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Sunday, March 17, 2013

Another Writer Prefaces Comments On Fifty Shades of Grey with "Have Not Read It"


Scientists* say, "Women who read Fifty Shades prefer that the heroine be the one tied up by lebenty million to one!" Image source: Sex and Submission.com.

The Wall Street Journal's Speakeasy section has a post where an indie moviemaker, Kieran Evans, compares his indie film, "Karen+Victor," which apparently has a femdom/malesub relationship, to Fifty Shades of Grey ... which he prefaces by saying, "I've never read Fifty Shades of Grey." But ... he's heard a lot about it, so that's all right.

I wrote a response to his post, because I'm really sick of all these people who never read the book confidently going out there and making fools of themselves by getting their facts all wrong and, of course, drawing wrong conclusions. So I straightened him out on a few points:

I have not seen your film, know very little about it, so I can't say if it's any good or not, and won't. If only you would be as fair to Fifty Shades of Grey. Anyone who says they have not read the book and then makes pronunciations about it loses all credibility, in my opinion. You get basic facts wrong: you said, " While the sex act may be viewed by outsiders as “S&M,” unlike “50 Shades” these two people have never before been involved in BDSM culture." Well the fact is that Ana is a virgin at the start of Fifty Shades of Grey and had never had ANY experience with BDSM. So ... poor comparison

Also, Fifty Shades is not ABOUT a maledom/femsub sex. Both Ana and Christian enjoy the sex, but the central story of the relationship is how Christian tries to set up their relationship as a purely contractual relationship, and how Ana refuses it, and it evolves into something more like a regular romantic relationship. That's really what it's ABOUT, the sex, while important, is not the central element because there's no conflict over it ... they both like it.

Now all you need to have said to make the point that your movie is different from Fifty Shades is that the relationship in your movie is femdom/malesub (i.e., it's Karen who does the tying-up) whereas in Fifty Shades it's maledom/femsub. Gender makes a huge difference to MOST (not all) who like BDSM, and for the readers of the romances and erotic romances, who enjoy maledom/femsub stories. You're in a different genre already. But I get the impression you don't know that, which is another strike against your credibility.

*The scientists I pay to say such things.

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