You might be well familiar by now with the accusation that Fifty Shades of Grey glorifies misogynistic jerks who treat women as objects (even though it was written by a woman).
Fifty Shades Darker, the movie version of E.L. James’s bestselling erotic sequel, is released tomorrow and movie critics are brandishing the sexist card far more brazenly than for the release of the original Fifty Shades of Grey movie two years ago.
Even though the cast boasts some strong-minded actresses (Dakota Johnson, Kim Basinger, Rita Ora), critics are tying themselves up in knots over the sexual politics in Fifty Shades Darker.
In part, that could be because Fifty Shades of Grey director-writer team Sam Taylor-Johnson and Kelly Marcel didn’t stay for the sequel and have been replaced by men (the script for the equel was penned by E.L. James’s husband). Or maybe the film, in which Christian and Ana reprise their rough sex high jinks, just rubs reviewers the wrong way even more than its much-maligned but commercially successful predecessor.
The Hollywood Reporter weighed in: “News flash: Man who gets off on making women submit to him has issues.” Newsday archly noted: “For a woman like Anastasia, there’s only one real enemy, of course: another woman.” Variety: “The new film has lost its predecessor’s feminine perspective.”
That’s nothing compared to Australia where movie critics are really being sadistic. Movie reviewer Richard Wilkins on morning TV TODAY Show on Australia’s Nine Network fumed: “It’s glorification of domestic violence.”
Perth’s Eastern Reporter’s Julian Wright exclaimed: “For some reason, this film tries its best to have every male character out-creep the next, while Anastasia is bafflingly, inexplicably blind to it.”
Thank goodness movie critics are out there to spot the sexism for those not able to see it…