I tried not to give into the Fifty Shades of Grey hype.
I really did.
When everybody and my mama – pun intended – was reading the book, I shoved my nose deeper into the self-help books I’ve come to enjoy.
Only once did I check to see if my library had it. It did, but there were also 300 people waiting to borrow it before me.
I can wait.
But apparently, others couldn’t wait to see the movie purchasing tickets in advance so that when I arrived opening day, multiple showings were already sold out. The ticket clerk said they had been sold out since the previous Saturday. I didn’t even know you could do that.
To be perfectly honest, when I saw the commercials, I had zero intention on seeing it. I wanted to see Selma, but it wasn’t being shown in theatres near my apartment anymore.
I gave in.
I figured I see it to make up my own opinion, because up until that point, I’d gotten mixed reviews.
Some were completely against the idea of a dominant-submissive relationship. Some, including one of my old bus drivers, were intrigued by the emerging love story between Christian Grey and Anastasia “Ana” Steele.
As much as I wanted to decide what I felt about their relationship, that wasn’t my main focus. What struck me is not who they were as a couple, but who they were individually.
This is completely bias, but I went into the movie hoping to dislike Christian. I just knew he wasn’t going to be good for Ana, but I couldn’t. I found him to be charming and incredibly attentive. He was young, rich and powerful and that showed in the way he approached his relationship.
As you can see, I went in rallying for Ana. The problem is, I couldn’t stand her. Scratch that. I couldn’t stand what she represented.
Without giving too much away, everything was on Christian’s terms and it got me thinking, why?
It wasn’t because of their type of relationship. That happens in relationships every day with normal people. As much as I’d like to, I can’t excuse myself from this one because I have been there.
In one of my first relationships, I found myself just going with the flow. Man pleasing, if you will. I guess I was still trying to figure out what it meant to be in a relationship, but I knew it wasn’t that. I wasn’t happy, but I let it drag on to the end of the summer.
As I think back on it, I don’t know what made me stay so long. I should have left after the first premature break-up and insecure rant, but I didn’t. And seeing Ana play a somewhat similar role (minus the kink) of what I once played in real life was difficult.
While I enjoyed the movie, it left me with two questions: Why are women so eager to be in a relationship on the man’s terms? And why are we so wiling to sacrifice our happiness for a relationship status update?
