on her. Surely enough when you have this instant connection with people, and you fall for them you can't seem to shake them either. It's the same concept, expect E.L. James isn't the writer of our lives and there probably will never be a hot billionaire awaiting for us. Sorry ladies.
To go off that point, a lot of people are also saying that was she was hesitant and that's why they think she was raped. Well of course a virgin who has just been introduced into that world, who has only really set her eyes relationship and sexual wise on Christian Grey, would feel the need to ask and would be curious about it all, how else are we supposed to learn and understand. He didn't even know she was a Virgin, hence why she said "I'm a situation" she wanted to make love to Christian.
I will never probably completely understand the BDSM world, nor do I know how true this story is to that world, but I do know people and I use the term people loosely, because this is a book character, deal with certain heavy aspects of their life differently. I don't think everyone is as lucky as certain people who, like me can just pick up a pen write something and feel better because it's off of my chest. If you really bothered to read all 3 stories, you'd realize Christian Grey is a broken man until he falls in love with Anastasia Steele. I mentioned before that I didn't feel like this first movie was a 'love story' because it's only one part of a whole, but reading all 3 books, it's only the beginning of a love story. He wasn't born into money, he's had a trouble past, and obviously he didn't have normal relationships like most people do, but some people are not most people. A lot of people freaked out because prince charming had a kinky dark side to him, but not all of them really understood why. I watched a movie called Black Snake Moan one time, and it changed my view on how people deal with pain. Sometimes it doesn't always make sense to us, but "pain demands to be felt" and most of us deal with it in a variety of ways.
Christian tells Ana that she has the power, and it's just that, she does. She's made it clear of what she is comfortable with, if she didn't like something she said so. She even left at the end of the book and the movie. In the Second book, Christian wouldn't even take her back into the Playroom, she wandered in there herself, because there are certain perks she likes about trying new things with him. I can't speak on behalf of anyone else's love life, but it's that way with anything now a days. How do we truly know we don't like something until we try it, unless the thought just makes us completely uncomfortable, but in that instance I would think Ana would have said red and bounced and never looked back, but then we wouldn't have Fifty Shades Darker or Freed.
Many people red flagged Christian as being stalkerish (I am officially making this a word), and I get how it looks, but I recall Twilight having that same effect on people. Some people just come off strong, and in these books or movies, sometimes it's just best to not read too much into it and just let it be for entertainment. We overanalyze every little detail, it gets exhausting. Let's just not do it people.
For an example, my favorite book and movie, The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, was criticized by many people saying that it romanticized cancer. Many people miss the bigger picture when it comes to these wonderful literary works of art, and that my friends is perhaps the saddest. I almost feel like people criticize books and movies like they do the bible, they pick out what they disagree with and they discard the rest. You cannot look at something half heartedly and run with it, things get messy when people do this. Like I said, I'm not trying to persuade anyone, but after taking 3 weeks to read all 3 books I feel like people can either like it or not like it, but it's kind of unfair, not to mention extreme, to tell people were going to hell for liking it or even getting people to donate books to burn them. If that is what we are wasting our energy on, it's sad.
In conclusion, people will always clash and have different opinions, but people should also respect each others opinions, and form our own opinions about the matter. My call to action is that we stop letting the media and other people think for us, because just because it's on Facebook, doesn't automatically mean it's true. Steve Jobs once said to "stay hungry, stay foolish," I feel it is the same with knowledge, you can never have to much of it. Keep an open mind, work hard, love what you love, and don't forget it's okay to just be yourself. Own all of it. It's just that simple.
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| Disclaimer: I don't own any of the photos, all rights go to those who do own the rights. |
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