Fifty Shades of Fanfiction

(c) Fifty Shades of Grey

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Kirsten V. Hartwig, Writer
June 15, 2012
Filed under Opinions

Fanfiction, is one of many words that come to mind when you see, or have read, Fifty Shades of Grey. Another word that tends to come to mind is Twilight, as the story is so similar, Fifty Shades may as well just be the uncensored version of the Saga. But that doesn’t so much mean that it’s actually a bad novel. A lot of people criticize it without trying it, only hearing the word erotic and basing their judgement on that, and some people are so pretentious that they will read it and act as if they are the greatest scholars in the world. But fiction is fiction, and a lot of people will eat this genre and writing style up like Thanksgiving turkey.

What people fail to take into account is the fact that E.L James has never written a novel before. This is her first trilogy, thus we can’t base judgement on the books or her writing yet. There’s also the fact that she had written this on her blackberry going to and from work. You can only imagine how great of quality this book is. But it wouldn’t have ever been published had it been that bad. People tend to judge too quickly, especially those who frequent the internet quite a bit. It’s sad to see that we have to judge books now as harshly as we judge people.

The series itself is plotless at first, since the first novel focuses mainly on all the sexual things rather than the relationship between Mr. Grey and his interest, Anastasia. The plot of the whole book is just them trying to work out a relationship, which is why you have two other books to read after, which, apparently, are much more complex than the first. Having read the first novel, I can say that despite there being no plot, there is character development, which is always a good start. Though it was rushed, and half of their interaction was not at all suitable to talk about in public, the two love birds still managed to grow on each other and learn that there is more to themselves than they thought. People seem to look way past this though, just looking at how the characters resemble Edward Cullen and Bella Swan. I must admit though, Ana and Grey never once sparkled, and the most I had to endure was some disturbing sex education and not blood lust and mock vampirism.

Though considered mommy porn, a lot of women in their late teens have also read and enjoyed the books. They have actors as their own Mr. Grey, and live in a fantasy world where they get to love that man. The fascination with this messed up man also has tied in with the raging fangirls of Thor, most saying that the actor Tom Hiddleston is their Mr. Grey and tend to describe things in much too great of detail of what they imagine their life would be like if they were Anastasia.  And despite being highly disturbed by this and being far too embarrassed to have a Mr. Grey of my own in mind, I can understand the attraction towards a character, and it seems that E.L James as successfully made one of the most lusted after character in the past few years.

The attraction towards Mr. Grey rivals that of Jacob Black and Edward Cullen, which may be because he’s more real rather than a sad excuse of a supernatural being. He’s also rich, handsome, and has a few lovely quirks that even I must admit that I liked. Therefore, people’s judgement fall on deaf ears; just like when Twilight became the greatest phenomena in the late 2000s.

People’s hate towards the content and the poor writing still won’t get in the way of what the public wants. And what the public wants, the public will get. It’s already in discussion whether the trilogy will become a movie or a television show, but either way, millions of people will tune in to see Mr. Grey and the dark world of Fifty Shades come to life.

So to those who are opposed to the entire series saying it is one the most poorly written erotic romance novels written, or that it’s just another bad Twlight fanfiction, or even that it’s not the only romance novel written; it is going to be big. It already is big, and the best thing to do is either join in or leave it alone. It’s better to reserve your mindless hate than to judge the world because of one novel. E.L James will make thousands whether her novel was bad or not. Just ride the wave, and wait for it all to blow over. Wasn’t that what we all did when Twilight got out of hand?