Just watched the 50 shades trailer on Buzzfeed

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and actually agree with their choice of Mr Grey...not sure if "The Fall" was shown in the mainland but he plays a rather convincing serial killer in it and does the sexy, brooding, slightly messed up but I want to jump you anyway, man quite well in my opinion....Different strokes for different folks!

I have to agree with Hoddy but then again 50 Shades is very tame compared to other books I have. The book in general bored and annoyed me and they say films ruin books so there isn't much hope for this one.

I would have liked Charlie Hunnam to have kept the part. Even though he still wasn't as I imagined CG to be, he is fitter than the bloke they got.

When reading the books, I pictured CG looking like Christian Bale in American Psycho.

I liked the books cause I like a crappy love story but I did skip some of the sex scenes as was all a bit same old'

not sure on Christian he doesn't seem powerful enough

I read all the books and although they are extremely poorly wirtten I enjoyed them. But I do read complete crap most of the time!

I think Jamie Dornan is pretty hot, he's not what I picture Christian to look like but he'll do nicely. I can't imagine the film being very good, because to keep them true to the books, the films would need to be pornographic! I'm still going to watch it though.

I was gonna ask if he's old enough, then I googled and found that Christian is supposed to be 27 and Ian S is 35! Ha. I think I perceive him to be younger cos in Lost he played quite a naive and innocent character, but then that was 10 yrs ago. I've never seen the Vampire Diaries so he'll always be Boone to me.

I read the first one. I didn't think it was dirty at all. My friend said along the lines of 'trust you to be the only person who doesn't think it's dirty'. I haven't read any other erotic fiction to compare it too - but the steamy bits were boring and repetitive! What a load of drivel.

SW has summed it up perfectly.

Erotica tends to be a bit boring and repetitive to be honest. I used to dabble a bit back in my writing days (between 'proper' projects) and when I look back on it, i'll read one and think 'oh that was really good, I'm more talented than I thought' then i'll read another and think 'that was quite similar to the last one' and then the next and the next, til I realise I was writing the same thing over and over again with different characters/settings - much like Jodi Picoult, or Jenny Colgan!

Love me some trash to read though, as much as I complain about bad writing, it's still my first choice, between the 'grown up' books, that is!

I never managed to see Charlie Hunnam as Christian, because every picture I saw of him had that AWFUL bumfluff beard which was totally unsuitable.

In my head CG was Simon Baker as he was in the Devil Wears Prada (though possibly just because his character was called Christian), but he is too old for the part.

Read all 3 books - the writing was awful, storyline annoying (man completely changes his character and becomes someone altogether different for the right woman - yawn) but then I don't like chic lit at the best of times.

Was hoping for a good steamy film but trailer has killed that idea. Is she pretty enough to be Anastasia? In the books men are falling in love with her all the time and fighting over her. And he isn't hot enough to be Christian.

I'm still recovering from the butcher job they did on One Day so should probably avoid film adaptations of books for while.

Those who have said it's not a true representation of a BDSM relationship, I'm no expert, but isn't that like saying that Dirty Dancing is not a true representation of a holiday romance? I didn't get to that part of the book but just wondered what you meant? I don't understand how any relationship can be anything other than unique to the people involved IYSWIM?

PS - Charlie Hunnam will always (to me) be a 15 year old boy having his bum licked by Aiden Gillen (as well as a terrible actor).

Haha agreed. I'm guessing his acting must have got better since them but QAF is the only thing I've seen him in.

It's tough to explain without going into detail that you wouldn't want to know But one of the big problems with the book is that so much of the main relationship plays into the misconception that a sexual relationship based around BDSM is, at its core, an abusive one. A lot of what happens is domestic abuse, both physical and emotional, and that's a dangerous misconception to foster. The importance of consent is just dismissed. All healthy BDSM relationships share a respect for consent on both the dom and sub sides.

When I first started watching Sons of Anarchy I realised that QAF was where I recognised him from! Didnt take much watching of him as Jackson Teller to make me forget about that!

I saw the trailer on my facebook newsfeed and just had to watch it! I'm sorry I've even read the books more than once and really enjoyed them same as the twilight ones. I must really be easily pleased? I even purchased two FSOG toys - the eye mask and the feather tickling stick, never even bothered to remove them from their boxes haha!

Oh and my ideal Christian Grey would of been Henry Cavill!!!

He'd have worked too! Failing that Jonathan Rhys Meyers :-) lol

Oh I didn't realise he was abusive. I just can't bring myself to read the damn things.

BT

I want to go and see it but I will be 39 weeks pregnant and may go into labour.

The books were ***, I just skipped to the sex parts hahaha!

The thing is a lot of BDSM relationships might appear abusive to the outsider - but it all takes place within a context agreed by both parties and they should be able to stop it at any time if it gets too much. With 50 Shades it comes off as not really consensual and like she's genuinely frightened. I think it just comes from the writer having no actual experience of BDSM, but it's worrying cos other people may get the idea that that's how it's supposed to be.

oh me too!

Henry Cavill would be hot enough, sure, but if he played a *** like Christian Gray it would put me off him. And that would be sad.

Yeah I totally understand that. In fact, this makes me hate this book even more because, even as someone who has never gone down this route, I am fully aware of how these things work and I think to write a book about something you clearly have no experience about is quite odd. How the feck did these books ever get published? They are awful.

On another note, if Christian Grey is an abuser, how come so many women seem to love the character?

I mean, I dunno for sure that EL James was never in a BDSM relationship - I just get that vibe. I think the character is a variation on the classic 'bad boy' trope that so many women love, and let's face it, lots of women have fantasies involving submission that they maybe never play out in real life - so he fits into that. If it's remaining solely in your head then I guess you can conveniently ignore issues like consent.

I actually don't think the abusive angle rings true with me.

The book was written as fan fiction for twilight, which many people have also said is about an abusive relationship.

I'm pretty sure the actual basis of the storylines for both books/sets/series/whatever is just that of a successful/handsome/troubled man falling for a girl who is, to all intents and purposes, plain/vanilla/boring and then the ensuing relationship where she 'tames' him. Which tends to be a theme across many romance type novels.

She wants to please him, and does things she might not really have considered before in order to do so. She isn't forced into anything anywhere. He, in the same thread, does things he hasn't done before (FSOG - Vanilla sex, falling in love / Twilight - Relationship with a human, falling in love - both are very intense relationships, the type that a 14/15 year old girl (and perhaps more mature women too) dreams of)

It is what it is. Its a pretty terribly written book, mainly a love story, but with a hint of 'naughtiness' thrown in for good measure. and to be fair, it worked. Both FSOG and Twilight have been ridiculously successful.

I think too much is made from the fact that its probably not true to an actual BDSM relationship. Its a story. Its not real.

That girl in the twilight books is such an insipid wretch. I can't stand that teenage girls have such a weak fictional heroine to look up to.

100% agree Kharv, also, I don't think women/girls should be portrayed as only being happy when they 'get their man' but hey ho. Its following in a long line of stories that have been told for generations!

That Cif Advert does my head in, the sleeping beauty one.

Slight derailment...oops.

Totally derailing the thread here but the when I got to the end of Frozen and her sister unFroze her, this made me so happy. I was becoming a bit disheartened to think it was going to be about a kiss from a boy. Disney are getting their act together I think.

And Maleficent, have you seen that?

No, I'll download it when it's available because I like the look of it but not enough to go to the cinema.

My niece's favourite Disney ladies are Elsa from Frozen and Alice in Wonderland. Which makes me happy, as she isnt clinging onto the idea of needing a man to rescue her. She likes the ice queen and a junkie teen instead....