So its not going to win any Oscars lets be honest. IMO (In My Opinion) the reason this concept became so popular, so many books sold, so many viewings of the films and so many copy-cat fiction trilogies written: was that EL James did something new. Gave womens' sexuality a fresh venue. Sure - there were other saucy authors around. But this was purely sex. And centred on the sub-dom idea. Women took serious interest in this. Why?
Because we are horny, Obviously. Men think about sex every three seconds said one survey. And it’s a fact that stuck around. But how often to women think about it? On average? Personally I think about it all the time.
The point is men have hard-core porn on tap and a plethora of lads magazines bursting from page to page with tits and ass. We get the torso of the week in Heat.
Whilst all the women I know also use porn, its not always what we want. Another popular survey says women speak about 20,000 words per day. 13,000 more than men do. So it stands to reason that women would be receptive to reading lots of words (in a book) containing saucy stuff. Did I give up before I got to the end of the first instalment? Sure. Was it the most intellectually engaging material? IMO..definitely not. But it was thought provoking. And for the majority of people who weren’t particularly au fait with S-n-M it was new information. It got women adding extra toys into their sexscapades with their partners that they hadn’t considered before. Just look at your local high street Ann Summers. That whip and tickle section BOOMED in stores and online. It gave us girls something else to think about when fantasising, and it got people talking about sex even more openly than before.
Personally I find the heat between the characters stimulating. Being very tactile and passionate, Christian’s unwavering need for Anastasia appealed to me. His dominance of her, and in both films the depiction of the desire between them was my favourite part.
Fifty shades darker is better than the first go. New director = new stance on the characters. Ana is funnier and Dakotas’s portrayal of her character is a much stronger woman this time round. She is more confident, more capable in herself and with Christian. She takes less shit and she gets more back from him in terms of respect and openness.
The sex scenes are different too. On the down side they are almost always missionary this time round, aside from the “take your knickers off” at the restaurant and the lift shenanigans.
On the plus side there are some great shower scenes, who doesn’t want to be picked up and taken against the wall? And he goes down on her. A lot. Will the film change anyone’s life? I doubt it. Will it be hailed as one of the great cinematic masterpieces of our time. Definitely not. But the romance, sexy scenes and the soundtrack get a double thumbs up from me.
If you have a mate who likes sauce and sillyness then get yourself down to the cinema my friend, and if you have a bloke then take him. You will both get the horn big time.
Lots of love Tinders’
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