This Valentine’s Day, many couples ditched the romantic dinner and flocked to the movie theaters to see the film adaptation of Fifty Shades of Grey. The 2011 novel was deemed “Popular Fiction Book of the Year” at the National Book Awards a year after publication. E.L. James’s bestseller gave fans high hopes for the 2015 movie starring Dakota Johnson as Anastasia Steele and Jamie Dornan as Christian Grey.

“I read the book because everyone kept telling me how good it was,” said Allison Cheung, 18. “I was so excited to see what the movie was going to be like but after finally watching it, I was a bit disappointed.”

Surprisingly, disappointment has been common among recent viewers of Fifty Shades of Grey. Rotten Tomatoes gave the movie an average rating of three out of five stars.

“I honestly thought the movie was boring but I kind of expected it,” said Cheung. “The plot was kind of boring but I don’t see what else they could have done with it.”

On top of the disfavoring reviews, Fifty Shades has also raised controversy regarding domestic violence. Critics of the abusive relationship between the characters in the Fifty Shades Trilogy refer to the series as “Fifty Shades of Abuse”.  The main issue regards concern for the character Anastasia Steele supposedly being raped by her aggressor, Christian Grey. Many refuse to see the movie, reluctant to give the company money that is promoting such domestic abuse.

“I think the book and movie are really unsafe,” said sophomore Zoe Donofrio. “It promotes physical and psychological abusive relationships, wrongly portrayals and BDSM (bondage, dominance, and sadomasochism).”

Fans that treasure the fictional relationship between the Fifty Shades of Grey characters defend the storyline by insisting a consensual relationship and safeness of the story.

“Christian Grey has obviously had a troubled childhood leading him to be the somewhat ‘abusive’ adult that he is,” said sophomore Terry Tan. “I don’t think the story is a form of domestic violence though. It is fictional and just a way for the E.L. James to express herself in the form of writing. I think it’s absolutely normal.”

Although the film is receiving bad reviews and has raised recent controversy, moviegoers still want to judge for themselves.  The R rated movie has already topped an $81.7 million dollar box office in less than a week and continues to suck women and teenagers into the world of Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele.

“Even though everyone keeps telling me how bad the movie is, I still want to see it” said Rian Stephenson, 15. “Fifty Shades of Grey has become so popular that this movie has basically become a ‘must-see’”.

FSA Connection Questions:

1. What is the main idea of the article?
2. Select one sentence from the article that best summarizes the whole concept.
3. In the article, the word reluctant means…
4. Use the word reluctant in a sentence.
5. What does “BDSM” stand for?