Megan and I went to see the 50 shades of grey movie last night.
I was pleasantly surprised. It was different to what I was expecting and the differences make for good points to discuss over a coffee.
I laughed when mom arrived in his apartment and he panicked and had to quickly untie her.
I was thinking we need to do a more realistic spoof. You know where mum is over dads lap and kids come in with a wingy voice "I'm thirsty" or perhaps dad is bent over the chair and mum is wielding the wooden spoon. Likewise one is cooking and the other wants to play but no can do. cooking, Washing-up to be done. Or perhaps they are chasing each other round the lounge when one or the other is brought crashing down having tripped over a toy and driven a piece of Lego through their skin.
There were several scenes showing his rich larger than life play boy? style. Flying his leather upholstered helicopter or soaring in his glider. The Carly Simon song "Your So Vain" kept running through my head in those scenes.
I liked the light bondage scenes when he first takes her to the "play room". The fairly light smacks with the crop and suspension from the ceiling. As far as I could tell they both ended up stimulated and had mutually enjoyable sex. I certainly found them a turn on in a voyeuristic pornographic sense. I thought he made a valid point about the fear being a lot in her head. Certainly headspace has a lot to do with love of any type or flavour.
It seemed interesting that he was unable or unwilling to give her what she wanted - For him to sleep in the same bed and for them to cuddle up and go on dates together - movies, restaurants, theatre and so on. For a fellow who came across as wise and powerful this seemed very odd. Early on he had said that the key to his success [in business] was to identify talented people. I would have thought that he would have at least pretended to be romantic to give her something to feed her wants. In fact we know he could be romantic because in the early part of the movie he was the consummate romantic & protector - Rescues her when she is drunk, invites her for coffee,etc
Then he goes all weird - Wont sleep in her bed and intimates that once the contract is signed then no more dinner and movie dates.
She forces him into showing her what he wants. He agrees. This too seemed odd. He earlier claimed that he had had 15 women before her. He would have known that taking a not-in-the-submissive-groove girl and lining her up for 6 of the best was bound to bring out an extreme negative reaction. Yet he proceeds to give her 6 strokes of something (I forget what) the cane?. She has to count them. This seems to be the image that bdsm has. The dominant beating the submissive. She seems to take them disproportionately calmly. She lies on a bench and flinches while he seems to put all his energy into hitting hard. She does not jump or scream in pain. Cripes after the first stroke I would have been dancing and shouting. At the end she is freaked out and will not let him touch her. That I understood.
The end of the movie has her getting into the lift. Their eyes meet but the doors close. I can feel a sequel coming on.
I wondered, had he been able to talk about his feelings and be romantic / sleep in her bed / take her out then maybe she would have been willing to take the pain of the cane?
I also thought that the movie was surprising because in my view it was not a straight out porn or CSI story of rich white man beats the crap out of helpless poor woman who desperately needs the cash. I suspect casting him as mega rich sucks us in with a wow factor promise of a peak into the lives of the rich and famous. She though poorish and drives a beat up car does not forsake her identity. She maintains her self worth. She does not get sucked into the you can have all this if only you accept being his sex toy / slave. I thought it did a lot for displaying her strength of character. In fact we get sneak peaks at some pretty big baggage he is carrying (weaknesses) but she really is portrayed as strong, intelligent, self confident. If she represents women and he represents men then the women come out far in front.
We only saw a couple of shades of Mr Grey. I did not see 50.
1. Mr Grey the in control cool corporate leader.
2. Mr Grey the stressed corporate leader.
3. Mr Grey the love struck protector - When he rescues her from the night club. When he answers all the interview questions by email.
3. Mr Grey the romantic when he is being vanilla with the girl including first kiss and first sex.
4. Mr Grey the kinky lover - when he ties her up in the play room and both enjoy it.
5. Mr Grey the child - When mom arrives unexpectedly in his apartment.
6. Mr Grey the wannabe dominant - When she announces that she is going to visit her mother. A challenge to his wished for authority. And an earlier scene where he actually spanks her a couple of times.
7. Mr Grey the (stupid?) sadist - when he canes her.
8. Mr Grey the I've got emotional baggage person.
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