by Lori Perkins
Not too far behind is the breathless examination of the dollars and cents of it all and what E. L. James means to an industry that has, admittedly, seen better days. The skinny is that the formerly bastard stepchild known as fanfiction has suddenly taken on an air of respectability, and the marginal world of e-book erotica is the new minor leagues for the major league publishers beating the bushes for a proven track record to bring up to the bigs.
But on a deeper, personal, and ultimately more important level—women of all ages are talking openly about sex. Many are blushing but they are definitely talking.
However, what is being studiously avoided in the rush to canonize E. L. James is that Fifty Shades has become a cash cow. You can find the brand just about anywhere and in any form. Take the books for example.
If you’re an erotic reader of a certain age, you’re well aware of what were known in the trade as “fuck books” whose heyday ran from the ’50s to the ’70s. Simple line drawing covers, crude and rude titles, pages upon pages of hard-core and extremely raw sex buttressed by a simpleton story. Traveling salesman knocks on the door. Woman lets him in, they have rough sex for what seems like an eternity. It was the War and Peace of its day for the genre. You could find them in most book and magazine shops on both the good and bad sides of town. The key to this kingdom was that you had to be twenty-one to go into the section with the “dirty books.”
But society has put lipstick on the Fifty Shades brand and that respectability has translated into point of purchase targeting where these mommies live. Walk into any supermarket or warehouse store whose name is ten letters or less and you won’t have to look far for a stack of Fifty Shades, rising phallic out of the floor on aisle four, a mere spitting distance from the creamed corn. Go in for steak and come out with the sizzle. It’s all too spot on and perfect.
Booksellers who, in the old days, would walk on the other side of the street to avoid acknowledging the form are now courting erotica as if it were the second coming. Those coveted front-of-the-store tables and end-of-the-aisle endcaps, primarily reserved for the latest offerings by “branded” bestselling authors or the hot “serious literature,” are now stacked to overflowing with the Fifty Shades trilogy. And who’s to blame booksellers for changing their tune? There are light bills to pay and doors to keep open at a time when, sadly, brick-and-mortar bookstores are dropping like flies. In the immortal words of the bard, “Money talks.”
Librarians have raised the expected stink and a few have made token attempts at banning the books outright. But patron demand soon had them falling in line.
So much for the source material. Here come the moneybags that are inevitably late for the dance. Movie rights? No biggie there. You knew that was coming. Hell, there’s already a soundtrack of Christian Grey’s favorite tunes to spice up the aural centers. Notice I said aural and not … well, you get the picture. Been to a mall department store lately? It’s like a journey into Christian Grey’s Red Room of Pain. The lingerie, Christian Grey–style boxers, T-shirts with pithy come-hither slogans, caps, journals … don’t forget the pink furry handcuffs. They’re all emblazoned with a variation on the Fifty Shades logo.
And this is just the authorized stuff that lawyers signed off on, where major money was exchanged.
Further down the evolutionary trail of cashing in is the fringe market. Unofficial Fifty Shades books (lifestyle guides that will spend 50,000 words telling you what you already know) and graphic novels, knock-off erotic novels reconfigured to reflect the Fifty Shades lifestyle. Adult shops catering to the hardware of kinky sex are noticing an increase in the sales of whips, handcuffs, and restraints. Some enterprising erotic outlets are reporting big attendance at hastily formed couples therapy/sex workshops.
You get the picture. Who knew that a pop culture phenomenon, chopped and channeled for mass consumption, could be so laughable? But this is what happens when one writer sits down and comes up with the most brilliant idea on the planet. At least for the moment.
Because the ball is now in E. L. James’ court. Continue to write the books that are making millions of women sing and you’re locked in for the hall of fame. Rest on your laurels and pocketbook? You, too, could be a trivia question of the future.
Mercenary? More likely just good business. Cynical? Sure. Fifty Shades of Grey is not only literature but an immensely important cog in the pop culture cycle. But there is an upside to all this mass marketing. People are once again reading in a very big way.
Thank you, E. L. James. You’re the stuff Pulitzers are made of.
MARC SHAPIRO is the author of thirty-six celebrity bios and entertainment books. His young adult biography J. K. Rowling: The Wizard Behind Harry Potter was a New York Times bestseller. His biography Justin Bieber: The Fever was a bestseller in Canada. His most recent biography on singer Adele is currently available, and he has just completed writing The Secret Life of E. L. James, An Unauthorized Biography. He is a published short story writer, poet, and comic book writer. He does this for a living. Don’t tell the authorities.
EDITOR X
How I Lost Christian Grey at Auction
I’M AN EDITOR. Actually, I’m a romance editor, and because of that very few of my friends ask me about the books I work on. But ever since Fifty Shades of Grey started gaining traction, every person I know has asked me about E. L. James’ series of erotic novels. They want to know what I think—are they well written? Are they really that scandalous? Am I somehow embarrassed because they actually made it out of the shadowy world of fanfiction and into the mainstream hands of women everywhere? Are they trash?
From my editorial and publishing standpoint, my position on Fifty Shades is simple: we read it in-house, we bid on it, we lost, and we wish we’d won—won the auction, that is.
What is the “untold” publishing backstory of Fifty Shades? Well, it all began fairly simply, with the submission itself (which is, of course, far different than the “submission” in the books). We first heard about the project from scouts—those somewhat mysterious people who are tasked with finding projects to develop for the movies. We often get leads from scouts, but this time they were all abuzz about this work that had originated in fanfiction and was now selling—yes, actually selling!—for the impressive price of $9.99. It had a movie deal before it had a US book deal. Within a week the first book had hit the e-book New York Times bestseller list, and that’s when things really began to get interesting. What did this book have that others did not?
Because I was busy, I had a few trusted colleagues read it in-house first. Their reports didn’t reveal anything that would normally lead us to believe that this would be a publishing sensation; they said that this was the same sort of story that Harlequin had been publishing for years. Yes, this book had more sex, but what’s surprising is it didn’t really have that much more sex than some of the steamier historical romances published back in the 1980s.
One report said, “Could see why story is resonating with so many readers. You have strong, stoically handsome billionaire hero. He’s emotionally damaged, sexually charged and yet is tamed and redeemed by a young, innocent, and virginal woman. Despite the BDSM and Room of Pain stuff (also loved the contract Christian had her sign detailing how many days she should work out), it’s actually a classic romance, sweet in a way. Heroine helps him work through his tortured past/childhood, heroine gets all-consuming love and unlimited money. Storytelling is good.”
For those of us who have read a lot of romance through the years as well as a fair amount of erotica, none of these elements are particularly unusual. Which is precisely what the readers who have come to Fifty Shades of Grey often don’t know. These aren’t romance readers who are flocking to this book. In fact, most of these readers would probably be horrified to be told that what they are reading is, at its heart, a romance novel.
Yet we were intrigued that it was selling for $9.99 as an e-book. And the price for the trade edition was higher than most hardcovers. So we made an ag
gressive bid, but it was not aggressive enough. We didn’t know how high was up when it came to Fifty Shades, which brings me to why—why is everyone reading this book?
Perhaps it’s one of the first big stories of the digital reading age—because while it’s doing well in print, it’s also doing well as an e–book, maybe because no one sees a cover when you’re reading on a device. The appeal could also be the characters, because in addition to the sex, readers seem fascinated by Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele. As of this writing, the search for the actor to play Christian Grey is getting as hysterical as the long-ago search for Scarlett O’Hara. Plus there is that connection to Twilight.
Yet maybe it is the sex. Could it be that the women of America are finally ready to embrace the dark side of their sexuality? Therapists have told me that patients are talking about this book endlessly in their sessions. Or perhaps it is that the hero of Fifty Shades is sexier, more attentive, provides better, and treats his partner more as a physical being than the guy sitting in the living room watching ESPN?
Fifty Shades is, at its heart, a fantasy: I’m pretty sure most women know that some man of incredible fortune is not going to sweep her off her feet. I keep thinking of the Washington Post essay “Reflections on Jake Ryan of the John Hughes Film ‘Sixteen Candles’” and its reminder that “Jake Ryan … is never coming to get you,” because, let’s face it, neither is Christian Grey. But maybe the bottom line is that Fifty Shades is fun, at a time when we could all use some fun. Some distraction.
One thing I believe: Fifty Shades is a phenomenon, unlikely to happen the same way again … and, as an editor, I still wish we’d won that auction. Oh, and if you liked it, ask me what other books you might like. I’d be happy to welcome you to the world of romance novels.
EDITOR X has been an executive editor of romance fiction at a major publishing house for a very long time and has many New York Times bestsellers to her credit.
ANGELA EDWARDS
Making Fifty Shades into Cinema
THE FILM COMMUNITY’S PURSUIT of the rights to the Fifty Shades trilogy was unlike anything I’ve ever seen. It’s always the case that when a few studios or producers want something, everyone else is bound to want it, too. No one wants to be left out. However, even under these circumstances the competition was fierce, with every studio going for it, regardless of whether the material suited the tastes of the creative team or not. There was a frenzy. It rivaled the competition for The Da Vinci Code, if it didn’t surpass it. Often a studio—or more likely a producer—will option a book that suddenly and unexpectedly becomes huge. Harry Potter is the most often cited example. But in this case, people knew what was at stake and everyone pulled out all the stops to get it.
There are all kinds of rumors as to why the eventual winner, Universal Studios, succeeded, but in many of these cases it’s simply who the author responds to and how a particular studio’s vision for the film is conveyed. People wanting to option rights to a book are expected to have a “take”: ideas as to how something should be adapted. A creative conversation that fully engages the author and expands on his or her story in intelligent and unexpected ways is also effective. These encounters can inspire, flatter, and reassure the author and agent. I’m sure it’s a tough decision to make when so many powerful people are falling at your feet. It’s a nice problem to have, but that doesn’t make it any easier to know whom to go with. Everyone going for this book would have had smart things to say about it.
In the case of some properties, there’s the risk an option may not lead to a film being made, simply because the process of adaptation requires deep development and a lot of resources. In many cases, people lose interest or a book’s cultural domination fades. Sometimes the reason is as simple as sales having slowed down by the time the right script emerges. But there is no doubt, now that the trilogy is breaking all sales records, that in this case the film will be made. The studio will have paid far too much for it to let it go quiet, and there’s the waiting, built-in audience of Fifty Shades’ readership ready to flock to the cinema to see it. People who don’t normally even read books, or at best read one book a year, are reading this. The main challenge here is not in getting the film made, but in making a film that will not disappoint millions and millions of readers. This is a really tall order. If one replicates the book too closely—I believe this was a criticism of at least one or two of the Harry Potter films—a boredom factor can creep in. Stray too far and people get angry. This book succeeds in people’s minds, their fantasies. Making it flexible and layered enough to work on these levels for a wide enough audience will be the main hurdle.
In my informal polling as to why so many women (and they mostly are women) like or even love these books, I seem to get different answers. But there is, ultimately, a unifying theme. What they are drawn to is simply the romance of it. This is not what one expects from a novel that features an unequal power relationship and unconventional sex of the kind where even a reader who is paying close attention may have a hard time imagining what’s going on. I certainly couldn’t work it out all the time. The appeal lies in the fact that most of us reading these books are projecting our own wishes, our own romantic notions, onto the romance between Ana and Christian.
In addition, there is one fantasy there that I feel sure a lot of women share: the fact that Ana is able to change her man, to get him to love her in exactly the way she wants to be loved. That’s very powerful. How can a film adaptation live up to all that? Bringing Ana and Christian to life, with all their longing, all their passion … all the sex.
Everyone is wondering how the sex scenes will be filmed. This won’t be an X-rated film, so how does that work? I don’t think this is as difficult as some people think. Because there’s so much paraphernalia involved in BDSM sex, it’s easy to suggest what is about to happen without actually showing it. And its effects—wincing from pain or pleasure—are far easier to convey than rapturous orgasmic reactions, which can border on parody. We can all count on one hand cinematic sex scenes we think have worked. Many people mention the one from Out of Sight, starring Jennifer Lopez and George Clooney, as being particularly memorable. Part of the appeal of that, of course, lies in the chemistry between the two characters the actors are playing. But, part of it, if I recall correctly, was in the waiting for them finally to get together. Equally importantly, a lot of it was suggested, which is almost always the most effective way to film these moments. No one is looking for porn here, even if the ubiquity of the Fifty Shades books has made some soft porn writing suddenly acceptable.
No one really knows why some sex scenes work, but we all know when we see something perfunctory. Often the sex is so boring we’re disappointed that the filmmakers felt they even had to show anything. There was a recent, wonderful quote from the actress Maggie Gyllenhaal, who described a conventional film sex scene (I’m paraphrasing here) as a woman wearing Victoria’s Secret underwear and arching her back.
With Fifty Shades, it seems, conversely, that certain hurdles can be overcome by the sheer fact it will be out of the ordinary. The Red Room of Pain in Christian’s apartment will say more than a hundred of the soft-core sex scenes we are used to. Here there’s also the heightened aspect of it all—Ana’s longing to have Christian in the way she dreams, his own frustration.
They are both experiencing something powerful, but in different ways. The sex means different things to each of them. The minute the actors are cast, things can begin to unravel. Every woman has her own idea of who Christian is, and the book’s readership spans adults of all ages. I’ve heard of mothers and daughters sharing this book. A twenty-three-year-old’s idea of Christian is going to be different from a fifty-three-year-old’s. Christian can’t have bland model good looks or he will risk losing the other qualities that draw Ana and the reader. And Ana—how pretty is she? So pretty that she seems too remote, that all the insecurities she suffers in the novel could ring hollow on-screen? Any actors will simply have to take up the ga
untlet and run with it, not looking back too much or else the net of expectations will entangle them.
The book offers as many gifts as it does challenges to a filmmaker. Glamour is a significant aspect of these stories. Christian has it all; Ana has nothing. He gives her everything, and even if she feels a bit strange taking anything, she adjusts quickly. I don’t know how many women really do fantasize about being swept off their feet in this madly unrealistic way, but it seems pleasing on the page. This is the easiest part to film; movies are the perfect medium for showing this over-the-top wealth. It will be great fun to see Christian’s apartment, his cars, and so on. (I’ve heard it said that E. L. James admires the Pierce Brosnan/Renee Russo remake of The Thomas Crown Affair; the overriding image in that film is of great wealth: beautiful people, beautiful houses, beautiful clothes, etc. The glamour shouldn’t be a problem for the filmmaker of Fifty Shades, as it seems the easiest part to get right.
The hard part is maintaining the overall fantasy. No one should try and make this what it isn’t by overintellectualizing it. There’s nothing feminist about this; it’s pure escapism. Even the sex is escapist. Nor is the story making any observations about romance in our times. Everyone’s just captivated by it, pure and simple.
Anyone looking to adapt a novel to film is grateful for the “hard ground of narrative,” as the great master of adaptation, the late Anthony Minghella, put it. Any future adapter of the Fifty Shades trilogy has more than enough action to contend with. A lot happens in this relationship, and the books are action-packed on every level. So it bodes well in that sense. No one has to go looking for things to happen, for visual interpretations; it’s all there.