Christian Grey is No Don Draper and Other Musings from ‘Fifty Shades’
While I wouldn’t call the experience entertaining or even remotely pleasurable, surprisingly, I didn’t hate as much as I thought I would.
Fully expecting to see a sappy, romantic melodrama with some sexy S&M scenes sprinkled in, I came into Wednesday night’s screening of Fifty Shades of Grey with a slight feeling of dread.
While I wouldn’t call the experience entertaining or even remotely pleasurable, I didn’t hate the movie as much as I thought I would. Fifty Shades is not a great flick by any stretch of the imagination, but it does have its moments.
From the unexpected humor to the titular character’s over-hyped sex scenes, here are some musings on what’s sure to be the most talked about film of 2015.
Christian Grey is No Don Draper…
Since Fifty Shades was birthed out of a Twilight fan fiction series, one would expect Christian Grey—the brooding male love interest played by Jamie Dornan—to channel the stoicism and angst of Edward Cullen. However, it seems that Grey shares more qualities with Mad Men’s Don Draper (played by Jon Hamm) than the sparkly vampire.
As titans of their industries, both Grey and Draper embody the American ideals of corporate capitalism and hyper-masculinity, always looking to control, whether it’s in the boardroom or the bedroom.
The two men also have very similar backstories, born into squalid familial situations to mothers who were prostitutes. Forced to overcome years of abuse during their childhoods, it’s clear that these experiences are what shape the motivations, desires, and sexual cravings of Grey and Draper.
Christian Grey has nothing on Don Draper.
What Dornan’s character lacks, though, is any sense of charm or mystery, which are traits Draper has in spades.
On the big screen, Grey comes across as cold and slightly awkward, despite his attractive physical appearance. While Dornan does his best, the dialogue is often too cliché and cheesy to be taken seriously.
Draper, on the other hand, is a much more sympathetic figure with a wider range. While Hamm’s character has more vices —alcoholism and infidelity, to name a few— Draper has the ability to arouse a variety of emotions in the minds of viewers, whether they grow to love or hate him.
It’s hard to be anything but apathetic towards Grey in Fifty Shades because he comes off as one dimensional, which is a bigger knock on the writer’s underwhelming screenplay than Dornan’s performance.
There are no shades to Grey, no mystery to be discovered. We already know what he wants, and that’s to tie women up in his red room of pain.
Is This a Romantic Comedy?
The biggest surprise after seeing Fifty Shades is the amount of humor director Sam Taylor-Johnson puts on display.
Unintentionally, it comes across as a romantic comedy for the first two-thirds of the film. The characters almost seem to be aware that they are caricatures from a steamy romance novel, and their budding relationship feels like a parody of the genre, just with some whips and handcuffs added in.
Dakota Johnson carries the film as the shy protagonist Anastasia Steele, who acts like Zooey Deschanel’s less quirky sister. No matter how ridiculous or cliché, each line she delivers suprisingly hits with spot-on comedic timing, adding to the movie’s rom-com feel.
Even the BDSM elements are treated with a sense of humor. Steele often jokes about the subject in a tongue-in-cheek manner and never treats it too seriously, unlike Grey, who’s over-seriousness is funny in an ironic way.
The fun screeches to a halt toward the end of Fifty Shades, as the later portion of the film devolves into classic troupes of relationship melodrama as well as a serious exploration of Grey’s “dark’’ side.
While people seemed to be laughing with Steele during the start of the movie, as the end credits began to roll, the audience erupted into laughter, likely at the absurdity of its over-the-top ending.
If Taylor-Johnson had set out to make Fifty Shades a straight-up parody in the vein of Amy Poehler and Paul Rudd’s They Came Together, the hyped-up film may have actually worked.
Still Don’t Know What the Hype Was About
Mr. Grey and his toys.
The biggest talking point leading into the release of Fifty Shades has been the raunchy sex scenes, which don’t even come close to living up to the hype.
In an entertainment landscape where Girls and Game of Thrones routinely show characters having all-sorts of crazy sex, Taylor-Johnson’s flick wouldn’t make even the casual cable TV viewer bat an eye.
While there is plenty of nudity in Fifty Shades, it never feels overly gratuitous, especially when compared to films like Lars von Triers’s Nymphomaniac series.
I understand why there’s so much buzz over a Hollywood film featuring BDSM behavior, but nothing was that shocking or outlandish. It all plays out like a toned down version of a Cinemax softcore porn.
Even the final scene, which is supposed to be the most jarring, is quite underwhelming in its presentation.
Who knew kinky sex could seem so… boring?
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