By Kelly West:
"As I’m about a third of the way through the third book in E.L. James’ lusty romance series
Fifty Shades of Grey, my interest in the potential movie adaptation is naturally piqued. We learned yesterday
that Universal and Focus Features have acquired the rights to the
story, which has grabbed the attention of many a female. But as I
continue to wonder how this story could work as a successful film, and
one women will flock to in droves as they have to the eBooks on which
it’s based, a part of me thinks it might work better as a pay-cable TV
series.
What apparently started out as
Twilight fan fiction evolved into a
story about a college grad who falls for a young, wealthy business
tycoon with an appetite for the rougher type of sex. That’s actually
putting it mildly. The first book in James’ series of novels focuses on
Anastasia Grey’s growing interest for the attractive, mysterious
Christian Grey, and the sexually charged relationship that ensues
between the two. The story evolves from there, leading into the second
and third novels, with the primary focus remaining on Christian and
Ana’s relationship, with a side of Christian’s personal baggage. To say
that the sex-scenes are described in detail is probably an
understatement. The novels often delve into the specifics of the
couple’s sexual exploits, which likely explains why the books have been
branded by some as “mommy porn.” At it’s core though,
Fifty Shades is a romance.
I can certainly see the appeal in the film, especially for those who
want to see what a living, breathing Christian Grey looks like. But I
have to wonder how the story will work for a feature film, and whether
women will be interested in sitting in a movie theater watching what
could be fairly graphic sex scenes play out on a giant screen. It’s one
thing to see a bit of nudity and some under the sheets movement at the
movies. It may be another to watch an S&M scene unfold while seated
among dozens of strangers. There’s certainly the potential for
awkwardness there, especially given the frequency of these scenes, at
least, as they appear in the book. This is, assuming the film aims to
recreate some, if not all of Christian and Ana’s bedroom moments.
The sex is a big part of the story, and it plays a pretty big factor in
the development of Ana and Christian’s relationship, given the extreme
nature of some of the scenes, so I can't imagine they plan to leave them
out, though it's likely they'll be downplayed from the detailed
descriptions offered in the book. When considering these scenes adapted
to the screen, I find myself more inclined to draw comparisons to
television than film. In fact, by comparison to some shows, what goes on
between Christian and Ana might be considered tame. Pay-cable dramas
like Starz’
Spartacus and HBO’s
True Blood have frequently included sex scenes featuring a lot of nudity, and in some cases, graphic violence. So it’s not like
Fifty Shades would be breaking new ground on television if the series were adapted for a pay-cable drama.
Looking beyond the sex for a moment, let’s also consider the story being
told here. Girl meets boy. Girl falls for boy. Boy ties girl up. Lots
of sex ensues. I know I'm over-generalizing the story, but that is sort
of the timeline of events. They may decide to combine books to make one
big movie, or split the story up differently, perhaps in two parts,
which would add a bit more conflict and drama, when factoring in some of
the events that take place in
Fifty Shades Darker and
Fifty Shades Freed. But going by the first book alone, there isn’t a huge amount of story to tell.
Structurally, the first book is really about Ana’s decision to be and
stay with Christian, knowing what he’s into, and trying to figure out if
she can be what he wants. Sure, that could work for a movie, but I see
this kind of character development as something that could lend itself
nicely to a pay-cable series, spaced out over a 10-episode season, as
opposed to a two-hour movie. With the James’ involvement, the story
could even be (excuse the pun) fleshed out, perhaps building up some of
the other characters, like Kate, Elliot, and Mia. There might also have
been more room to fully explore Christian and Ana as characters. Alas,
this all may be pointless to ponder over at this point, given Universal
and Focus’ recent acquisition.
In the meantime, I’m curious to see how the film adaptation develops,
and perhaps once we have a better idea of what Universal and Focus have
in mind for the project, including whether they plan to cast unknowns or
go with big names."
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