5 things to love about Fifty Shades
OK, so the critics didn’t love it, but we’ve found five things about the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy we can all get behind. By AJESH PATALAY
It gave us Dakota Johnson
There was good reason to cheer when the genuinely talented Dakota Johnson landed the role of protagonist Anastasia Steele in 2013. While her cameo as Sean Parker’s (Justin Timberlake) one-night-stand in The Social Network showcased her light comedic touch, the Fifty Shades trilogy (and the rounds of publicity to support it) has highlighted her even greater talent for always seeming to be in on the joke. This no doubt comes from being the daughter of Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson, two actors who have mastered the art of playing it straight with one eyebrow raised. Dakota’s red carpet outings have been the icing on the cake – a masterclass in modern sexy.
It gave us plenty of straplines
No, we don’t mean the marks left by one of the accessories in Christian Grey’s red room of pain. We refer instead to the endless stream of punning headlines and titles that exploded into the world in the wake of E. L. James’ trilogy. Some prompted eye-rolls, others laughter. There was Fifty Shames of Earl Grey, a satire ostensibly about tea-drinkers; Fifty Shades of Grey Skies, an op-ed about the effects of prolonged rain on the UK economy; Fifty Shades of Whey, a blog about protein shakes; and Fifty Shades of Gravy, a saucy cookbook. For better or worse, ‘Fifty Shades of’ became part of the lexicon.
It lit a fire (in more ways than one)
The Fifty Shades books have had a far-reaching effect on a whole slew of industries. In publishing, it showed that fan fiction, self-published e-books and print-on-demand publications should be taken seriously, and that internet word-of-mouth could shift copies in huge numbers. It revitalized a whole sector of the sex-toy industry (with 30 per cent worldwide growth in sales). Plus, it helped push Universal Pictures, helmed by female chairman Donna Langley, to record-breaking box-office receipts.
It brought together four female titans
Any film that unites Jane Fonda, Diane Keaton, Candice Bergen and Mary Steenburgen should be applauded, so let’s hear it for The Book Club, a new comedy about four friends whose lives are turned upside down when they read Fifty Shades of Grey. This enjoyable tale of four women rebooting their sex lives and finding love in later life delivers plenty of soul-searching over copious amounts of white wine and a Viagra set piece. What more could we ask for? The casting of Don Johnson as Fonda’s lover only adds to the pleasure.
It contributed to one of the best celebrity confessions ever
He may be a talented actor (his performance in the award-winning BBC drama The Fall opposite Gillian Anderson underlined that), but Jamie Dornan is also – let’s face it – extremely easy on the eye. So any film that makes a virtue of that by featuring him (sometimes topless, always smoldering) is no bad thing. He is, we can guiltily remind ourselves, being very well paid for the indignity of being objectified. At the same time, Dornan has proved himself to be disarmingly charming in real life. Consider, for example, his appearance on British chat show The Graham Norton Show in early 2018, when he told a story about his teenage self gluing on fake pubic hair in order to impress a girl. Few celebrities would have been publicly (or pubicly) so candid. Like his alter ego, Dornan dares to go where others fear to tread.
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