February 18, 2015
Fifty Shades of Grey, the movie based on the book, was released over the Valentine’s Day/President’s Day weekend. It smashed audience records, created considerable buzz, provoked some protests, and grossed around $90 million in box office sales in the United States and another $158 million in other countries. According to studio figures for the U.S., women comprised more than two-thirds of the audience.
Commenting on the film in the New Statesman, a British magazine of politics, culture, and current affairs, Zoe Margolis writes:
“The film will undoubtedly be as successful as the books, with sold out screenings all over the globe. But as much as I want to applaud a movie written and directed by women, I can’t condone one which idealises male power and emotional abuse as something seductive and sexy. They’re not. With the kinky-sex as a saucy distraction, the central message of this film— that it’s okay for men to control and manipulate women— remains unquestioned, and that’s not just bad, it’s dangerous.”
Read Margolis’s complete article, “50 Shades of Grey: a film about male power, idealising emotional abuse as sexy when it isn’t.”
