What is the appeal of Fifty Shades?

Mindkiller89 · 07-16-12 at 10:14 AM

Clearly these undersexed housewives and teenage girls have yet to read James Joyce's letters to Nora Barnacle if they think fifty shades is well written erotica.

**Shawn_7** · 07-16-12 at 01:02 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Mindkiller89

Clearly these undersexed housewives and teenage girls have yet to read James Joyce's letters to Nora Barnacle if they think fifty shades is well written erotica.

Why, had you any doubts about that?

**rainbowspinner** · 07-17-12 at 05:48 PM

I did a little more digging and found out that a book really can be judged by it's cover.

CNN's Emanuella Grinberg has been kind enough to provide an answer, of sorts:

Quote:

Explaining 'Fifty Shades' wild success
"What may have tipped the scale for the 'Fifty Shades' trilogy in particular are the nondescript covers. For whatever reason, the classic 'clinch' covers on a lot of romance novels tend to carry a stigma of being 'old-fashioned,' so the covers on 'Fifty Shades' may have made the books more approachable for a larger range or readers," RT Book Reviews Editor Audrey Goodson said.

...."We felt that discreet, tasteful covers certainly would bring in new readers who may not have bought the books with more explicit covers," Vintage Books spokesman Russell Perreault said.

The formula seems to have paid off, and since then, the romance industry has been keen to reap the benefits of judging a book by its cover. Not long after the series took off, Harlequin and other publishers began reissuing old titles with toned-down covers.

Code: Select All

http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/13/living/fifty-shades-buzz-50-shades-success/index.html

Could it be people who are reading erotica just don't want anyone to know what they're reading? Do they prefer the lights out too? Or could it be that since we women KNOW that men are visual orientated, that it's safer to not stir up trouble? Hmm... testing, testing - which cover affects you males more? LOL

VS.

So.... I guess it's ok to buy badly written erotica if the cover doesn't look like it contains anything related to sex. I further suppose that there are probably a great many women out there who are now a tad bit upset that their cover has been blown. "What are you reading dear?" "Oh... just another romance." LOL.

Oh well... I still say Fifty Shades is a really bad example of writing and that it's success probably should have been left to an erotic work more deserving. Let's hope this piece of work leads them to bigger and better things.

**Shawn_7** · 07-17-12 at 06:49 PM

Quote:

which cover affects you males more?

I like the necktie of the first cover, I want one, it goes perfectly with my blue-grey suit and my light blue shirt

As for the second cover, sorry, I don't like BDSM - even if light ...

**AngryiPod** · 07-22-12 at 01:58 AM

I had a co-worker reading this and recommending it to me. I flipped through it at the store and after reading a few pages, I put it right back. I have no problem with the occasional well-written romance novel and I have no problem with explicit scenes (like them, in fact). I, however, couldn't really stand the writing. It didn't capture my attention at all, though it does a good job of distracting my co-worker, lol.

mystified · 07-23-12 at 11:41 AM

I haven't read the books, but if I could venture a suggestion, perhaps it's the theme, rather than the writing, that caught people's imagination. Maybe the "undersexed housewives" have finally discovered kinky sex and they just couldn't find anything better than this. It's an amusing thought.
By the way, I loved your list of repetitions. It was funny as hell.

whitewolfgs · 07-23-12 at 12:19 PM

I read a review by a feminist writer who attempted to explain the appeal. Now, she admitted that there has been an impasse between feminism and BDSM for years, since there are feminists who are sex-negative and see this as a horrible insult. There are also feminists that try to reconcile BDSM as the choice of the individual, not simply some result of social conditioning.

What she concluded, however, was that the reason why this is so popular with women, even though it's graphic with so much BDSM? Because the male character gives the woman, Anastasia, attention. Women eat this up because it's an entire trilogy where a man is paying attention to this girl, focusing on her above anything else. It's the attention that women crave in their own lives, so they are able to ignore themes that might not normally sit well with them.

**rainbowspinner** · 07-23-12 at 02:48 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by mystified

I haven't read the books, but if I could venture a suggestion, perhaps it's the theme, rather than the writing, that caught people's imagination. Maybe the "undersexed housewives" have finally discovered kinky sex and they just couldn't find anything better than this. It's an amusing thought.
By the way, I loved your list of repetitions. It was funny as hell.

mystified, by the theme I assume you mean the submissive factor. I understand the point(s) you stated and I'm tending to agree. Could it be the simplistic nature of Fifty Shades, combined with the theme, that made it an easy appeal to those "undersexed housewives". Let's face it, the audience that these books have become a hit with can't be your everyday readers. The quality of the pro and con reviews reveal that. Maybe this was "read a book year" and they picked up this juicy little entertainment piece. As MacFalic mentioned earlier in the thread - at least people are reading!

I've been shifting through my mind for books that would have been a better choice and I keep coming back to Lora Leigh's Bound Heart series. But... not sure if they could handle them and the covers are a little risque.

The list of repetitions was not mine, another's review. It was a major cause for this thread though - It had me in stiches too! Glad you enjoyed it!

Quote: Originally Posted by whitewolfgs

Because the male character gives the woman, Anastasia, attention. Women eat this up because it's an entire trilogy where a man is paying attention to this girl, focusing on her above anything else. It's the attention that women crave in their own lives, so they are able to ignore themes that might not normally sit well with them.

whitewofgs - I have these auto defenses that come up when ever I hear someone label themselves a "feminist", as that reviewer did. LOL. I think the rational part of my brain mind shuts down. Hate the word "feminist". My mind goes into a "Don't want to hear what you have to say" type of thing. I had to read your post a few times before the whole of the explanation/theory sunk in. It does make sense. The thing is that bdsm novels all tend to be a total guy focus on girl thing anyway. That explains the appeal of the sexual theme. The funny thing about this trilogy is that I've heard it could have and should have been one book. Can't offer a personal opinion on that though.

~~~~~~~~

Gotta stop myself here sometimes and wonder where I get off criticizing these books because they are making A LOT of money. They aren't cheap. Oh yeah - Now I remember - the writing stinks! What.A.Shame.

**carlmc1** · 07-23-12 at 05:09 PM

All I know is, I've never been asked to get an e-book more than I have these ones. Not just from sex starved/bored housewives either! Lol.

I'm no reader by any stretch of the imagination, but I will admit (ffs don't tell anyone! Haha) I did read the first few chapters. Think they were in a coffee shop when I bowed out?! That was enough for me... thought it was turd. Lost count how many times I read "his grey eyes" in it & and that was at the start! Screw reading 3 books of his grey freaking eyes every couple of pages! It was too basic, too repetitive & too predictable. Even for my untrained eye.

I could have written it better myself. Actually, I know I could of! Lol! Even the sex scenes (do you have scenes in books?... Blonde moment! Lol) were garbage. Definitely could have written those better! ROFL!

There's a lesson to be learned though.... if you want to shift something in big numbers, make sure it goes viral! The power of word & mouth is there for all to see. The thing everyone has in common is we all wanna know how things end.... no matter how crap it is! XD

**Shawn_7** · 07-23-12 at 05:29 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by carlmc1

Lost count how many times I read "his grey eyes" in it & and that was at the start! Screw reading 3 books of his grey freaking eyes every couple of pages!

The author wanted merely be sure the reader understood that that character's eyes are grey

Perhaps it's an intertextual reference to John Keats's poem La Belle Dame Sans Merci?

Quote:

She took me to her elfin grot,
And there she wept and sighed full sore,
And there I shut her wild wild eyes
With kisses four.

**cirmar** · 07-24-12 at 06:47 AM

Frankly, I cannot understand why the 50 Shades trilogy went viral. I downloaded and read all three, and was very dissapointed. If you're looking for romance, there isn't any. If you're looking for erotica, this was boring, and there are so many better ones available (just browse this site!) If you're looking for porn, it is too mild to be classified as that. So it's lose all the way. But... That's just my opinion...

mystified · 07-24-12 at 11:23 AM

Yes, I did mean the submissive/ bdsm theme. Your bringing up a better alternative gave me an idea: maybe the best way to put an end to the 50 shades hysteria is to point its readers to some better books with the same theme.
Whitewofgs - I think that you make a good point that part of the attraction to these novels (I use the term very loosely) is the undivided attention the heroine gets, but isn't that the case with all bdsm scenarios?

**Shawn_7** · 07-24-12 at 11:56 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by mystified

maybe the best way to put an end to the 50 shades hysteria is to point its readers to some better books with the same theme.

Good idea. Then D.A.F. de Sade's Justine is the right book.

Quote:

Napoleon Bonaparte ordered the arrest of the anonymous author of Justine and Juliette, and as a result Sade was incarcerated for the last 13 years of his life. Napoleon called Justine "the most abominable book ever engendered by the most depraved imagination".

The book's destruction was ordered by the Cour Royale de Paris on May 19, 1815.

A censored English translation of Justine was issued in the USA by the Risus Press in the early 1930s, and went through many reprintings. The first unexpurgated English translation of Justine (by 'Pieralessandro Casavini', a pseudonym for Austryn Wainhouse) was published by the Olympia Press in 1953. Wainhouse later revised this translation for publication in the United States by Grove Press. Other modern translated versions in print, notably the Wordsworth edition, are abridged and heavily censored.

Code: Select All

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justine_(Sade)

**anomander** · 07-24-12 at 12:22 PM

The popularity is down purely to marketing and proof that there are considerably more people in the world thinking about a fringe or outrageous sex life rather than actually having one.........and whats the point of that?

07-17-12 at 05:48 PM	#17
rainbowspinner Elder Join Date: May 2010 Posts: 2,564	I did a little more digging and found out that a book really can be judged by it's cover. CNN's Emanuella Grinberg has been kind enough to provide an answer, of sorts: Quote: Explaining 'Fifty Shades' wild success "What may have tipped the scale for the 'Fifty Shades' trilogy in particular are the nondescript covers. For whatever reason, the classic 'clinch' covers on a lot of romance novels tend to carry a stigma of being 'old-fashioned,' so the covers on 'Fifty Shades' may have made the books more approachable for a larger range or readers," RT Book Reviews Editor Audrey Goodson said. ...."We felt that discreet, tasteful covers certainly would bring in new readers who may not have bought the books with more explicit covers," Vintage Books spokesman Russell Perreault said. The formula seems to have paid off, and since then, the romance industry has been keen to reap the benefits of judging a book by its cover. Not long after the series took off, Harlequin and other publishers began reissuing old titles with toned-down covers. Code: Select All http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/13/living/fifty-shades-buzz-50-shades-success/index.html Could it be people who are reading erotica just don't want anyone to know what they're reading? Do they prefer the lights out too? Or could it be that since we women KNOW that men are visual orientated, that it's safer to not stir up trouble? Hmm... testing, testing - which cover affects you males more? LOL VS. So.... I guess it's ok to buy badly written erotica if the cover doesn't look like it contains anything related to sex. I further suppose that there are probably a great many women out there who are now a tad bit upset that their cover has been blown. "What are you reading dear?" "Oh... just another romance." LOL. Oh well... I still say Fifty Shades is a really bad example of writing and that it's success probably should have been left to an erotic work more deserving. Let's hope this piece of work leads them to bigger and better things.

07-24-12 at 11:56 AM	#27
Shawn_7 Elder Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Eventyrland Posts: 3,515	Quote: Originally Posted by mystified maybe the best way to put an end to the 50 shades hysteria is to point its readers to some better books with the same theme. Good idea. Then D.A.F. de Sade's Justine is the right book. Quote: Napoleon Bonaparte ordered the arrest of the anonymous author of Justine and Juliette, and as a result Sade was incarcerated for the last 13 years of his life. Napoleon called Justine "the most abominable book ever engendered by the most depraved imagination". The book's destruction was ordered by the Cour Royale de Paris on May 19, 1815. A censored English translation of Justine was issued in the USA by the Risus Press in the early 1930s, and went through many reprintings. The first unexpurgated English translation of Justine (by 'Pieralessandro Casavini', a pseudonym for Austryn Wainhouse) was published by the Olympia Press in 1953. Wainhouse later revised this translation for publication in the United States by Grove Press. Other modern translated versions in print, notably the Wordsworth edition, are abridged and heavily censored. Code: Select All http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justine_(Sade)

07-16-12 at 10:14 AM	#15
Mindkiller89 Newcomer Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 6	Clearly these undersexed housewives and teenage girls have yet to read James Joyce's letters to Nora Barnacle if they think fifty shades is well written erotica.

07-16-12 at 01:02 PM	#16
Shawn_7 Elder Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Eventyrland Posts: 3,515	Quote: Originally Posted by Mindkiller89 Clearly these undersexed housewives and teenage girls have yet to read James Joyce's letters to Nora Barnacle if they think fifty shades is well written erotica. Why, had you any doubts about that?

07-17-12 at 06:49 PM	#18
Shawn_7 Elder Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Eventyrland Posts: 3,515	Quote: which cover affects you males more? I like the necktie of the first cover, I want one, it goes perfectly with my blue-grey suit and my light blue shirt As for the second cover, sorry, I don't like BDSM - even if light ...

07-22-12 at 01:58 AM	#19
AngryiPod LORD OF ALL IPODS Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Wherever my owner left me. Posts: 94	I had a co-worker reading this and recommending it to me. I flipped through it at the store and after reading a few pages, I put it right back. I have no problem with the occasional well-written romance novel and I have no problem with explicit scenes (like them, in fact). I, however, couldn't really stand the writing. It didn't capture my attention at all, though it does a good job of distracting my co-worker, lol.

07-23-12 at 11:41 AM	#20
mystified Newcomer Join Date: Sep 2010 Posts: 13	I haven't read the books, but if I could venture a suggestion, perhaps it's the theme, rather than the writing, that caught people's imagination. Maybe the "undersexed housewives" have finally discovered kinky sex and they just couldn't find anything better than this. It's an amusing thought. By the way, I loved your list of repetitions. It was funny as hell.

07-23-12 at 12:19 PM	#21
whitewolfgs Novice Join Date: Jan 2012 Posts: 148	I read a review by a feminist writer who attempted to explain the appeal. Now, she admitted that there has been an impasse between feminism and BDSM for years, since there are feminists who are sex-negative and see this as a horrible insult. There are also feminists that try to reconcile BDSM as the choice of the individual, not simply some result of social conditioning. What she concluded, however, was that the reason why this is so popular with women, even though it's graphic with so much BDSM? Because the male character gives the woman, Anastasia, attention. Women eat this up because it's an entire trilogy where a man is paying attention to this girl, focusing on her above anything else. It's the attention that women crave in their own lives, so they are able to ignore themes that might not normally sit well with them.

07-23-12 at 02:48 PM	#22
rainbowspinner Elder Join Date: May 2010 Posts: 2,564	Quote: Originally Posted by mystified I haven't read the books, but if I could venture a suggestion, perhaps it's the theme, rather than the writing, that caught people's imagination. Maybe the "undersexed housewives" have finally discovered kinky sex and they just couldn't find anything better than this. It's an amusing thought. By the way, I loved your list of repetitions. It was funny as hell. mystified, by the theme I assume you mean the submissive factor. I understand the point(s) you stated and I'm tending to agree. Could it be the simplistic nature of Fifty Shades, combined with the theme, that made it an easy appeal to those "undersexed housewives". Let's face it, the audience that these books have become a hit with can't be your everyday readers. The quality of the pro and con reviews reveal that. Maybe this was "read a book year" and they picked up this juicy little entertainment piece. As MacFalic mentioned earlier in the thread - at least people are reading! I've been shifting through my mind for books that would have been a better choice and I keep coming back to Lora Leigh's Bound Heart series. But... not sure if they could handle them and the covers are a little risque. The list of repetitions was not mine, another's review. It was a major cause for this thread though - It had me in stiches too! Glad you enjoyed it! Quote: Originally Posted by whitewolfgs Because the male character gives the woman, Anastasia, attention. Women eat this up because it's an entire trilogy where a man is paying attention to this girl, focusing on her above anything else. It's the attention that women crave in their own lives, so they are able to ignore themes that might not normally sit well with them. whitewofgs - I have these auto defenses that come up when ever I hear someone label themselves a "feminist", as that reviewer did. LOL. I think the rational part of my brain mind shuts down. Hate the word "feminist". My mind goes into a "Don't want to hear what you have to say" type of thing. I had to read your post a few times before the whole of the explanation/theory sunk in. It does make sense. The thing is that bdsm novels all tend to be a total guy focus on girl thing anyway. That explains the appeal of the sexual theme. The funny thing about this trilogy is that I've heard it could have and should have been one book. Can't offer a personal opinion on that though. ~~~~~~~~ Gotta stop myself here sometimes and wonder where I get off criticizing these books because they are making A LOT of money. They aren't cheap. Oh yeah - Now I remember - the writing stinks! What.A.Shame.

07-23-12 at 05:09 PM	#23
carlmc1 Not Banned Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: England Posts: 2,006	All I know is, I've never been asked to get an e-book more than I have these ones. Not just from sex starved/bored housewives either! Lol. I'm no reader by any stretch of the imagination, but I will admit (ffs don't tell anyone! Haha) I did read the first few chapters. Think they were in a coffee shop when I bowed out?! That was enough for me... thought it was turd. Lost count how many times I read "his grey eyes" in it & and that was at the start! Screw reading 3 books of his grey freaking eyes every couple of pages! It was too basic, too repetitive & too predictable. Even for my untrained eye. I could have written it better myself. Actually, I know I could of! Lol! Even the sex scenes (do you have scenes in books?... Blonde moment! Lol) were garbage. Definitely could have written those better! ROFL! There's a lesson to be learned though.... if you want to shift something in big numbers, make sure it goes viral! The power of word & mouth is there for all to see. The thing everyone has in common is we all wanna know how things end.... no matter how crap it is! XD

07-23-12 at 05:29 PM	#24
Shawn_7 Elder Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Eventyrland Posts: 3,515	Quote: Originally Posted by carlmc1 Lost count how many times I read "his grey eyes" in it & and that was at the start! Screw reading 3 books of his grey freaking eyes every couple of pages! The author wanted merely be sure the reader understood that that character's eyes are grey Perhaps it's an intertextual reference to John Keats's poem La Belle Dame Sans Merci? Quote: She took me to her elfin grot, And there she wept and sighed full sore, And there I shut her wild wild eyes With kisses four.

07-24-12 at 06:47 AM	#25
cirmar Expert Join Date: Jan 2011 Posts: 519	Frankly, I cannot understand why the 50 Shades trilogy went viral. I downloaded and read all three, and was very dissapointed. If you're looking for romance, there isn't any. If you're looking for erotica, this was boring, and there are so many better ones available (just browse this site!) If you're looking for porn, it is too mild to be classified as that. So it's lose all the way. But... That's just my opinion...

07-24-12 at 11:23 AM	#26
mystified Newcomer Join Date: Sep 2010 Posts: 13	Yes, I did mean the submissive/ bdsm theme. Your bringing up a better alternative gave me an idea: maybe the best way to put an end to the 50 shades hysteria is to point its readers to some better books with the same theme. Whitewofgs - I think that you make a good point that part of the attraction to these novels (I use the term very loosely) is the undivided attention the heroine gets, but isn't that the case with all bdsm scenarios?

07-24-12 at 12:22 PM	#28
anomander Reborn Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 4,025	The popularity is down purely to marketing and proof that there are considerably more people in the world thinking about a fringe or outrageous sex life rather than actually having one.........and whats the point of that?