Premier - Valentines Day - 50 Shades movie - Huh??

Having given this more thought, I've decided that 50 Shades of Grey is a rite of passage story with Jungian archtypes. Like other female rite of passage stories, the Innocent encounters ambiguous male figures.

Compare with

Beauty and the Beast. The Innocent encounters a male presumed to be a Tyrant but is in fact the Lover.

The Magic Flute. The Innocent encounters a male presumed to be a Tyrant but is in fact a Sage who makes marriage with the Lover possible. (In a parallel story, the Lover is a Hero who undergoes trials. In this case, he must show that he puts wisdom above passion.)

Peter Pan. Innocent meets Innocent, and for a time, the female Innocent can enjoy the fantasy of having him as the Lover. He rescues her from the Tyrant. But she realizes that this can't be. She has to find the true Lover when she grows up. As in The Nutcracker, there's a story within a story, and in the end, the Innocent learns about the difference between fantasy and reality.

The character Mr. Grey most closely resembles is Sarastro, the Sage in The Magic Flute. When Pamina begs to be returned to her mother, he tells her that she must have a man. In other words, a girl can't be a girl forever. He lays down the law. She submits. Sarastro can't be the Lover. Neither can Mr. Grey be Miss Steel's Lover. In each case, they have to go their separate ways after the Sage has served his rite-of-passage purpose. Frodo doesn't move in with Gandalf and Luke doesn't move in with Obi Wan.

"I exercise control in all things, Miss Steel." Grey has self-control. You'd rather have him flying your plane than Peter Pan.

If Grey is a Jungian archtype, he has been with the middle-aged women who read about him for a long, long time, possibly before they were born.

Happy Valentine's Day '16!

I agree with you.

If this is a 'love' story, then I am Dolly Parton.

Oh, but you're wrong.............because in the book , it's her LOVEEEEEEEEEEEEEE (and one presumes, her snapping kitty) that actually "saves" him.........so you see.............it feeds into that ultimate female fantasy, that they can change any man, for the better.

(*cough cough*.--....... excuse me......touch of flu and fever here.........)