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Dec. 10th, 2014 01:36 amAn interesting review of 9 1/2 Weeks. By someone who read the book. I didn't even know it was a book first (I'm probably not the only one only maybe four people out of the eleven pages of reviews on IMDB referenced the fact that it was a book first).
I've actually never seen that movie. It apparently hit just at that point in pop culture history when I happened to be a small child so obviously I didn't see it when it came out, and I guess I saw no reason to make an effort later. And the general impression I'd been given about this movie is entirely different than how it's described in this review. It didn't sound like a movie that would have rape scenes. It sounded...fun and goofy. But then, the parts that are iffy are probably the parts people conveniently gloss over in their own heads. There's a lot of iffy consent stuff in classic film and tv that people cheerfully tout as totally romantic. Like when your mom talks about how much she loves Gone with the Wind...
One thing that I don't think the review I linked to mentioned, but most of the ones on IMDB did, is that they break up at the end. And that is the bit of information that does change the message of the story. It's one of the things that could have salvaged Fifty Shades, after all. If that series had not been a series but had ended with the first book, it would- well, it would have been a cliche*- but it would have been a story about two people who learned harsh life lessons about sex and love and power. Instead of what it turned into...which is a book series that should not have gone on as long as it did.
But a story about selfish people who don't treat each other well is like a horror movie, IMO, it all depends on how it ends.
Note
**because I just realized how many classics of mainstream S&M fiction end with a breakup. The author uses kink to teach life lessons to the characters but treats kink as if it's something no truly happy and healthy relationship could sustain.
I've actually never seen that movie. It apparently hit just at that point in pop culture history when I happened to be a small child so obviously I didn't see it when it came out, and I guess I saw no reason to make an effort later. And the general impression I'd been given about this movie is entirely different than how it's described in this review. It didn't sound like a movie that would have rape scenes. It sounded...fun and goofy. But then, the parts that are iffy are probably the parts people conveniently gloss over in their own heads. There's a lot of iffy consent stuff in classic film and tv that people cheerfully tout as totally romantic. Like when your mom talks about how much she loves Gone with the Wind...
One thing that I don't think the review I linked to mentioned, but most of the ones on IMDB did, is that they break up at the end. And that is the bit of information that does change the message of the story. It's one of the things that could have salvaged Fifty Shades, after all. If that series had not been a series but had ended with the first book, it would- well, it would have been a cliche*- but it would have been a story about two people who learned harsh life lessons about sex and love and power. Instead of what it turned into...which is a book series that should not have gone on as long as it did.
But a story about selfish people who don't treat each other well is like a horror movie, IMO, it all depends on how it ends.
Note
**because I just realized how many classics of mainstream S&M fiction end with a breakup. The author uses kink to teach life lessons to the characters but treats kink as if it's something no truly happy and healthy relationship could sustain.
