50 Shades Series: Fan Fiction Run Amok

[Athena]

43 minutes ago, Dejana said:

Maybe Stephenie Meyer isn't particularly litigious or her lawyers looked into it and decided there wasn't enough of a case.

I think it's the former mostly. The books wouldn't have made it very far (even though they were not edited or horribly so) if Meyer was more litigious. If Meyer had sued, it would have opened up a debate about fanfiction and fan works in general that may have legally limited how fans distribute and post their work. In a way, it's good that Meyer didn't sue. On the other hand... we have the books and the movies. Ehh.

[GaT]

2 hours ago, Frost said:

I haven't read either the Twilight or FSOG series (I just come here to read the snark), so this confuses me.  It sounds like someone wrote and posted fan fiction with a BDSM twist in the Twilight universe (settings, characters, etc) and the FSOG author read those stories, changed the names and settings (no vampires, etc) and published her own book?  Isn't that plagiarism, even in the fan fiction world?

As other posters have commented already, she wrote both the fan fiction & the FSOG books. Fanfiction is a huge thing, but people don't usually turn it into actual books that sell. Another person who did this is Cassandra Clare, she has a number of very popular YA series & a TV show that all started from Harry Potter fanfiction. & there's still plagiarism controversy about her.

[xls]

I tried watching a few minutes but I just cant -its just too lame, creepy, stupid, Mr. Grey is just too not attractive at all, not even looks-wise but, there's just no aura about him!  If he wasn't a billionaire, would any woman sign his contract?

They're trying to make the helicopter rides & stuff so magical but its like some one said up thread; the most unsexiest movie about sex ever  

[navelgazer]

I read all the Twilight books once, but have seen all of the movies multiple times.  I'm a middle-aged woman and I live in the Pacific NW.  I regularly drive past the diner where Mike moons Bella.  The movies really bring out the beauty of the land here, the mountains, the giant trees, the rain, the coasts.  I could only dream of living in a house like Charlie's, at the end of a barely-paved road all by itself. 

On the other hand, I read about 15 pages in the middle of FSOG just to get a feel for them before I threw the book into the garbage, doubly annoyed at the morning show anchor (can't remember which one) who heartily recommended reading the books, saying they would make a six-hour flight seem like no time at all.  I was once in the BDSM scene as a sub and the power dynamic of Grey/Ana is completely and totally wrong.  The sub brings tribute to the Dom, not the other way around.  

Good movies about BDSM are possible.  I loved The Story of O and Secretary (except for the trial at the end).  And Belle de Jour is truly a trip inside the mind of a submissive.  Another favorite is a movie called Damage (with Jeremy Irons and Juliette Binoche) directed by Louis Malle based on the book of the same name where the book is much more explicit about BDSM that leads to sexual obsession.  Miranda Richardson was nominated for an Oscar (best supporting actress) for her work as Irons' aggrieved, neglected wife. 

[Ms Blue Jay]

On 11/7/2017 at 3:29 PM, MaggieG said:

Who is Tyler Hoechlin supposed to be portraying?

I finally watched the second one and I agree, their chemistry was better this time around. They seemed a bit more comfortable in their roles. 

Some hot ass author in the third film.  He only had 5 minutes of screentime.

[BetterButter]

[xls]

So anyone see the new one? in the previews she be acting like a smug pill imho, now that she's 'Mrs. Gray' whoo hoo. (rolls eyes) . And preggers too, lets see how long he stays interested. lol

[cpcathy]

I watched it, I'm a glutton for punishment.

It was so boring! A sexy movie should not be boring. A LOT of missionary, like...a lot. They really dropped the ball on the whole series, as misguided as it was to begin with. I see why women read the book, I read it; the plot and writing are HIDEOUS but yeah, um, sex scenes. The movies never should have been feature films, they should have been an HBO production with unknowns.

[xls]

Well the third one sucked, he's such a horrible person.  At the end they said I love you, just when I was thinking 'have these two ever said I love you?' 

So he's going to continue the S&M abuse while she's pregnant? How romantic! 

JD does not have the  charisma, or mystique that would make his character appealing at all.

the only, redeeming scene is where she tells him to "Grow the fk up!"

[blackwing]

Well, it happened.  My wife and I watched all three 50 Shades movies over the course of the past three nights.

I recall the Twilight craze and somehow we avoided it.  When the 50 Shades books and then the first movie came out, somehow we avoided it.  Several years ago, I saw the audiobook of the first book on the shelf.  I have a long commute each day so I started listening because I was curious about the hype.  I had to quit after the third or so "inner goddess" episode.  Do women really have these internal monologues like that?  And then I think I saw snippets of the first movie and just didn't have any interest.  Especially after the scathing reviews.

So... how we got here.  Believe it or not, it's because of Jamie Dornan.  I had seen him before in "The Fall" and thought he was good there, but my wife had never seen it because serial killers aren't really her thing.  We recently saw him in "Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar", where he was utterly hilarious.  So we thought to see him in some of his other roles.

We didn't think the films were as bad as the reputation they have.  Dornan is a bit stilted in the first one... I attributed that to his issues with an American accent.  He would go from vaguely American to Irish and back to American in the same line sometimes.  But I thought his acting very much improved over the next two films.  Maybe he felt more comfortable with the role, and he looked a lot better, he looked better with the haircuts and it was obvious they made him gain weight and muscle for the next two films.

Others upthread mentioned his two different sized eyes, which was very noticeable in the first movie.  I didn't notice it as much in the next two films, and it doesn't seem to be an issue in Barb and Star, so maybe it was some kind of strange acting choice.  Either that or he had some subsequent plastic surgery or something.

I wasn't impressed at all with Dakota Johnson, in fact, I thought she was pretty terrible.  I realise that her character is supposed to be all of 22, but the whole wide-eyed naive girl tentatively learns how to walk amongst this billionaire's world just didn't quite resonate well.  When she told that blonde architect that "you may call me Mrs. Grey", I couldn't help but burst out laughing.

How have these movies helped in terms of their careers?  Jamie Dornan's profile seems to have raised immensely, he has had roles in studio movies and indie movies opposite some big names, like Emily Blunt.  I know he's in a Kenneth Branagh movie with Judi Dench and an upcoming HBO series.  But what has Dakota Johnson been doing?  I looked up her wikipedia and it looks like she has been working but I don't recognise any of the films she has been in.

 

Edited July 26, 2021 by blackwing

[blackwing]

Purely looking at the plot of the films, I have some questions that I just don't understand or weren't clearly answered to me:

• What exactly is "Grey Enterprises"?  It was mentioned that it is a "business conglomerate".  What are some of its actual businesses?  Doesn't seem to be doing anything other than generic business negotiations.
• Why is Christian the CEO at 27 years old?  Why are no other family members involved in the business?  Particularly his dad?  His mom looks to be about 55ish so why isn't the dad still working?  Presumably he was the CEO who stepped down to pave the road for Christian, but in most family run businesses like this, the older generation tends to stay on as Chairman of the Board or something like that.
• What kind of education does Christian have to be running a billion dollar company? They could have mentioned that he went to Harvard or some other school. Why does he never call his father for advice about the business?  I would have expected a billionaire to be a lot more focused and attuned during business meetings, instead of letting his Girl Friday Ros run everything while he sexts his girlfriend.
• Isn't the brother supposed to be older than him?  I thought they said that Christian was adopted when he was 4.  In the last movie, the brother talks about how Christian has been like that since the day they brought him home, implying that the brother is older?  If the brother is older, why doesn't he have the billions?  But he looks younger than Christian to me.
• After Jack Hyde tried to rape Ana in the office, Christian assigns two security people to her.  The guy follows her around everywhere.  What did the woman do all day?  How did Jack Hyde get into the penthouse and hide in the bedroom if the woman and the housekeeper were both home?  Shouldn't there be some kind of alert bell or security camera system in the elevator so they will always know who is coming up in the elevator?
• How come there was zero mention of a pre-nup?  When they are about to go on their honeymoon, Ana looks wide-eyed at the jet and says "you own this?" and he replies "WE own this".  A billionaire family like that, I don't care how "in love" they are, there's no way the lawyers would allow the absence of a pre-nup.
• Jack Hyde was in the same foster home as Christian in Detroit.  Jack said that "it should have been me" that got adopted by the Greys.  How?  Christian got adopted after his mom's boyfriend burned him with cigarettes and Dr. Grey saw him in the hospital.  The Greys never went to the foster home and all the kids were lined up and the lucky chosen one would be whisked away to a life of luxury.
• Christian was with Elena Lincoln from the age of 15 to 21.  He says his parents never knew, which I find surprising, but OK.  Presumably it is implied that Christian is responsible for Elena and her husband splitting up.  So the husband has been plotting with Jack Hyde to ruin the Greys, and funded Jack's lifestyle while the plan was put into place.  This makes zero sense to me at all.... $5 million would hardly have ruined the Greys if their net worth is in the billions.

I am sure all of these questions can be chalked up to bad writing and bad source material, but they still bug me.

Edited July 26, 2021 by blackwing

[methodwriter85]

I love that there's still content that makes fun of 50 Shades. LOL. 

[blackwing]

16 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

I love that there's still content that makes fun of 50 Shades. LOL. 

Haha, that was great.  I'm not familiar with these people (I assume they fall into the category of what one might call, sigh, "Youtube stars") but they are funny and work well together.  I love that the girl clearly loves the movie (she says she has seen it 14 times and quotes the lines) but pretends to make fun of it because she thinks the guys will find it laughable.

I did like that the dark haired guy was wondering what kind of business Christian works in, because he literally doesn't work at all, and that was one of my exact same questions.

Looks like there is a second installment about the second movie, will watch that one.

Edited August 2, 2021 by blackwing

[Scarlett45]

@blackwing The Greys don’t have billions, Christian has billions. The Greys are fine financially, but the billionaire thing is something Christian did through his company. (Whatever company that is)

[methodwriter85]

I just tell myself Christian had a Facebook-like start-up windfall that made him billions. That's the only way to explain how he's 27 and a billionaire without coming from a billionaire family.

Edited August 9, 2021 by methodwriter85

[blackwing]

On 8/7/2021 at 10:05 PM, Scarlett45 said:

@blackwing The Greys don’t have billions, Christian has billions. The Greys are fine financially, but the billionaire thing is something Christian did through his company. (Whatever company that is)

 

9 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

I just tell myself Christian had a Facebook-like start-up windfall that made him billions. That's the only way to explain how he's 27 and a billionaire without coming from a billionaire family.

Ah thanks for the explanation, I had no idea that he supposedly made all that money himself.  But that would explain why he never asks his dad for business advice.  I agree that some throwaway backstory line of how he got his company started would have been nice.  Presumably he went to college, and assuming he didn't get his MBA, we are to believe that he went from nothing to a billion in 5 years?  He doesn't seem intelligent enough to have been a child prodigy who graduated from college at 14 or something.

It would have sounded better if they said he was 30, but I guess they didn't want the creep factor of a 30 year old dating a woman who was still in college.

[blackwing]

On 8/7/2021 at 10:05 PM, Scarlett45 said:

@blackwing The Greys don’t have billions, Christian has billions. The Greys are fine financially, but the billionaire thing is something Christian did through his company. (Whatever company that is)

 

On 8/8/2021 at 11:14 PM, methodwriter85 said:

I just tell myself Christian had a Facebook-like start-up windfall that made him billions. That's the only way to explain how he's 27 and a billionaire without coming from a billionaire family.

Due to my long commute, I was looking for my next audiobook at the library and found "Grey", the first book as told from Christian's perspective.  I'm a bit surprised at how much I am liking it.  Now granted, I'm not sure if things were left out of the movie from the original book because of editing or artistic license, but I am finding that this "Grey" book does a really good job of fleshing out Christian's character.  In particular, there is a lot more of his family in this book.

Also, it's nice to hear Christian's inner thoughts because they definitely give a lot more perspective on who he is and why he does what he does.  I was surprised to see how vulnerable and insecure he is.  Definitely a lot different than the version we see in the movie, in which he is always dominant and in control.

It was also great to get more about what he actually does for a living.  It seems that his company is constantly in the business of mergers and acquisitions.  Which is pretty vague still, but at least he is seen being involved in business meetings and negotiations.

[Scarlett45]

On 9/2/2021 at 3:09 PM, blackwing said:

I was surprised to see how vulnerable and insecure he is.  Definitely a lot different than the version we see in the movie, in which he is always dominant and in control.

 

I don’t know much about the Dom/Sub subculture, but isn’t that usually how it goes? In real life “Submissives” are typically people with type a, high power stressful jobs, and that’s why they love relinquishing control. Where as dominants are more meek and insecure?