Fifty Shades of Grey becomes Controversial

As the release of the movie draws closer, creative battles have fought, soundtrack has been decided, trailers have been released and a boycott of the movie is already underway.

Based on the best selling trilogy by E.L. James, the first movie in the installment is finally here. The movie is set to release on 14th February. The marketing for this movie has been persistently consistent.

With frequent releases of soundtracks, trailers, teaser trailers and screen shots with a behind the scenes glimpse then and there; the movie has received a lot of anticipation prior to its release.

The movie is here, Lego seems to be celebrating the movie in its own way. Lego is adventurous when adapting the trailers for various movies including the Star Wars trailer and the Man of Steel trailer. This time they have formulated their own erotic version of Fifty Shades of Grey version.

The spoof depicts the two main characters with Christian Grey complete with a drawn on abs and brooding expression on his face and Anastasia Steele with all her nervous air. The spoof includes the Red Room of Pain as well. It is a definite crack of laughter before the movie hits the screen,

The other excitement that comes along with the release of the movie is the movie’s soundtrack. The ‘Crazy in Love’ remix by Beyonce was released last year accompanying the first trailer of the movie. Beyonce also introduced the track on her Instagram.

Compared to the 2003 version sung with Jay Z, this version is a little warped with queasy piano part and plodding percussion and sound effect by her collaborator Boots. The track fits with the movie’s theme perfectly but it is not the same compared to the original. Haunted will be the other Beyonce track featured in the movie’s soundtrack. The other artists featuring on the soundtrack are Ellie Goulding, Sia, Skylar Grey and the Weekend. 

The movie didn’t go without a hitch either. Reportedly, the director Sam Taylor Johnson and author E.L. James had a falling out on how the movie should end. It all came down to the last word, literally. Where Sam and other writers on the creative team wanted the movie to end on the word ‘Red’ which was the safe word when Anastasia asks Christian to give her a good shellacking.

When he obliges, she recoils and leaves him. James, who was given prior control of the movie by Universal Studios when they bought the rights of the content in an auction, James decided that the correct word for the film to end on would be “Stop”.

Taylor Johnson and James; both were stoic in their argument. Taylor Johnson commented that the ending they wanted would have brought the audience back for the sequel. James was however determined to emphasize her idea and she won the long battle. Taylor Johnson said that these arguments are creative in nature and they need to be resolved rationally.

All of that is well on its way but the film is already gathering some backlashes. The books got their own kind of backlash when they were published and sold but this time we are talking about graphic detail.

When reading, a lot is left to the imagination of the reader, but when it is presented in a very rigid and inelastic way on-screen, there is little room left for seeing it in any other way. There are 20 sexual scenes in the movie which would be 20 percent of the movie time of BDSM and coercion. The movements have been initiated mostly led by women under the hashtags  #50DollarsNot50Shades and#50ShadesIsAbuse.

The initiators of the movement say that the movie glamorizes violent sex especially in a age where sexual rights, consent and the emerging cases of sexual and domestic abuse. The movement states that Hollywood doesn’t need the money of the viewers but victims of domestic violence do. Hence they are encouraging the moviegoers to boycott the movie and donate the 50 dollars they’re going to be spending on the movie to help the victims of domestic violence.