By: Lance

Sam Taylor-Johnson’s Fifty Shades of Grey may be a lot of things, but “dirty” isn’t one of them. In fact, Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson) describes Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan) as “clean” after their first meeting. While the film does contain a lot of sex, 2 out of the 3 types according to the definition from the American Red Cross, its main focus is not on sex but rather the dominant-submissive relationship that Christian wants. So what is Fifty Shades of Grey trying to say?

Anastasia, or “Ana” as she prefers to be called, meets Christian in Seattle when her roommate gets sick and she takes her place in interviewing Christian for the college newspaper. Christian is scheduled to speak at Ana’s graduation ceremony because he’s the definition of success. Although, we soon find out that he wasn’t always so prosperous. Ana attempts to get to know Christian by asking him questions but Christian quickly wants to get to know more about her. Being so rich and likely having access to private information, he later “accidentally” runs into Ana at her hardware store job and picks up a few items: cable ties, rope, and tape. These are things that help you hold other things down. Christian and Ana go out for coffee and the subject of “romanticism” comes up in conversation. Ana admits that because she is an English Literature major, being romantic is inherent to her personality. This is enough to make Christian run for the exits. He makes it clear that romance is not his bag, unless that bag contains whips and floggers in it used for BDSM. If you don’t know what BDSM is, I suggest you look up the internet.

There’s a defining moment for Ana when she skims through her cell phone and almost deletes Christian’s number. She doesn’t go through with it, though. She ends up calling him because she wants him. Ana wants him enough to enter his strange, dominance-fueled world. “Enlighten me,” she says. “I think I’d like [you to bite my lip] too,” she tells Christian. Ana gives in to Christian’s desires in small doses and receives big amounts of pleasure each time. However, Ana wants “more.” To Christian, “more” is buying her a new car or taking her on an exhilarating plane ride. But to Ana, this is not the “more” she’s looking for. A constant question she asks Christian is why he won’t sleep next to her in bed. This request is demanding a lot from Christian. Sleeping in the same bed could mean they’re a couple. Sleeping together might mean they’re in love and Christian makes it known that he can’t be tied down. No, he’s the one who physically ties others down.

Christian, ever the smart businessman, draws up typed contracts for Ana to sign in order for them to engage in sexual relations with each other. Everything is clearly spelled out, from which adult toys and devices can be used in his play room to the specific acts that can be performed on Ana. “Anal fisting” gets crossed out in this fun and flirty scene. Christian’s efforts to define boundaries unfortunately don’t make things any less complicated between him and Ana. And why shouldn’t things get complicated? Forcing order and control in any relationship is bound to cause problems. This is where the film kind of gets derailed. It’s so obvious from the beginning that Ana and Christian want different things. She wants him to sleep with her in the same bed and quit “fighting” his feelings for her. He wants to keep her submissive, her hands tied so she can’t touch him, but he frequently contradicts himself by showing her affection. He sends her gifts, he sometimes introduces to friends as his “girlfriend,” and he even takes her to meet his family. Due to this confusion and irritation from the characters, I found myself wanting them to “just get on with it” and skip to the sex so they can both stop talking and enjoy themselves. The first play room scene is hotter than a sidewalk in Vegas. I was shaking my head in scenes when Ana would start to cry. Not because I didn’t feel for her. Dakota Johnson does a fine job at making us see things from her point of view. It’s just a mystery to me and probably to everyone else in the film what she was actually expecting from this arrangement. For the most part, I liked Jamie Dornan as Christian Grey too. He’s a little stiff (not that kind of stiff) in some of his line deliveries but overall pulls off being both secretive and seductive.

“Whatever happened to flowers and chocolates?” says Ana’s best friend Kate. These days, it’s becoming rare to see couples express love in the more traditional ways. I don’t think Fifty Shades of Grey is trying to make a statement on love. It’s more concerned with individual people. People who love each other become attached and turn into couples that get further away from being themselves. Ana and Christian want to remain who they are and there’s nothing wrong with that. So long as we get to watch.