Pages

mardi 4 juin 2013

The Novel That Everyone's Talking About

By Michelle Acton


The complex relationship of Anastasia and Christian in the acclaimed Fifty Shades of Grey novel has captured the world like no other fiction to date - including Harry Potter, which it has surpassed to become the fastest selling paperback of all time. The torrid story of lust saturated with erotic scenes and intimate attention to detail has got women everywhere opening up more with their sexuality and made the sometimes-taboo topic of sex an open and appropriate one to discuss over coffee or brunch with friends.

But what exactly is it that has captivated readers around the world? Why was the series such a global phenomenon? What factors contributed to its success and what have been the effects on women and sexuality? Read on for the discussion.

First we must start off with the storyline. It's a love story and an unusual one at that as it is devoid of, well, love! With contractual agreements and ground rules in place the relationship between the two main characters - Anastasia and Mr Christian Grey himself is purely a physical one. Perhaps it is this that has grasped readers' attention spans so enigmatically, the typical love story of normal girl meets wealthy businessman oozing charm and becomes love struck isn't really what this book is all about. Having an emotionless physical relationship especially for women is a foreign concept; does it work? Or does it fail? Can it work?

Although talking about and engaging in sexual activity is not completely taboo anymore, it still makes plenty of the more straight laced among us feel a little awkward, additionally pushing people's boundaries from what they wouldn't usually deviate from is a challenging subject, and one that Fifty Shades of Grey has broached wonderfully.

The bold nature of the book and it's leading male Christian Grey has had the most pronounced effect on the female half of the population. A world shrouded in mystery and ignorance has been revealed in its pages and the fantasy world it has created has had arguably the biggest effect on female attitudes to physicality and sex. From a business standpoint the sales of erotic toys and other sex toys for women such as vibrators have also peaked dramatically as women everywhere rush to re-create that which they have read about. Sales of the book too, have been huge which will have had a marked effect on printers and bookshops everywhere.

With regards to the positive nature of the above mentioned effects of the book for all those sellers of erotic toys, in particular sex toys and vibrators directed at females one obvious business benefit to mention is an increase in their sales and bank accounts! Culturally though a renewed openness to talk about sex and a prevalence of both the book and related erotic toys into the mainstream advertising and entertainment industries has taken place - and we're not complaining!

Every decade or so an alteration or change in a worldwide trend is borne out of something small that takes off spectacularly; Fifty Shades of Grey is a prime example of this. The most recent example prior to this in terms of literature was the Harry Potter series; other examples of this in modern times include the 2012 Olympic Games in London which inspired a transition for females from skinny to strong and a resurgence of sixties type attire in the fashion that came around at the start of 2013. So - have you read the book yet? What do you think?




About the Author:



0 commentaires:

Enregistrer un commentaire