50 Shades of Missing the Point

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50 Shades of Missing the Point - 2/19/2015 5:07:48 AM

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In film, a MacGuffin is a plot device that motivates the characters and advances the story. The MacGuffin will appear to be the main point of the film, but in reality, is not. A relatively contemporary example would be Marsellus Wallace's briefcase in Pulp Fiction.

Stripped down to its essentials, 50 Shades of Grey is the story of a man who had a very damaging childhood. As a result, he has a very unconventional (and to some degree, damaged) view of relationships and the relational limits that he has concluded that he can explore. A woman enters the picture who wants more, is convinced that he can achieve it, and tries to help him see that. At times, it seems that he's starting to break out of the box that he has trapped himself in, but he keeps going back in, convinced that he is irreparably "fifty shades of fucked" (to borrow his words).

Now, it may be what everyone is screaming about, and what is putting curious butts in the seats. But let's be honest -- in short, BDSM is nothing but a MacGuffin in 50 Shades.

So for those thinking that Christian Grey is representative of the BDSM community, you've missed the point.

For those not that extreme, but who think that you have to be at least a little unbalanced to participate in BDSM, you've missed the point, too.

And for those in the community who are worried about those first two groups, you've really missed the point.

I think I liked this movie better when it was a daytime soap opera.

RE: 50 Shades of Missing the Point - 2/19/2015 3:46:54 PM

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50 Shades was Twilight fanfiction with altered names/locations and BDSM thrown in for spice. I'm not buying that there's some deeper meaning behind its plot.

< Message edited by RockaRolla -- 2/19/2015 3:47:13 PM >

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RE: 50 Shades of Missing the Point - 2/19/2015 5:24:57 PM

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quote:

ORIGINAL: RockaRolla
50 Shades was Twilight fanfiction with altered names/locations and BDSM thrown in for spice. I'm not buying that there's some deeper meaning behind its plot.

That's kinda my point. The BDSM was stapled onto a boilerplate love story.

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RE: 50 Shades of Missing the Point - 2/19/2015 5:29:53 PM

Gauge

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Meh... color me as not caring about 50 Shades, now or ever. Add to that the Twilight series, cooked cauliflower, Kayne, American Idol, the Oscars, Grammy Awards, Miss America... and the list could go endlessly on.

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RE: 50 Shades of Missing the Point - 2/19/2015 5:31:07 PM

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Seriously, was the author of 50 Shades inspired by 'Twilight'? Gawd. If that had been my inspiration for my book, I'd have kept *very* quiet about it.

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RE: 50 Shades of Missing the Point - 2/19/2015 5:52:08 PM

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She was so inspired by twilight, she wrote a fan fic. Usually people grow out of that phase by middle school. Sadly, the stories most hormone crazed preteens write in middle school are more erotic - and sometimes more kinky

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RE: 50 Shades of Missing the Point - 2/19/2015 6:21:00 PM

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Women are not so much thinking about 50 Shades of Grey as they are masturbating to it. It is Cinderella, David and Goliath, and sexual taboo wrapped into one.

I'm really curious what is drawing the masses into the whole book/film phenomenon.

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RE: 50 Shades of Missing the Point - 2/19/2015 7:08:43 PM

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quote:

ORIGINAL: cloudboy

Women are not so much thinking about 50 Shades of Grey as they are masturbating to it. It is Cinderella, David and Goliath, and sexual taboo wrapped into one.

I'm really curious what is drawing the masses into the whole book/film phenomenon.

Yep, it takes those sorts of sources of archetype, updates them and drops in some BDSM spice. Beauty and the Beast is in there, somewhere, too.

< Message edited by PeonForHer -- 2/19/2015 7:09:19 PM >

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RE: 50 Shades of Missing the Point - 2/20/2015 3:56:36 AM

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What confuses me about the hype is how did it even make the New York Times best seller list? Like how did all of this begin. Surely this is not the first, nor the last BDSM related book, so how did this book become so popular, especially when it was so poorly written [from what I've heard.. The word "goddess" was mentioned at least once on every page, I think]. I know editors and publishers aren't perfect, but did they really like the book enough to be like, "yeah, not a single person will find a thing wrong with these books". And what of doing some research on the subject material before publishing. Sure, these are not non-fiction, but if you're going to write a historical romance, it might be a good idea to know if they wore togas or gowns in 16th century Russia. Was the publishing company run by only ONE person? That must have been it, how else would a book have been approved so easily.

Also, this book was marketed as being a romance. I'm sorry, but where is the romance. I've read books ranging from Danielle Steel and Debbie Macomber to Tom Clancy and Robin Cook, and many authors in between. In good books, romance does not involve manipulation or anything of that kind. Sure, it may be innocent, but if there are doubts, it's because one of the characters has been hurt in the past and is afraid of the same thing happening again, and when those doubts are discussed, the other person is understanding and compassionate. Heck! There have been plenty of books where one of the main characters suffers from issues like PTSD, and even then, in a good romance novel, when the injured party misbehaves, he or she wants to run away, rather than risk hurting the person they love.. .. What a shame that books like *cringes* Fifty Shades has cast a shadow on not only one, but two genres [the other being erotica]

< Message edited by kkaliforniaa -- 2/20/2015 4:51:38 AM >

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RE: 50 Shades of Missing the Point - 2/23/2015 4:21:13 AM

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quote:

ORIGINAL: kkaliforniaa
What confuses me about the hype is how did it even make the New York Times best seller list?

If a publishing company is willing to spend enough, any book can be on any best seller list. The last entry on a best seller list that was actually read by anyone was a cave drawing.

quote:

ORIGINAL: kkaliforniaa
Also, this book was marketed as being a romance. I'm sorry, but where is the romance.

At the risk of sounding like I'm defending 50 Shades, everything you describe as classifying as romance was in the movie (I haven't read the book).

quote:

ORIGINAL: kkaliforniaa
In good books, romance does not involve manipulation or anything of that kind.

So, in "good" books, everyone is perfect?

quote:

ORIGINAL: kkaliforniaa
if there are doubts, it's because one of the characters has been hurt in the past

Oh, you mean like Grey?

quote:

ORIGINAL: kkaliforniaa
and is afraid of the same thing happening again

Oh, you mean like how Grey set his life to prevent recurrence?

quote:

ORIGINAL: kkaliforniaa
when those doubts are discussed, the other person is understanding and compassionate.

Oh, you mean EXACTLY like how Ana responded several times throughout the movie?

quote:

ORIGINAL: kkaliforniaa
when the injured party misbehaves, he or she wants to run away, rather than risk hurting the person they love

Oh, you mean EXACTLY like how Grey responded to a person he barely knew BEFORE he even "misbehaved"?

quote:

ORIGINAL: kkaliforniaa
Also, this book was marketed as being a romance. I'm sorry, but where is the romance.

All over the movie. And I kinda doubt that the book was all that different from the movie. We're not talking John Grisham here.

< Message edited by wannapleez -- 2/23/2015 4:22:52 AM >

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RE: 50 Shades of Missing the Point - 2/23/2015 4:26:42 AM

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quote:

ORIGINAL: cloudboy
I'm really curious what is drawing the masses into the whole book/film phenomenon.

You gotta be kidding.
Hot, Gorgeous, Young, Rich Billionaire, falls inlove with a plain simple looking ordinary girl, has some fucked up past that cause him to do bad things like bdsm. The end of the story is that he loved her so much that he gave up all the bad things (BDSM) for her, he changed for her.

That's the kind of romance that sells.

Of course the masses are okay with this story line.

< Message edited by Greta75 -- 2/23/2015 4:28:08 AM >

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RE: 50 Shades of Missing the Point - 2/23/2015 4:30:29 AM

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Greta, You've misplaced your broken English... I think I saw it down in off topic.

I've got your back ;)

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RE: 50 Shades of Missing the Point - 2/23/2015 4:48:32 AM

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quote:

ORIGINAL: kkaliforniaa

What confuses me about the hype is how did it even make the New York Times best seller list? Like how did all of this begin. Surely this is not the first, nor the last BDSM related book, so how did this book become so popular, especially when it was so poorly written [from what I've heard.. The word "goddess" was mentioned at least once on every page, I think]. I know editors and publishers aren't perfect, but did they really like the book enough to be like, "yeah, not a single person will find a thing wrong with these books". And what of doing some research on the subject material before publishing. Sure, these are not non-fiction, but if you're going to write a historical romance, it might be a good idea to know if they wore togas or gowns in 16th century Russia. Was the publishing company run by only ONE person? That must have been it, how else would a book have been approved so easily.

Also, this book was marketed as being a romance. I'm sorry, but where is the romance. I've read books ranging from Danielle Steel and Debbie Macomber to Tom Clancy and Robin Cook, and many authors in between. In good books, romance does not involve manipulation or anything of that kind. Sure, it may be innocent, but if there are doubts, it's because one of the characters has been hurt in the past and is afraid of the same thing happening again, and when those doubts are discussed, the other person is understanding and compassionate. Heck! There have been plenty of books where one of the main characters suffers from issues like PTSD, and even then, in a good romance novel, when the injured party misbehaves, he or she wants to run away, rather than risk hurting the person they love.. .. What a shame that books like *cringes* Fifty Shades has cast a shadow on not only one, but two genres [the other being erotica]

It made best seller list because of the amount of copies sold in a short frame of time.

It gained popularity, because it was originally written as a fan-fic to The twilight series by Stephenie Meyers. Originally titled Master of his universe.

It gained approval based off the number of views it had, and the fact a lot of the first published books were sold through word of mouth, before it got media coverage.

Although I agree it was poorly written in the sentence and spelling structure, the fact remains a lot of people actually like the books.

The word Goddess was mentioned a lot because Ana for some reason after first having sex with Christian developed somewhat of a split personality complex with

Her "inner Goddess" being her sexual self and finely tuned to everything grey wanted
Her "subconscious" that rarely raised its head above a book and often adopted an Edwardian scream face. &
Her "me" the girl who she was before she even met Christian Grey

The Romance comes more evident in the second book, the first being Christian trying to turn Ana into a sub so he could have both... The lifestyle he was used to that, kept his world in order and his past demons from haunting him AND the Woman he fell in love with.

The second book Shows him give up his lifestyle almost completely, the more extreme aspects he had indulged in, he gave up permanently. However due to Ana understanding him better than she thought, she herself brought the lighter parts of Ds back into her relationship with Christian. In order for her to help him get over his past demons. This is carried on into the third book.

So at its core, it is a romance. Its just unfortunate it has many misguided concepts in the books.

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RE: 50 Shades of Missing the Point - 2/23/2015 5:04:20 AM

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quote:

ORIGINAL: ExiledTyrant

Greta, You've misplaced your broken English... I think I saw it down in off topic.

I've got your back ;)

I seriously have no idea what you are saying here at all. Guess we don't speak the same English.

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RE: 50 Shades of Missing the Point - 4/19/2015 9:39:50 AM

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MacGuffin, duex ex machina, red herrings and hobgoblins etc are all literary devices used since the beginning of time. As is good versus evil, vampires versus evil/good, Cop with a broken marriage and drink problem, anti heroes – those lovable rapscallions and so on. Or Maleficent if you want me to cite a comparable example – was it about angel/fairy magical wings

I am not sure what you are trying to say – doesn’t steven king do likewise in all his books ive read ive only red half a dozen – broken bullied childhood

To me the book which I have not read gained naughty notoriety, risqué forbidden etc and spread in the usual viral manner – cursed be the internet blogs etc

(in reply to Greta75)

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