Kory: The movie takes sex and makes it all about control and who has power. Trust is the basis of a healthy relationship. He says, “Do you trust me?” but he’s not open with her at all and doesn’t give her a reason to trust him. But this is a significant problem with the movie. Her mother cycled through boyfriends and husbands. There are all sorts of red flags in Ana’s character. Christian leverages his power to get what he wants. Lauren: The red flag for me is that she didn’t really understand what she was getting into. The argument would be that this is consent. He offered her a way out at every opportunity and she continues to say yes. He offered her a contract with the opportunity to define clearly what was and was not OK. So the question is, is consent really the bottom line of a sexual ethic? Christian Grey’s defense would be that he was very open with her about what she was getting into. The fact is that this is not a relationship. Kory: The point where it bothered me was when he first proposes the idea of her being his submissive and essentially offers her compensation - a room she can stay in and decorate however she wants, extravagant gifts, etc. Some people have a nice stiff drink when they get home from work, some people take advantage of their submissive. This showed that Ana and Christian do not have a relationship rather, she is his sex object. Lauren: The scene that defined the movie for me is the one where Christian has had a tough day at the office and then comes home and dominates her. I guess we’re just supposed to believe that the sex is just so good that Ana doesn’t care. But the problem is that the movie offers no excuse for Ana’s involvement with Christian.
I tried to look at the wall sconce every time Anastasia was naked onscreen - I got to know that wall sconce pretty well.
Kory: I found so little of value in Fifty Shades and anything that I could say that would be of value was buried in smut. His definition of a relationship is nowhere near what a definition of a healthy relationship should be and as far as the movie goes there is no excuse for it. I really wanted to understand the reasons behind Christian Grey’s character but there wasn’t a lot of explanation. The guy behind us swore loudly that this was the worst movie he had ever seen. Lauren: I don’t know that I have ever been to a movie premiere that had such poor audience reception at the end of the movie as Fifty Shades of Grey. The conversation below captures the dialogue we had immediately following the film. Author’s note: In an attempt to engage Fifty Shades of Grey from a Christian perspective, my wife and I attended a Valentine’s Day screening of the movie, which details the sexual relationship between a literature student and a young billionaire.