Fifty Shades of Grey: From Book to Big Screen

[Rebeccaej]

I read the books to understand the hype and outrage surrounding the books, because I'm a firm believer in hate/love it for the right reason. I'm not going to lie. I was rather appalled at Fifty Shades of Grey being considered a best seller considering the severe lack of research on the part of the author, the awful spelling and grammar, and the weak characterization. The book didn't reflect BDSM at all, and it had far too many unfortunate implications and subtext which left a nasty taste in my mouth.


The movie improved on these considerably, because they removed a large chunk of what made the books intolerable. The movie, for its focus on sex, actually made them appear somewhat normal, sane people who enjoyed safe, sane, and consensual kinks as opposed to the unfortunate implications in the books wherein the subtext read as a manipulative sociopath of a man taking advantage of a weak, naive woman. So, I do think the movie was better as a whole.

My understanding is that E.L James is fascinated by the idea of "dominants," but has no actual, personal interest in BDSM. The book portrays an abuse dynamic in such perfect detail, that it's hard for me to see it as a flawed book about BDSM, so much as a kidnapping/abuse/rape fantasy that's been marketed to a mainstream audience.

And honestly, if the marketing was different...I'd kinda be ok with that. There's nothing wrong with abuse fantasies, so long as you don't call them "romance."

[Fatema5253]

I really loved the entire series. But the movie was a huge disappointment, first of all the casting was really bad I felt that the characters in the movie were really plain, they definitely did not seem like the ones in the book. Second the movie displayed no connection between the characters, the only thing they did was have sex.

[mrsdeg1983]

I liked the books. The first movie... not so much,

[cjohns105]

Okay, this is a bit of a bomb shell, and most people don't believe me when I tell them, but the first transition this series whet through was not book to screen. It was actually fan fiction to book. I've spent more time than I care to admit reading fanfics, and I remember when I first stumbled across a racy piece of Twilight fanfiction maybe two or three years before the book series came out. The fic is no longer on the site (for obvious reasons), but there are remnants of the reviews that I had posted occasionally after updates, and these are the only thing that convince me that I'm not just making the whole thing up.

If you look at the characters from 50 Shades and compare them to Twilight characters they fit amazingly well. Bella as Anastasia Steele, Edward as Christian, Rosalie as Kate, Alice and Emmett are the adopted sibling, Carlisle and Esme the adoptive parents, Mike Newton(ish) co-worker (at a hardware store), Jacob Black bestie that is never really a threat. Christian is super broody and loves piano? Not to mention the physical similarities... But seriously the hardware store job; she has the same small business, casual relationship with the owners that Bella has with the Newtons. The main couple clicks instantly in the same way that Edward and Bella do in Twilight.

I'm assuming that she either already had the idea for this as an independent piece, or very quickly decided that it viably could be. I think she could have changed more than she did, and absolutely should have done more research. Many of the criticisms of E.L James writing are very indicative of piece of fan fiction that could have used a bit more polishing, which I think some of you will see now that I have mentioned it. The fanfic community is a very supportive one, and it would have been a great place to get tons of feedback (I'm sure there were well over the 10k reviews that the site stops counting at). She is not the only fanfic writer (or even Twilight fanfic writer) whom I have seen make the leap to get published (or get a movie deal), but she is absolutely the most successful, and I am proud of her and everyone else you has taken that terrifying step.

[Ntombie]

I realised that it was a book from the way it begins at the elevator and how it ends.

[Sabrinah Brendah]

I read the trilogy before watching the movie and was disappointed with the movie the first time I watched it. I realised though that the more I watched the better it got. I don't really mind that most of the scenes in the book that made it exceptional were not included in the movie. we should remember that it is a movie that is roughly one and a half hours. there was no way the movie would capture all that was in the book.

[Nina Butler]

I read the series after I watched the movie. I was more disappointed in the novels than the film. If they had made the movie after the books, it would have been porn. Sorry to say, but it is true. I loved the movie. Yes, I know I may be one of the only ones that liked the movie. The books were awful to me, because of all the grammatical errors and the story wasn't all that polished. Going from fanfic to book is awesome in itself, but I think the publisher should have edited it more. I like the characters, but I think the story could have been done so much better. I think most people were expecting an X rating when then went to see this movie.

[Amagine]

I read the series after I watched the movie. I was more disappointed in the novels than the film. If they had made the movie after the books, it would have been porn. Sorry to say, but it is true. I loved the movie. Yes, I know I may be one of the only ones that liked the movie. The books were awful to me, because of all the grammatical errors and the story wasn't all that polished. Going from fanfic to book is awesome in itself, but I think the publisher should have edited it more. I like the characters, but I think the story could have been done so much better. I think most people were expecting an X rating when then went to see this movie.

It's funny that you say that because I know quite a few people who were disappointed there wasn't as much S&M as there was in the books.

The books weren't so bad to me. Then again, I just read them because I wanted to do a compare and contrast to Twilight.

[zerofire2905]

You should have seen 50 Shades Darker. Highly disappointed because the content was merely nothing but sex scenes. The book version was much better.

[Amagine]

You should have seen 50 Shades Darker. Highly disappointed because the content was merely nothing but sex scenes. The book version was much better.

Surprisingly, I haven't seen it yet. So the movies switched content huh? The first barely had any sex scenes and the second one has nothing but sex scenes.

Why can't filmmakers make movies as close to the movie as possible instead of doing their own thing?

In some instances, they succeed but I've seen way more where they have failed.

[AlwaysWorthIt]

This book should have never made it to the big screen or little screen for that matter. The book was great as far as a "naughty" books goes, but that is what it is. It's filled with romance, sex, pain, confusion, etc. in my opinion, this book was not made to be on the tv screen, but rather a book you read before you went to sleep at night.

[Chitopogi]

Nope, I haven't read the book Fifty Shades of Grey. And based on your comments and reviews, I will put this in my back burner. I will read Fifty Shades of Grey when I have free time and I don't have anything else to read.

[Varsharampiar]

Very intriguing. Keeps you on the edge. With all hidden adgenders. Loved it

[ebethina]

I would say read the book first because you may not know what you are getting yourself into. I read the 1st book in the series and that was all I could handle. So after that I knew I would not handle the movie well.

[K_Robinson]

I hated the books and didnt care for the movies either. I didnt like the authors writing style and i felt as if thw books were way longer than they needed to be. The steamy scenes were the same thing ober and over again. I wasnt impressed for how hyped up they were. Same with the movie. The main character was very boring