50 Shades Too Far

Categories: uncategorized

Date: 17 July 2012 16:55:39

Yesterday I read this review of 50 Shades of Grey by E L James in Christianity magazine. The beginning of the review itself was interesting because it referred to a dilemma the magazine itself felt it had - should it engage with or simply ignore this book which has apparently become the largest selling paperback? In other words should a Christianity engage in a difficult debate about sexually explicit material or not? The writer of the culture column also comments he was aware that should they decide to go with the article he would have to read the book himself.

In terms of how the decision to go with it was made the following paragraph was written:

"Fifty Shades isn’t just massive, it’s mainstream. If we want to reach this culture relevantly with our story – the message of the gospel – then we need to understand this culture; to take time to listen to the stories that are being told, and to consider why they are finding resonance. Like it or not, Fifty Shades is 2012’s biggest literary sensation, and with publishers reportedly gearing up to release a slew of explicit fiction titles in its wake, we need to ask why this is happening."

This paragraph of the review struck a chord with me. This book isn't just big it's gone viral and in our household discussions were already going on about whether to buy it or not and the ethical issues involved. Reading the review persuaded me to go into Sainsbury's and buy it. As I type I'm up to page 143 and wondering whether to go further - I am finding it a deeply disturbing book and to be honest I don't just think it's because I am not overly into hearing about or imagining heterosexual sex acts. (note: whilst I am wondering whether to go further I think it is necessary, if we are to engage in conversations on this book with others I think it is important to get through one if not all of the books).

Within the Christianity article there is mention of both pornographic literature and erotic literature with little differentiation between them and that raises a good question about this book is it pornographic or erotic literature and is there a difference between them? Having read through this far it is clearly erotica rather than porn (as far as I can see) that is from what I can see the book is intended to create sexual desire but also to deal with the feelings of the characters and so have a wider cognitive function than porn would. That said the examination of feelings, attitudes and behaviours being dealt with here seems to be buried by the explicit sexual scenes in many ways.

According to the Christianity magazine piece the book started life as vamp fan reaction and ended up as dark fantasy with the vampire references removed. That I get having this week also read Charlaine Harris' Dead Until Dark for a book group I've started going to, (which again wouldn't be my normal reading matter). From what I can gather vamp lit in its teenage form (Twilight and so forth) has parts which may be considered slightly explicit but are just the right side of being erotic - in adult form they clearly become identifiable as erotic.

Both books are interesting in that on one level they are mind-numbing crap but lying deeper within them is something engaging as they both give interesting character portraits which explore the issue of identity, norms and values in a deep but in a way which seems deeply disturbing. They do this, in some ways, by removing the boundaries and taboos. This removal of taboos is something that is, apparently, becoming particularly popular with women in their 20's and 30's. Should we be surprised though? I would argue in some ways is this just the extension of the material that generation in particular have been consuming through Jeremy Kyle and so on in tv and through disturbing autobiographies focusing on abused and difficult childhoods - are those discussions just being extended into popular literature?

My own view is that it is more complicated than that and it also has to do with a range of things including the way sex is now seen as a detached from love and romance in many ways and the way sex is now commodified in a way it wasn't previously. A point the Christianity review also touches upon.

In terms of how we relate to this book I will return to do this and write a fuller review when I have read the whole book. For the moment I think we need to look at the whole book and the variety of themes within it from a perspective which is gospel based. For example beyond the sex is the relationship between Ana the protagonist and Kate her room mate at uni. There are issues related to friends looking out for each other and how relationships on this purely platonic level work in addition to the dominant sexual relationship which is the central part of the book. So besides using it to discuss what healthy sexual relationships involve, as Martin Saunders suggests in the Christianity review, I think we can the discussions around this book to discuss the wider issues which it touches upon.

More to come on this when I've finished reading the whole of 50 Shades and possibly the sequels....