Friday, July 25, 2014

Pointless Outrage

I watched the Fifty Shades of Grey trailer today.  I wasn’t impressed by it, although seeing as how it was based originally on a fan-fiction of Twilight, this isn’t a big shocker for me.  There were some things that stood out though, based on the trailer.

For one thing, the male lead appears to be much more Alpha than a blood-sucking vampire.  I don’t know how that plays out in the movie, but he’s much more confident in his approach to women.  The trailer makes that obvious as he approaches a plain Jane female lead.  And let’s be honest: any man who is able to not only take a young woman’s virginity but also introduce her to BSDM shortly afterward is at the top of his game.

I’ve read a lot criticism about this movie.  Both come from the Left and the Right side as well.  The Feminist Left cannot stand the portrayal of an Alpha man’s interactions with a woman, unless she is stronger than him and takes him down a notch or two.  The movie does not do this.  It portrays an Alpha man take on a dominant role and places his love interest in a submissive one.  For a feminist, this is the ultimate insult.

The Christian Right, on the other hand, criticizes the portrayal of fornication and bondage sex in general.  The trouble is, pornography is, unfortunately, mainstream these days.  What was once a magazine under your bed or something only seen in a grindhouse theater is now in major productions everywhere.  The thing is, if I wanted to see bondage sex scenes, I wouldn’t have to pay for it.

The book upon which the movie is based on appears to be similar in plot to Twilight, actually except with much dirtier elements.  Basically, a handsome bad boy is tamed by a plain virginal girl.  This is the ultimate female fantasy.  That she was the one who lassoed the wild horse and got him to submit to her.

This is largely why many women go for the guy who is on the higher tier to the detriment of the lower men.  They see the handsome player and think that they can be the one who gets him to settle down.  The one who will use all of his charm, passion, and sexual energy on her.  That he will sacrifice everything for her, even his own life in need be.

It’s the classic knight rescues princess fairy tale theme that we are told about when we are children.  The brave, strong knight rescues the princess and marries her, settling down, and sacrificing the warrior’s life.

The tragedy in this is that most men of that caliber will not do this.  Once they get bored with the women they sleep with, they usually ditch them.  If any of these women get out of line in any way, you can bet they are gone too.  Dominant men do not tolerate dissent and are willing to do anything to ensure it and, failing that, do anything to remove the toxic women from their lives.

I don’t know how well the movie will do in the box office when it is released.  I don’t know why it takes so long to make a movie with such a basic plot.  I really don’t care.  I’m not interested in romance dramas.  Hell, I can barely tolerate romantic comedies when my wife and I occasionally watch them (though not so much anymore really).

But the outrage over the movie is laughable.  Folks, there are plenty of reasons to be outraged in this world.  A movie depicting bondage sex acts is not one of them.