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| Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L.James |
What is there about "E.L. James' badly written unapologetically graphic trilogy of novels to sell a whopping 100 million copies in 52 languages worldwide?" Kenneth Turan asks the question perhaps we all should ask.
Turan, of the Los Angeles Times, offers an observation made by critics who read the book, then saw a preview of the film, Fifty Shades of Grey. They might be best summarized by Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly, " It's too bad the movie also imports James's atrociously written prose and bizarre sexual politics, but then, no one buys a Fifty Shades ticket for the dialogue."
Along with that we might add other questions too, with a perspective on sex and literature, asking ourselves if effective communication and good character development along with a rich story is what we seek in literature. Then we can debate the ethics of our freedom and how far it too can go, asking ourselves a final question: Why do we reinforce the least of us if it is the best we seek?
The questions here are those that get at things people say they want but contemporary behavior surrounding Fifty Shades of Grey reinforce those things that do the opposite instead without ethics and effective language, two things people say they want.
Ethics and effective language often are the heart of the freedom debate as well. For what is ethical for one man may not be for another. What is effective language in the heat of passion one might say will differ just as much. How far one goes in extremes of each is like the freedom debate. A comparison of Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence and Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James may allow us to see a spectrum of our culture and to examine the nature of freedom too. It allows us to weigh the extremes against cultural survival that is often reinforced by a society's written word and its expression of the higher good that carries it along. That higher good may simply be some value embedded in the message, with the rest of the dialogue, the story and the content reinforcing the communication of what that value is. And perhaps it is freedom speaking with another voice.
Other critics comparing these books do so on the basis of the language itself and whether Fifty Shades of Grey measures up to Lady Chatterley's Lover. But the comparison might be on other levels that include the nature of freedom and the historical context in which both books were written.
Lady Chatterley's Lover has been a must read for students of literature in college for many years. The classic love and steamy sex was written with the passions that are part of humankind. The words made pictures as we watched the story elements unfold. We knew, like many stories, where the story just might lead; but the language gave us flavor as our appetites would grow.
But E. L. James does not do that for freedom, nor likely will the film, even as several critics who have seen the film maintain the language of the movie is better than the language of the book.
The language of Lady Chatterley's Lover was a different thing. The literary content of D.H. Lawrence, and its developed studies of the characters themselves, was as much an elegant prose frame for the story itself. It encapsulated the theme of woman's sexuality pitted against the stereotypes of womankind. He examines the human character, how man and woman view each other and how our culture treats them both in words and deeds as well. D.H. Lawrence examines the mental and emotional conflicts women had, and many still have, in the fashion described by this eloquent author in a passage from the book:
"And however one might sentimentalize it, this sex business was one of the most ancient, sordid connexions and subjections. Poets who gloried it were mostly men. Women had always known there was something better, something higher. The beautiful pure freedom of a woman was infinitely more wonderful than any sexual love. The only unfortunae thing was that men lagged so far behind women in the matter. They insisted on the sex thing like dogs."
And a woman had to yield," D.H. Lawrence continued, as the novel unfolds and we see man's appetites conflicting with women's notions of love itself and how the lovers make their way into a sex-befuddled world, the world of the 1930's, that in some ways is like our own. A great war, World War I, had ended to an acting-out phase that lingered awhile, the 1920's, the speakeasy ways of guys and dolls, and the 1930's romantic love of Cary Grant and leading ladies that simply swooned when the lights went dim. It was in this atmosphere, sandwiched between two wars, that D.H. Lawrence stepped in and looked at male-female issues and defined new freedoms that took root with the coming years. And for that his critics said he had written pornography.
And women's sexual freedom and part of that conflict is seen in this continuation of D.H. Lawrence words: "but a woman could yield to a man without yielding her inner, free self." Then he went on to express that yielding and that freedom in a description of men's climax and woman's later orgasm by holding herself back. The sexual freedom may not be as folks define it now, but the revolutionary way it was described made Lady Chatterley's Lover called pornography by many. D.H. Lawrence brilliant book, his language and his thesis, brought the social and legal conclusion that remains to this day. Lady Chatterley's Lover, is the book, a masterpiece, a literary classic that is said to define the heart of D.H. Lawrence work. After all, he was a poet too; and his expressions took language to describe the basic human act of sex allowing us to see---and almost feel—the passion, the intensity, the feelings men and women struggle themselves to put into words. He did that with the careful ways an author finds to build his characters. He does so with passion, feeling and the care it takes to make the story something the reader can't put down, as one finds oneself absorbed in every word and detail that he brings. The sexual climax is that "final spasm of self assertion," a dimension of description that makes us ponder every word.
E.L. James looks at this conflict in a way folks may differ in their opinions, male and female, in their thoughts of sex, likes this: "My eyes stray to the piano. Jeez—if I'd kept my mouth shut, we'd have made love on the piano. No, fucked, we would have fucked on the piano. Well I would have made love. The thought lies heavy and sad in my mind and what's left of my heart. He has never made love to me, has he?"
What does the one-dimensional, virtuous woman, Ana, the main character of Fifty Shades of Grey, do with this knowledge expressed so directly to us, as she just moves along from one sex encounter to another, all similar enough they could have been done in a single, prolonged scene? And none of those myriad scenes that seem like near-copies of one another are done beautifully and carefully so we see the complexity of character we see in the D.H. Lawrence tale. The freedom exists in the character's participation in the sexual hijinks of the character of Christian, which may be enough for some folks on some levels. Yet one asks the question if that expressed freedom might not be better done in a far better way, with the inclusion of some philosophical or ethical overview as D.H. Lawrence did, in his ability to understand and examine his culture of his time and potentially all time.
It is the freedom debate we find in almost every place, including what is literature and what are ethics after all. D.H. Lawrence gave us both, by offering us the meaning of how man and woman think of sex and each other in language we can read and feel so deep it touches the soul of what we know about ourselves. E.L. James in her Fifty Shades offers another tabloid story-tale, and we can peek and giggle in our corners after all. Then anticipate the film and wonder what it really is about, and likely leave still wondering, never finding anything at all.
Along with that we might add other questions too, with a perspective on sex and literature, asking ourselves if effective communication and good character development along with a rich story is what we seek in literature. Then we can debate the ethics of our freedom and how far it too can go, asking ourselves a final question: Why do we reinforce the least of us if it is the best we seek?
The questions here are those that get at things people say they want but contemporary behavior surrounding Fifty Shades of Grey reinforce those things that do the opposite instead without ethics and effective language, two things people say they want.
Ethics and effective language often are the heart of the freedom debate as well. For what is ethical for one man may not be for another. What is effective language in the heat of passion one might say will differ just as much. How far one goes in extremes of each is like the freedom debate. A comparison of Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence and Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James may allow us to see a spectrum of our culture and to examine the nature of freedom too. It allows us to weigh the extremes against cultural survival that is often reinforced by a society's written word and its expression of the higher good that carries it along. That higher good may simply be some value embedded in the message, with the rest of the dialogue, the story and the content reinforcing the communication of what that value is. And perhaps it is freedom speaking with another voice.
Other critics comparing these books do so on the basis of the language itself and whether Fifty Shades of Grey measures up to Lady Chatterley's Lover. But the comparison might be on other levels that include the nature of freedom and the historical context in which both books were written.
Lady Chatterley's Lover has been a must read for students of literature in college for many years. The classic love and steamy sex was written with the passions that are part of humankind. The words made pictures as we watched the story elements unfold. We knew, like many stories, where the story just might lead; but the language gave us flavor as our appetites would grow.
But E. L. James does not do that for freedom, nor likely will the film, even as several critics who have seen the film maintain the language of the movie is better than the language of the book.
The language of Lady Chatterley's Lover was a different thing. The literary content of D.H. Lawrence, and its developed studies of the characters themselves, was as much an elegant prose frame for the story itself. It encapsulated the theme of woman's sexuality pitted against the stereotypes of womankind. He examines the human character, how man and woman view each other and how our culture treats them both in words and deeds as well. D.H. Lawrence examines the mental and emotional conflicts women had, and many still have, in the fashion described by this eloquent author in a passage from the book:
"And however one might sentimentalize it, this sex business was one of the most ancient, sordid connexions and subjections. Poets who gloried it were mostly men. Women had always known there was something better, something higher. The beautiful pure freedom of a woman was infinitely more wonderful than any sexual love. The only unfortunae thing was that men lagged so far behind women in the matter. They insisted on the sex thing like dogs."
And a woman had to yield," D.H. Lawrence continued, as the novel unfolds and we see man's appetites conflicting with women's notions of love itself and how the lovers make their way into a sex-befuddled world, the world of the 1930's, that in some ways is like our own. A great war, World War I, had ended to an acting-out phase that lingered awhile, the 1920's, the speakeasy ways of guys and dolls, and the 1930's romantic love of Cary Grant and leading ladies that simply swooned when the lights went dim. It was in this atmosphere, sandwiched between two wars, that D.H. Lawrence stepped in and looked at male-female issues and defined new freedoms that took root with the coming years. And for that his critics said he had written pornography.
And women's sexual freedom and part of that conflict is seen in this continuation of D.H. Lawrence words: "but a woman could yield to a man without yielding her inner, free self." Then he went on to express that yielding and that freedom in a description of men's climax and woman's later orgasm by holding herself back. The sexual freedom may not be as folks define it now, but the revolutionary way it was described made Lady Chatterley's Lover called pornography by many. D.H. Lawrence brilliant book, his language and his thesis, brought the social and legal conclusion that remains to this day. Lady Chatterley's Lover, is the book, a masterpiece, a literary classic that is said to define the heart of D.H. Lawrence work. After all, he was a poet too; and his expressions took language to describe the basic human act of sex allowing us to see---and almost feel—the passion, the intensity, the feelings men and women struggle themselves to put into words. He did that with the careful ways an author finds to build his characters. He does so with passion, feeling and the care it takes to make the story something the reader can't put down, as one finds oneself absorbed in every word and detail that he brings. The sexual climax is that "final spasm of self assertion," a dimension of description that makes us ponder every word.
E.L. James looks at this conflict in a way folks may differ in their opinions, male and female, in their thoughts of sex, likes this: "My eyes stray to the piano. Jeez—if I'd kept my mouth shut, we'd have made love on the piano. No, fucked, we would have fucked on the piano. Well I would have made love. The thought lies heavy and sad in my mind and what's left of my heart. He has never made love to me, has he?"
What does the one-dimensional, virtuous woman, Ana, the main character of Fifty Shades of Grey, do with this knowledge expressed so directly to us, as she just moves along from one sex encounter to another, all similar enough they could have been done in a single, prolonged scene? And none of those myriad scenes that seem like near-copies of one another are done beautifully and carefully so we see the complexity of character we see in the D.H. Lawrence tale. The freedom exists in the character's participation in the sexual hijinks of the character of Christian, which may be enough for some folks on some levels. Yet one asks the question if that expressed freedom might not be better done in a far better way, with the inclusion of some philosophical or ethical overview as D.H. Lawrence did, in his ability to understand and examine his culture of his time and potentially all time.
It is the freedom debate we find in almost every place, including what is literature and what are ethics after all. D.H. Lawrence gave us both, by offering us the meaning of how man and woman think of sex and each other in language we can read and feel so deep it touches the soul of what we know about ourselves. E.L. James in her Fifty Shades offers another tabloid story-tale, and we can peek and giggle in our corners after all. Then anticipate the film and wonder what it really is about, and likely leave still wondering, never finding anything at all.
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