I Just Don't Get It

or how 50 Shades of Grey is Beauty & The Beast with Porn

After vehemently refusing to read 50 Shades of Grey, I decided to read it to see why so many of my friends were calling it a great trashy love story.  And no, I did not get all swept away by Christian Grey; sorry ladies.  This book was not even close to the romance and erotic Sleeping Beauty Trilogy by Anne Rice, which were far superior "mommy porn" in my humble opinion.

I read trashy romance novels when I was 17 (see above), and honestly reader I cannot say that I found this book to be very innovative.  In fact, it was poorly written and not very believable.  I wanted to repeatedly slap Ana (the young, naive point of view character) back to reality, and I never once thought Christian Grey (the rich and kinky beast in the story) was hot.  However, I am sure my romantic 17 year old heart would have LOVED this book.  I was very captivated by romance and love stories when I was in high school, which explains why I pined for a certain "beast" during that time.  In fact, when I was 17 I also saw Disney's Beauty & The Beast and fell in love with the beast.  Was I the only one who thought the prince was weak and ugly in comparison?

But I digress... Before I read 50 Shades I heard the author, E.L. James was a fan of Twilight, and that her debut novel was in fact fan fiction.  I was anticipating more of a Twilight feel - but besides a hard-body male lead (Edward was hard because he was dead) and my desire to slap both heroines (for completely different reasons mind you), I was at a loss to why it was fan fiction.  However, I really thought 50 Shades was more of a contemporary Beauty & The Beast with erotica.

To prove my point, here is a list of some of the reasons why the stories are very similar:

Hero (Beast/Christian):
Rich
Complicated
Quick to anger
Childhood secrets
Has secret area (West Wing/Red Room of Pain)
Releases Heroine to visit parent
Dresses Heroine in beautiful clothing
Gives gift of old books
Spontaneously dances with Heroine (i.e. not at a party nor ball)

Heroine (Belle/Ana):
Book Geek
Naive
Wants more
Sees something in Hero no one else sees
Wins over Hero's family/friends
Defiant
Refuses to date local boy