It seems every woman in America is fascinated with this novel – ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’. These are many of the same women who call us men “dogs.” Women are so fickle… TGO
Refer to story below. Source: The Atlantic Wire
By Jen Doll | The Atlantic Wire
Generally we have to wait until the movie to complain about how a book character has been envisioned as nothing like what we imagined. Fortunately, since Fifty Shades of Grey is on the accelerated program, we can start complaining now!
Compiling female readers’ descriptions of the character of Christian Grey—he’s our sexy male protagonist, if you haven’t read the books; the billionaire that’s too good to be true, except also sort of a psychopath—Dr. Faye Skelton of the University of Lancashire has created what’s being touted as “the first image” of Christian Grey based on women’s mental images of the character. There’s a little Brad Pitt here, a little Patrick Dempsey there—plus some Val Kilmer, apparently. Skelton, who admits she sourced her descriptions from a small (read: easily take-down-able) sample size, says “While we don’t want to intrude on anyone’s fantasies, based on a small sample of women, this is the image of Christian Grey they have in their heads when reading the novels. Personally, I think he’s quite handsome—although everyone’s interpretation will be different.”
Does he, however, have that Christian Grey It-Factor? We gathered some of the initial descriptions of Christian Grey in the actual book, from when he first meets his lover-to-be Anastasia Steele (this is all her point of view, of course), to see how they compare to the image above.
pg. 7:
“Holy cow—he’s so young.”
He’s supposed to be 27, and look younger, we infer. This guy could be anywhere from an elderly 22 to a youthful 35. He is relatively wrinkle-free, it appears, but he’s also only in…shades of grey.
“So young—and attractive, very attractive. He’s tall, dressed in a fine gray suit, white shirt, and black tie with unruly dark copper-colored hair and intense, bright gray eyes that regard me shrewdly.”
This guy is a disembodied head suspended in nothingness, so we can’t vouch for the duds. Nor the copper-colored hair. He does have gray eyes, so, check that. As for that tousled look, we presume he uses product.
p. 8:
“His voice is warm, possibly amused, but it’s difficult to tell from his impassive expression. He looks mildly interested but above all, polite.”
Yes, this is his expression, exactly. He’s saying, “Can I help you with your packages?” “Would you like more tea?” or “Can I borrow some chapstick; my lips are truly plagued with dryness this time of year, are yours as well?” Or possibly all of the above.
p. 9:
“When I pluck up the courage to look at him, he’s watching me, one hand relaxed in his lap and the other cupping his chin and trailing his long index finger across his lips. I think he’s trying to suppress a smile.”
Though he has no fingers, nor a hand to relax in his lap or cup his chin, he does look like a nudge to the ribs might cause him to chuckle. Unfortunately, he has no ribs.
p. 10:
“Why does he have such an unnerving effect on me? His overwhelming good looks maybe? The way his eyes blaze at me? The way he strokes his index finger against his lower lip? I wish he’d stop doing that.”
OK, his eyebrows are kind of unnerving. How are they so perfect? Does he brush them with a toothbrush, with a special comb, or simply with his index finger?
p. 11:
“His eyes are alight with some wicked thought.”
Nope, not really.
“He smiles, revealing perfect white teeth. I stop breathing. He really is beautiful. No one should be this good-looking.”
God, girl, get a grip.
p. 14:
“His mouth is very … distracting.”
In fact, it is. Do we detect an imperfection, a slight unevenness in the cupid’s bow? Also he looks like he might be in the market for a shave soon, or perhaps he needs to start using face lotion with a higher SPF. Sun damage happens to all of us, sir.
p. 16:
“He really is very, very good-looking. It’s unnerving.”
What is unnerving is how far we’ve come in this day and age of image-generating technology. In 10 or 20 years, maybe we’ll even be able to generate that “long index finger” trailing across his bodiless, bloodless lips. Then there would be no mistaking this guy from the original. For now, we give him a B.
Believe it or not, the appeal of this type of fan fiction runs close to equal among genders, with not only Angelina Jolie interested in directing the film and but also Mark Wahlberg’s production company putting in bids for the film rights, and American Psycho writer Bret Easton Ellis publicly expressing his desires to write the screenplay for the film
What I don’t understand is your comment about this book appealing to, “many of the same women who call us men “dogs”. As if this fictional best seller, that has been praised for being “more enjoyable” than other “literary erotic books” wouldn’t appeal to many of us men that call women “sluts.” -GhostRider Wisdom…that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
First of all, I personally have not heard of one man who has read the books; not one, and just about every woman I know has raved about them. This obviously doesn’t mean that men haven’t read them, but this is my personal experience with this issue. And in my opinion there is no doubt that the author’s target audience was women. Secondly, the men you mention who are interested in directing or writing screenplays for the film are more than likely doing it for the money. Whether they enjoyed the novels or not is another matter – maybe they did, maybe they didn’t.
What you don’t understand is understandable, because I’ve never explained it. So here it goes: I know at least a handful of women who have read the books who are prudes. A couple of these are women that don’t (according to them) participate in oral, much less anal sex. Further, these women that I’m referring to have ALL called me a dog; a sicko. It’s ironic that being so proper and “lady-like” these women enjoy reading about BDSM and other forms of sex which are outside the mainstream.