Comments on: The Trouble With Prince Charming or He Who Trespassed Against Us

By: Smelly

Smelly — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 19:21:17 +0000

Like what Rachel Smith?

What are these important lessons only WOMEN should know? I’m just curious at identifying the difference between female lessons and male lessons. What about human lessons?

Rachel Smith Says:
June 30th, 2012 at 12:59 pm

feminist hangups about Beauty and the Beast, it really is a beautiful story about sacrifice, with many lessons hidden in it that women need to know.

By: Nellie

Nellie — Sun, 05 Aug 2012 14:28:19 +0000

I agree with all of your article, but one thing: the sex scenes aren’t even remotely hot.
Even if they were, “Ana” would ruin it solely with saying/ thing stuff like Jeez, Holy crap, Holy whatsoever… and let’s not forget she fears another orgasm in at least one scene.
That’s basically sh*t. Please forgive my rude language, but I’m really furious about this so called books.
What angers me the most is that E.L. James describes abusive relationship and physical violence as BDSM.
IMO, some more flaws of the story are:
- every character calls Ana bright, smart, intelligent… while she doesn’t show any behaviour that could be called smart.
- we are supposed to think of Christian as a smart businessman… while he’s making business decisions based on his need for control over Ana
- there are small unimportant details which were perfectly researched… while important details are totally neglected
- if the man is a billionaire, why does he drive Audi? If I had his money (lol), I’d own at least a Maybach, a Maserati, a Ferrari or even better a Bugatti Veyron (even the most basic version costs more than a million)

I could go on endlessly with this list, but it’s not really needed.
What I greatly enjoy about the series are the recaps written by Jennifer Armintrout (jenniferarmintrout.blogspot.com).
She writes them with wit, sarcasm and intelligence.
Same can be said about your article here.
You approach it from a different angle. I’ve never thought about that fairy tale them before.
I want to thank you for that, because I am the mother of a 20 month old daughter and the time for bedtime stories will be soon.
So I’ll have to check on appropriate material, becaus I don’t want my daughter to grow up with such an opinion on relationships.

Please excuse my absolutely not perfect English, but it isn’t my native language.
Have a nice day!

By: Basia

Basia — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 16:19:28 +0000

I should also add that – as someone involved in BDSM – this series, the attention it’s getting, and the hugely negative responses to the lifestyle it has encouraged in people in my own life, are both infuriating and upsetting to me.

By: Basia

Basia — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 15:21:08 +0000

Excellent… and yet: in the REAL Little Mermaid story, she dies!

By: Rosanna Tufts

Rosanna Tufts — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 00:47:24 +0000

Of course it’s a fantasy. So were Fanny Hill and Lady Chatterly’s Lover, both runaway best sellers in their day, both also receiving the same kind of excoriation although for different reasons. When you’ve had to struggle your whole life, overcompensating for the inadequacies of lame men, an alpha male starts to look really good. Maybe that’s what needs to be the next runaway best seller, featuring an older woman who finally gets to experience melting vulnerability.

By: Rachel Smith

Rachel Smith — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 19:59:29 +0000

Very interesting. However, your third paragraph where you reference Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, is flat out wrong. Belle offered of her own free will to take her father’s place and he tried to stop her. It’s even done with dialog and he says “Belle, no!”. She does it anyway. If you can past feminist hangups about Beauty and the Beast, it really is a beautiful story about sacrifice, with many lessons hidden in it that women need to know.

By: Beth

Beth — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 01:09:06 +0000

Extraordinary analysis. My least favorite fairy tale is the Disney version of “The Little Mermaid,” because she gave away her voice for legs, but that compromise is a lose-lose for her. She has no voice and now also has lost what makes her a mermaid, thereby relinquishing the only means of sustaining any meaningful contact with her family and love ones. For some guy. She isolated herself making her more vulnerable to controlling behavior. Ugh.

I also read “50 Shades of Grey” fully expecting to hate it. I found it surprisingly readable as bad as the writing was at times, and couldn’t figure out why I didn’t hate it–because I know that I should.

Your analysis was dead-on, and I couldn’t say it better myself. And it does make me worry about other women might read it and believe that this heightened level of controlling behavior characterized in these books is ever acceptable.

By: Paul Davidson

Paul Davidson — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 23:28:04 +0000

I was so glad to see somebody writing this kind of dissection of the books.

Said things that needed saying and points out the dangerous trend these novels support in the mindsets of the people who read these novels and seek to emulate the “ideals” espoused in them

By: Dev

Dev — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 15:25:45 +0000

Brilliant. That you for writing this. I want to print it out and post it at work so I can point to it every time someone tries to convince me to read those damn books.

By: Aurens

Aurens — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 13:52:44 +0000

Now, if only the book had been about the male protagonist wanting to be the submissive, THAT would be worth reading.