Fifty Shades of Grey May Not Be Living Up To Audience Expectation
1. "Director Sam Taylor-Johnson has the right to make whatever kind of Fifty Shades of Grey movie she wants to make. If she decides for whatever artistic reason to make one so tame that I can take my seven-year old to the press screening, that’s her choice and her prerogative."
2. "Making a Fifty Shades of Grey without male nudity and/or few graphic sex acts isn’t going to help the film play better in stereotypical fly-over country. It’s not going to help the film play better as a conventional date night movie pick over Valentine’s Day weekend. It won’t stem any would-be controversies regarding the subject matter that will arise once the film drops into theaters. All it will do is cause conversations about sexual double-standards (“Why would Jamie Dornan’s penis gross out viewers while a Dakota Johnson’s vagina and/or breasts would not?”) "
The biggest concern when creating a film adaptation is that the fans (those who read the book) won't like the movie because it does not stay true to the novel. Although, directors and screenwriters are free to write new ideas because they have artist freedom when working on an adaptation, if they movie is changed too much they are losing an audience.
Fifty Shades of Grey, which is coming out this Valentine's Day, is based off a novel that is known for its nudity and sexuality. After the main character released in an interview that there will, in fact, be no "front male nudity" critics like Scott Mandelson have said that this may not be good for box offices. Many people that were not planning to see the film would have come just to see the bottom half of main character, Christian Grey. Now, there is nothing to get those audiences interesting.
Jamie Dornan stated that they wanted to appeal to a broader audience and try not to scare them away with something a little too risque. Although the director decided to a create a tamer version of the book I do not think that is what audiences were looking for. Those who read this book are expecting to see something a little pornographic even for an R-Rated film. For those who wanted to see their favorite S&M book on the big screen, the movie is not living up to the expectations of the book.
The book is known for being erotic and focusing on the sexual acts performed by two people. Those who were interested in the movie are looking to see exactly that. Since Director Sam Taylor-Johnson has censored the movie there will be less of a reason to go see the movie.
The novel is directed mostly to woman who expect to see some graphic sexual content. Why is it okay for the audience to see a woman's private parts but not a man's. The decision to take out all male nudity was a risky one that is simply going to cause more controversy. In fact, this decision even makes the film seem unfaithful to the book.
I love the subject of your blog, and I find that movie adaptations of novels are usually a hit or miss! Therefore, I appreciate that you're delving into the deeper core of film adaptations. In the case of 50 shades of grey, the audience of the book is pretty much desensitized to the erotic material in the novel. As for the movie, I can see why the director is trying to appeal to larger audiences by making it a bit more 'appropriate.' However, I think this raises a bigger issue, because many movie adaptations stray from the novel's original intentions. I am curious to see how explicit this particular movie will be, and what the fan base for the novel's reaction will be like. well done!
ReplyDeleteMovie adaptations are such an important topic when it comes to book enthusiast so your blog already rocks but mentioning 50 shades of grey and its unfulfilling movie adaptation was the cherry on top. When I heard all of the gossip about this new, hot, and racy book, I had to read it. I was well aware that this was not going to be an amazing piece of literature but I was interested in the talk of the town, and of course the racy scenes. Not only did I read the first but I read the second and third as well so one can just imagine my excitement when I heard Christian Grey was coming to a theater near me, however, one can also imagine my disappointment when I read that they wanted to tone down the movie in order to reach a broader audience. The audience was already reached! If people were curious enough to read the books they will be curious enough to watch the movie, no matter how much full frontal there will be. This book became an icon for its S&M topic, the movie makers need to realize that it did not become a best seller because the author decided to "tone it down."
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