50 Shades WHAT?

On Feb. 13, 2018, I saw a movie that has sparked controversy since the trilogy began in 2015: 50 Shades Freed. I remember when the first movie, 50 Shades of Grey, came out my mother made sure I knew I was not allowed to go see it. I knew it was a mature movie, but I was 16-years-old at the time and she had let me see rated R movies before. I was confused why I wasn’t allowed to see this particular movie before I got the chance to decide for myself if I wanted to see it. I didn’t get to see the movie until I turned 17 and could legally see whatever I wanted at the movies and I understood why there was so much controversy.

Whenever a new 50 Shades movies comes out, there is new media that comes out about the controversy of the trilogy: the difference between BDSM and abuse. BDSM stands for Bondage/Domination/Sad-Masochism. I personally still didn’t understand what BDSM meant by reading what it stood for, so I did some digging. According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, “BDSM refers to a range of sexual preferences that generally relate to enjoyment of physical control, psychological control, and/or pain. It can be broken down into six overarching components: bondage and discipline, domination and submission, and sadism and masochism.” Again, that still seemed a bit ambiguous unless you already know what all those things in the definition mean. Bondage and discipline are more self-explanatory and consist of using physical or psychological restraints. Domination and submission are less self-explanatory, but involve an exchange of power and control; the dominant has the power, while the submissive relinquishes all control to the dominant. Sadism and masochism were much more confusing for me. Sadism and masochism are interchangeable terms that refer to taking pleasure in others' pain or humiliation.

Suddenly it makes sense why it’s a large controversy. One of the main characters, Christian Grey, enjoys BDSM and claims to need a submissive to be happy in life. That’s morally wrong, right? As someone who has watched and learned to appreciate the movies, I can say the storyline is more than that. Yes, it’s true that the first movie is primarily about the two main characters being in a BDSM relationship; however, the complete storyline is a love story of how Anastasia Steele, the other main character, changes Mr. Grey for the better. Christian Grey falls in love with Anastasia Steele and breaks him of his dominator need.

Although I can understand the controversy behind the movie due to the idea of BDSM, it is not entirely what the 50 Shades trilogy portrays. The final movies of the trilogy, “50 Shades Freed,” is the perfect title to describe the plot. After being taught BDSM at a young age by being the submissive to an older, female dominant, Christian Grey is finally “freed” by Anastasia Steele. His love for Ms. Steele allows him to realize control is not as important to him as he once thought.

Media can sometimes be hard to believe due to everyone having their own opinions on different matters. It is easy to be persuaded by media when what we’re reading aligns with our beliefs and opinions. Once articles started getting out and people could read about the 50 Shades trilogy, they could easily make an opinion without seeing the movies or reading the novels. I don’t like to base my opinions off media this is biased and opinion based for that reason. I try to be open minded until gathering all sides of an issue, story, etc. Although I don’t understand or agree with the idea of BDSM, I don’t find it necessary to stand against a movie that portrays the risqué behavior.