(no subject)

[scarfman]

I've retumbld some commentary of others about Twilght and Fifty Shades, but I offer no opinions of my own because I haven't read the books or seen the movies so I have no basis for opinions.

But it does occur to me that it's just possible that the huge backlash against the huge popularity of both franchises is an artifact of the internalized misogyny in our society that reflexively but actively devalues what women create and enjoy and that the depiction of the relationships between the franchises' lead couples shall normalize stalking and abuse as romantic to many impressionable people.

Comments

[chocolatescifi.livejournal.com]

When all the hype about Fifty Shades first started, I tried to read the first book. I quickly found myself in agreement with Dorothy Parker -- "This is not a book to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force."

I also found great wisdom in the words of Truman Capote -- "That's not writing; that's just typing!"

Trust me, the books are NOT well written. Even worse, for an alleged work of erotica, I found nothing arousing in it.

[scarfman]

Well, as for the latter, I'm pretty sure you're not the target demographic.

[chocolatescifi.livejournal.com]

I've read other books that were erotic in nature. I may have not been the target demographic, but I could still find passages that were arousing. Fifty Shades is the cure for Viagra.

[scarfman]

How many of those others were targeted at women by women? Any?

[chocolatescifi.livejournal.com]

Are you familiar with the publisher Ellora's Cave?

[scarfman]

No.

[chocolatescifi.livejournal.com]

Among other things, Ellora's Cave does a lot of erotica with an SF/F tilt. And my general impression is that most of their books seem to be written by/for women. Still, I can find passages from their books quite arousing.

[scarfman]

The Newsweek review of The Phantom Menace started out with a paragraph of the critic admitting that millions of people see something in that movie franchise that he doesn’t. He then proceeded to riff for ten pages on the premise that if he didn’t see it then it couldn’t possibly be there. That’s the vibe I'm getting off of you now.

[chocolatescifi.livejournal.com]

I think the only thing I can say at this point is to try reading Fifty Shades for yourself. See if your impression matches mine.

I'm assuming that you are aware of its origins as a Twilight fanfic. I remember reading a few comments online that suggested that the only thing the writer didin changing the story was changing the names of the characters. (And, I presume, eliminating the vampire aspect.)

[scarfman]

My point all along has been that whether it's erotic to you or me is utterly irrelevant to what I said.