Fifty Shades of Shame — The Evolution of Pornography

I looked at a couple of (less vile, nothing showing) pictures of the stars, and it occurs to me that nobody is at home between Miss Johnson’s ears, and that the male lead’s face says “If you hire me, you’ll be spending a lot of time talking with HR.” Plus not much going on between his ears, either.

Best review of the book I’ve seen is Dave Barry’s, BTW. A little off color, but it illustrates that our culture is apparently so desperate for the “chocolate” of masculinity that they’ll gobble down carob just to get something plausibly similar.

Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.

Behold - Dave Berry’s insightful review! It is one of the funniest things I’ve ever read. It isn’t crude (it’s linked from Time, after all, so don’t be frightened), but it is a bit off-color.

Tyler is a pastor in Olympia, WA and works in State government.

“Hey honey, let’s celebrate Valentine’s day by watching two complete strangers in an abusive relationship have sex on in a movie theater tonight.” - said no one ever.

It blows my mind that millions of women will go to the theater this weekend and spend millions of dollars on videotaped abuse that is projected on a roughly 30’ tall screen. It absolutely makes no sense if you say it out loud.
If you had asked me about the likelihood of this happening in 2007, I would have asked you if you were on a sane planet. Alas, sane and moral aren’t the same thing.

"Our task today is to tell people — who no longer know what sin is...no longer see themselves as sinners, and no longer have room for these categories — that Christ died for sins of which they do not think they’re guilty." - David Wells

I wholeheartedly agree with the author that 50 shades is vile. However, he uses an argument that doesn’t necessarily make sense to me. He says that truth, goodness, and beauty are united. I doubt it. Just because something is beautiful does not make it good. Just because something is good does not make it beautiful. What am I missing?

Yeah I wondered about that too. I am guessing Mohler would say that something that appears to be beautiful but that is not good is not truly beautiful.

[Jim]

Prediction … it’ll be a bust

I don’t know. We went to see “Old-fashioned” last night (my valentine loved that!), and the 50 Shades lines were long…almost all very young people and 80% female.

‘Fifty Shades Of Grey’ Spanks Box Office With $30.2M Friday
I have joked a couple times about my hope that somewhere in America this weekend there will be a movie theater that accidentally plays Fifty Shades of Grey in an auditorium filled with The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water fans. My mother replied that the reverse would actually be funnier, and upon reflection I have to agree. Anyway, it was indeed the “best day ever” for fans of Fifty Shades of Grey as well as anyone with a financial stake in the movie, as the much-discussed erotic drama began its box office domination with a (a)rousing $30.244 million Friday debut, including $8.6m worth of Thursday previews. Among R-rated movies, it’s the fourth-biggest debut behind American Sniper ($30.6m), The Hangover part II ($31.6m) and The Matrix Reloaded ($42m), both of which oddly enough were Thursdays. This is a smashing start, the biggest opening day in February history, to a most unusual would-be blockbuster.

This is a smashing start, the biggest opening day in February history, to a most unusual would-be blockbuster.

This really doesn’t surprise me. You’ll get all the rabid fans, then the people who want to see what the ruckus is about, and then people who will get sucked in by marketing and stuff who have no idea that it’s about BDSM abuse. So while I find that sad, I can’t say I find it surprising.

"Our task today is to tell people — who no longer know what sin is...no longer see themselves as sinners, and no longer have room for these categories — that Christ died for sins of which they do not think they’re guilty." - David Wells

February is a slow time for movie releases. It would be interesting to see how it would have fared against something like Avengers: Age of Ultron this summer, when most of the movie blockbusters are scheduled for release.

"Our task today is to tell people — who no longer know what sin is...no longer see themselves as sinners, and no longer have room for these categories — that Christ died for sins of which they do not think they’re guilty." - David Wells

Jay, given that it’s a “movie for women”, I’d guess it would fare well against “Avengers”, which is aimed at men, I’d guess. The only contraction of revenues would be if a theater had to choose between a screen for one or the other.

Me, I’m surprised at Wayne’s observation that up to 20% of the audience appeared to be male. Call me cynical, it’s true, but…..

Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.