Undercutting the Power of 'Fifty Shades'

“Fifty Shades of Grey” might be the least interesting movie to ever spawn hundreds of op-eds and hours of debate. Since its release, much of the viewing public has been struggling in one medium or another to understand its simultaneous popularity and lack of quality: what the heck, everyone seems to be asking, are we supposed to make of this thing? How does substance-less, derivative pornography make over $235 million dollars in its opening weekend?

That’s not the important question, though. “Fifty Shades” is indeed boring, repetitive, and poorly acted, but it also expresses a fundamentally harmful vision of men and women in society; it hides ancient and vicious ideas about gender, sex, and power under a mask of sleek camera angles and trendy background music.

The first, most obvious problem is the portrayal of the story’s main couple, Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan) and Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson). To describe Christian as “overprotective” would be a colossal, euphemistic understatement: he appears in Ana’s house uninvited, controls her reproductive choices, and pressures her to take part in sex acts that she shows no interest in. His possessive behavior is dismissed as for a normal BDSM “dominant” —the counterpart to Ana’s designated “submissive” role—but his actions extend far beyond the boundaries of consensual, regulated role-playing. Christian is an abuser, and by presenting such a damaged entanglement as a model of romantic kink, the movie perpetuates cultural tolerance of abuse while encouraging warped notions about the nature of healthy, safe BDSM.

Then there’s the matter of Ana’s sexuality, which proves to be fraught with dangerous cliche. Prior to her first night with Christian, Ana wears a childish jean jacket, doesn’t shave her legs, winces when her friend puts lip gloss on her, and responds to sexual advances with wide-eyed, awkward mumbling. However, a single sexual experience magically transforms this stereotypically-depicted virgin. Suddenly, Ana begins to wear designer clothes, straighten her hair, and wear makeup; she starts talking at an audible volume and returns Christian’s ribald banter with ease. By portraying virginity loss as a makeover, a gateway to confidence and nice clothes, the movie sustains an irritating cultural tic that promotes a binary concept of sex while glorifying low self-esteem and dependence.

Taken as a whole, this story has nothing to do with empowerment or sexual discovery. It doesn’t challenge conservative theories about sex but rather aggressively affirms them, framing BDSM as a consequence of abuse and an obstacle to the ultimate goal of matrimonial bliss. Ana may break up with Christian at the end of the movie, but the books promise a sequel in which everyone lives happily ever after—wedding dress, baby, and all.

Despite its significant flaws, though, the movie has amassed a large fanbase. Possibly, the movie’s fans are just starved for erotica in a world where women are not supposed to watch porn; “Fifty Shades” isn’t any good, but it’s likely the first sexually explicit book that most women feel comfortable enough to publicly admit to reading . Many viewers are also just intrigued, a fact exploited by the movie’s marketing campaign, which included the tagline, “Curious?”

But there’s a possible deeper explanation for the movie’s popularity, one that’s much more problematic. The real fantasy of “Fifty Shades of Grey” has nothing to do with sex but rather with wealth and power: Christian represents a life of total financial comfort and the security of not having to make decisions. Being his submissive means not having to choose what to eat, where to sleep, or how to do your hair, and it means helicopter rides and enormous silken beds. Were Christian completely broke, it is doubtful that Ana would have allowed him to keep her like a concubine.

And that’s not just a harmless dream or an irritating flaw, not when women around the world are desperately fighting to have their personhood recognized. We can’t accept anything that tells women to give up their agency, no matter how delicious the price, nor can we promote something that only values men in terms of wealth.

“Fifty Shades of Grey” is an inane, stupidly constructed movie, but people are seeing it and therefore giving it power. And we should stop while we can, because no one—male or female—wins here. Hopefully, though, better variations on the girl-meets-boy-and-also-whips story will appear in the future: versions in which Ana has her own apartment and terrible car, or has crazy sex with Christian because she wants to, or loves him even though he’s not rich but because he’s a fundamentally good person. Sounds pretty hot to me.