I.

Theoretical Overview
1.1 Fifty Shades Trilogy

Fifty Shades is a series of erotic novels by British author E. L. James, TV

executive, wife and mother of two, based in West London. Since early childhood
she dreamed of writing stories that readers would fall in love with, but put those
dreams on hold to focus on her family and career. She finally plucked up the
courage to put pen to paper with her first novel, later the multi-million-copy
bestseller, Fifty Shades of Grey which, together with its sequels, Fifty Shades
Darker and Fifty Shades Freed. The series traces the deepening relationship between
college graduate, Anastasia Steele, and young business man, Christian Grey. Grey
introduces Ana to the world of BDSM.

The author has spoken of her shock at the success of the book, she said that
the explosion of interest has taken her completely by surprise. James has described
the Fifty Shades trilogy as "my midlife crisis, writ large. All my fantasies in there,
and that's it." E. L. James started writing in January 2009 after she finished the
Twilight saga, and she hasn't stopped since. She discovered Fan Fiction in August
2009. Since then she has written her two fictions and plan on doing at least one
more. After that... who knows?  In August 2013, sales of the trilogy saw James top
the Forbes'  list of the highest-earning authors with earnings of $95 million which
included $5 million for the film rights to Fifty Shades of Grey. In spite of the
success, the books have also been largely panned by critics, with the first entry in
particular being ridiculed by virtually every critic who has read it. [1]

"50 SHADES OF GREY" became the first installment in the Fifty

Shades novel series. It just introducing readers to his characters. The main heroine
of the trilogy was a young college student Anastasia Steel.  It seems that nothing
interesting will happen in her life. But one day Catherine asks Anastasia to help.
The girl fell ill and cannot interview the famous businessman Christian Gray.
Anastasia agrees. Already then she liked it, but the girl carefully discouraged such
thoughts, because she believed that she was not a couple for a successful and
popular person. Anastasia did not think that one day her path would cross again
with Gray's road.  Later Christian will suggest Anastasia to make a contract, under
the terms of which she has no right to tell about everything that she learns about
Gray's personal life. Wanting to find out what secrets Christian hides, Anastasia
begins to discuss the contract with him. Gray admits his love for BDSM. Reading
"50 Shades of gray", a summary or retelling, you can understand how surprised
Steel experienced. However, the words of the man interested her. Gray did not just
want to practice this direction with his beloved, he needed to control her entire life.
However, the girl was not ready to agree to this. Despite the fact that Christian
thought himself incapable of falling in love, Anastasia becomes more important to
him. [2]

The main is that Anastasia could not endure all suffering. The girl decides to
leave Gray, although she still loves him.

"FIFTY SHADES DARKER" - the second book of trilogy. Here Ana Steele
started a new career with a US publishing house. But desire for Grey still
dominates her every waking thought, and when he proposes a new arrangement, she
cannot resist. Soon she is learning more about the harrowing past of her damaged,
driven and demanding Fifty Shades than she ever thought possible. But while
Grey wrestles with his inner demons, Ana must make the most important decision
of her life. A decision she can only make on her own.

There are a lot of difficulties and troubles after enjoying wedded bliss on the
consort's honeymoon in the final part of Fifty Shades novel series  - "FIFTY
SHADES FREED". Finally Christian speaks openly to Ana about his troubled past
and tells her about his relationship with Elena. He also reveals that he wants to be a
good father to their children. [3]

Later, it is revealed that Ana and Christian have a son named Theodore, and
that a daughter on the way.
 Fifty Shades combination is really full of ups and downs. Romantic,
liberating and totally addictive novel that can obsess everybody who will ever read
it.

Despite trilogy has got enormous success, it also got a lot of negative
commentaries. Salman Rushdie said about the book: "I've never read anything so
badly written that got published. It made Twilight look like War and Peace."
[4]
 Maureen Dowd described the book in The New York Times as being written[5]
"like a Brontë devoid of talent," and said it was "dull and poorly written."[6] Jesse
Kornbluth of The Huffington Post said: "As a reading experience, Fifty Shades...is a
sad joke, puny of plot"

Fifty Shades trilogy has also attracted criticism due to its depictions

of BDSM, with Katie Roiphe of Newsweek asking "But why, for women especially,
would free will be a burden? ... It may be that power is not always that comfortable,
even for those of us who grew up in it; it may be that equality is something we want
only sometimes and in some places and in some arenas; it may be that power and all
of its imperatives can be boring."[7]

1.2 Fifty Shades Book Reviews

The book "Fifty shades of gray" can be rightfully to call the most scandalous
novel of recent years. A sensational erotic bestseller by E.L. James has caused
critics and the public a storm of conflicting emotions, and on sales has overtaken the
"Harry Potter" himself. This work is not only actively discussed around the world,
but also is screened, so that we are able to see Ana, Christian and other loved
characters personally.

If you have not read "Fifty shades", readers 'and critics' reviews can shock
you: this novel cannot leave anyone indifferent - it is either adored or considered a
shame of modern literature. This is a rather contradictory book, shocking, but at the
same time incredibly appealing so much by the very fact of the presence of frank
scenes, how many by their character. Certainly, every modern person has heard
about the culture of BDSM at least once in his life - a rather unusual model of
relations between a man and a woman based on submission and home. The
representative of this culture is the protagonist of the novel, which only adds to his
charm.

In Ukraine, the novel was published in August 2012 of the year. Nobody
expected such a massive wave of discontent almost immediately after the
publication of the book "Fifty shades of gray" on the shelves. The reviews were the
most disappointing: the author was accused of childishness, the unnaturalness of the
characters, the novel's focus on "young fools", etc. However, the popularity of
the book continued to grow.

In the network, the book appeared much earlier than on counters, and the
audience was simply shocked, because it is not often that novels about BDSM-style
relations and BDSM fall into the sight of such a vast circle of people. There are still
many active forums and websites where readers discuss "Fifty shades of gray."
Feedback from users is also quite ambiguous: some admire the boldness, sensuality
and frankness of the novel, while others are unhappy with the excessive detailing of
sexual scenes. American critics even demanded that the book be withdrawn from
libraries, but all their attempts were unsuccessful due to the supporters of freedom
of speech.

It is worth saying that the author of the novel, Erica Leonard, already had
experience writing erotic works. For example, shortly before "Shades" came out
her fanfic on the theme "Twilight". Moreover, there is an opinion that the "Fifty
shades of gray," the reviews of which are shocked at times more than the book
itself, is also a fanfic in which Bella and Edward still had sex.

"The book is nothing more than 50 shades of monotonous ... Often Christian
thinks something and then says the same exact thing out loud to Ana, which
completely defeats the purpose of being able to see into his mind. I found myself
asking 'Why I didn't just read the original story again?' as the two stories are almost
identical. The sex scenes are just as drawn out and indulgent, and Christian uses
similar descriptors and phrases when narrating these scenes — something that just
seems lazy on author E.L. James' part." - said David Ehrlich in "USA Today".

"How often do Ana's cheeks flush pink?" writes Bryony Gordon in her one-
star review. "How many times does she make him feel ten feet tall? [8]

Writing in The Guardian, chick-lit author Jenny Colgan described the original
novel as "a rather fun and fairly mild portrait of a woman's sexual fantasy".
In her opinion, though, "it is almost impossible to read Grey and not assume the
narrator is going to end up in jail".

Despite the huge number of negative reviews, only in English-speaking

countries were sold more than 30 million copies of the book "Fifty shades of gray."
Criticism of various resources of the worldwide network cannot be called
comforting either. Most reviewers agreed that the book is the category of literature
that a few years ago was called "tabloid reading".

However, there is some positive number of critics who were inspired by the
book "Fifty shades of gray." Reviews about the novel contain rapturous arguments
about the evolution of the tabloid novel and the development of this genre on one
level with "traditional" literature. Some even consider the novel a classic of the
love-erotic genre.

"Author E L James may not be much of a prose stylist, but she can write an
effectively dirty, hot, easy-to-read, complicated-to-accessorize scene when she puts
her mind to it. James throws in descriptions of bondage, submission, foreplay,
private helicopters, and fine white wine. " -   said Lisa Schwarzbaum on February
10, 2015  in "Explore Entertainment"[9]
 To read or not to read this work, it's up to you, however, perhaps the
frankness of the novel will help to discover new and unexplored feelings and
desires.

1.3 Film Adaptations

By early 2013, several Hollywood studios were keen to obtain film rights
to The New York Times bestselling Fifty Shades trilogy of novels. Warner
Bros., Sony, Paramount, Universal, and Mark Wahlberg's production company
submitted bids for the film rights. Universal Pictures and Focus Features secured the
rights to the trilogy in March 2013. Author James sought to retain some control
during the movie's creative process. James chose The Social
Network producers Michael De Luca and Dana Brunetti to produce the film. [10]

Although American Psycho writer Bret Easton Ellis publicly expressed his

desire to write the screenplay for Fifty Shades of Grey, Kelly Marcel, screenwriter
of Saving Mr. Banks, was hired for the job.[11] Patrick Marber was brought in by
Taylor-Wood to polish the screenplay, specifically to do some "character
work". Universal hired Mark Bomback for script doctoring. Mark Bridges served as
the costume designer.[25] Entertainment Weekly estimated the film's budget as "$40
million-or-so".

  By May 9, 2013, the studio was considering Joe Wright to direct, but this

proved unworkable due to Wright's schedule. Other directors who had been under
consideration included Patty Jenkins, Bill Condon, Bennett Miller, and Steven
Soderbergh.[12] In June 2013, E. L. James announced Sam Taylor-Johnson would
direct the film adaptation.. Johnson was paid over US$2 million for directing the
film.[13]

On July 9, 2014, the book's author, E. L. James, said on Twitter that the
film's trailer would be released on July 24, 2014. Beyoncé debuted a teaser for the
trailer on her Instagram account five days before the trailer's release. By late
February, Fifty Shades of Grey related material garnered over 329 million views
including 113 million views for its official trailer.[14] 

The film was promoted through an ad campaign that asked people whether
they were "curious". Nick Carpou, Universal's president of domestic distribution,
said: "Our campaign gave people permission to see the film. Valentines is a big deal
for couples and a great relationship event, and the date with the long Presidents Day
weekend created a perfect storm for us. This date positioned us to take full
advantage of the romance angle, which is how we sold the film in our marketing
campaign," he said.[15]

There was initial speculation that the film could receive an NC-17 rating in
the United States. Studios typically steer away from the adults-only rating due to the
impact the classification has on a film's commercial viability, with some theater
chains refusing to exhibit NC-17-rated films. While screenwriter Marcel said she
expected the film to be NC-17-rated, producer De Luca anticipated the less
restrictive R rating. On January 5, 2015, the MPAA did give the film an R rating,
basing its decision on "strong sexual content including dialogue, some unusual
behavior and graphic nudity, and language."

The film was scheduled for a February 12, 2015, release in Malaysia, but it
was denied a certificate by the Malaysian Film Censorship Board (LPF) for its
"unnatural" and "sadistic" content. The LPF chairman, Abdul Hamid, said Fifty
Shades was "more pornography than a movie." [16]The film was also banned
in Indonesia, Kenya, Russia's North Caucasus, the United Arab
Emirates (UAE), Papua New Guinea, Cambodia, and India. The film was released
in Nigeria for a week, before being removed from cinemas by the National Film and
Video Censors Board (NFVCB). Studios will not pursue a theatrical release
in China. [17]
 Roughly 20 minutes were cut from the film for screening in Vietnam, leaving
no sex scenes. The scene in which Ana is beaten with a belt is skipped entirely.

In April 2015, The Hollywood Reporter reported that E. L. James' husband,

Niall Leonard, was enlisted to write the script for the film's sequel.  In the same
month, at the 2015 Universal CinemaCon in Las Vegas, Universal announced the
release dates of the sequels, with Fifty Shades Darker being released on February
10, 2017, and Fifty Shades Freed was released on February 9, 2018. However, the
sequels did not see Sam Taylor-Johnson returning as director. On August 20, 2015,
the U.S. House of Cards director James Foley was a frontrunner to direct the
sequel. In November 2015, Universal Studios announced that both films will be
shot back-to-back.

Fifty Shades of Grey received generally negative reviews, with criticism of its

acting, screenplay, and pacing; however, some critics noted it as an improvement
over the book, and others praised the cinematography and set design. "The
movie Fifty Shades of Grey is considerably better written than the book." [18]The
movie version appears to be aimed at a younger consumer crowd than -the readers.

As for me, I don’t think this is entirely the inevitable result of coaxing an R-
rated movie out of an X-rated book. True, nobody in the movie has visible genitals.
But even more frustrating to voyeurs, nobody sweats, nobody strains and nobody
loses control of desire.