Fifty Shades of Grey isn't a BDSM fantasy, it's a capitalist one
FIFTY SHADES OF GREY IS MORE ABOUT THE MONEY THAN THE SEX, SAYS BETH PERKIN
If she were alive, there’s no doubt that Ayn Rand would be front-row and salivating when, in justifying his expensive appetites, Christian Grey quotes industrial tycoon Andrew Carnegie: ‘A man who acquires the ability to take possession of his own mind may take possession of anything else to which he is justly entitled.’ Yes, Rand would be salivating, because once you strip it down, what Fifty Shades of Grey really is is the one percent’s (wet) dream.
Fifty Shades is a film devoted to consumption. Ana and Christian’s entire relationship is based around the Stuff he gives her in exchange for her complete submission, be it an Audi or an orgasm. If she refuses to obey, the hypnotic world of Cartier, Cristal and Chanel will be snatched away until all she’s left with is her normal sized apartment and standard car. Oh for shame!
For a film that’s supposed to be about sex, Fifty Shades shows more boardroom than bedroom. The contract in question (which is freakishly long by the way) not only lays out guidelines for the workings of Ana’s new kinky sex life, it extends to her actual life too. This is where it gets pretty troubling. The contract stipulates that Ana not only be the submissive in her BSDM relationship, but that she eat, wear and do whatever Christian wants outside of the bedroom as well. By signing the contract she is accepting that she is Christian’s property to do with as he chooses. She has become a commodity; not only a sex slave, but an actual slave too.
We are told on numerous occasions that Christian is a “control freak” – an assessment which couldn’t be more apt. He wants to have complete and total domination over every aspect of his life, including the people in it. But that’s a textbook definition of alienation, not the love story this is supposed to be. In fact, it’s more about the way that people are cut off from each other and their own humanity. Bizarrely, Fifty Shades takes this abject condition of alienation and presents it instead as a transcendent, desirable one. In reality, meeting Christian has made Ana increasingly isolated from the people in her life, until all she has is him and some really nice shoes.
Ultimately, the question we have to ask here is if Christian wasn’t a billionaire with expensive suits and a fancy apartment, would he really be given the time of day? If, to use the stereotype, he earned minimum wage and lived on a council estate, would women the world over still be swooning? Take away the expensive suits and the massive salary, and all that’s left is some creepy stalker with mummy issues and a penchant for beating up his girlfriend. In the cold light of day our hero is more American Psycho than Mr. Darcy. And who would fantasise about a night with Patrick Bateman? Chances are you wouldn’t make it out alive.
That’s another issue. The movie’s representation of BDSM relationships is dangerously inaccurate. For a BDSM relationship to work both people have to want to be a part of it. Christian’s version, however, isn’t about mutual pleasure. Instead he uses his wealth to force women to withstand sex they don’t like in exchange for the lifestyle they do. Films like Steven Shainberg’s Secretary offer up a much more realistic depiction of a BDSM lifestyle. Unlike Ana, Maggie Gyllenhaals’ character Lee is a natural submissive. She, just like her boss – also (and maybe not so coincidentally) named Mr. Grey – is able to truly be herself through their S&M relationship.
Christian Grey inhabits a world where the élite in society are not only above the law, they are also above the usual ethical rules too – a world where everyone without money is helpless, submissive and ripe for the picking. In a way we lowly ninety-nine percenters are all like Anastasia. Every day we find ourselves enticed and seduced by expensive things that we’re promised will make us happy. We live in a 24-hour world, finding ourselves continually diverted and invited to consume at any time of day or night. Fifty Shades is a love affair for the one percent. Its hero is the ultimate capitalist, defined entirely by what he has, not by who he is. Even his so-called relationships are merely transactions in which he takes exactly what he wants. Its heroine is the ultimate consumer, signing off her independence in exchange for a life of shiny, vacuous luxury.
This should be a lesson to us all. Christian Grey isn’t someone we should want – he’s everything we should be fighting against, hidden behind a hot body and strong jaw. He’s the embodiment of the oppressive economic system that forces more and more of us into mind-numbing jobs we hate just to pay the bills. Until we can join together to change the current system, we will forever be at the mercy of the Christian Greys in the world. After all, there’s nothing less sexy than getting screwed over.