Or at least, the latest in a long line of discussions would like you to think so. Channel 4 decided to jump on the 50 Shades Of Grey bandwagon with their own documentary on the series last Sunday.
The documentary went to great lengths to tell us that the books from EL James in question were causing a sexual frenzy in the UK with the increased sales of jiggle balls and nipple clamps with commentary from a few university professors and celebs like Brooke Magnanti and er, Amy Childs of all people, whose contribution to the documentary was to highlight a possible baby boom. If you were looking for maybe an intelligent debate as to why this overrated trilogy was flying off the shelf, this documentary spectacularly failed to deliver.
I have to admit that even though (from the bits and pieces I've actually read) I think the trilogy is a load of crap and about as sexy as piles with two of the worst main characters/'lovers' in modern day literature, I'm impressed that James herself has managed to amass so much in such little time. The fact that these books have managed to even beat out Harry Potter in the Amazon sales is an impressive feat but at the same time, this franchise is a fad and not one that will particularly age well. The fact that this documentary on Channel 4 couldn't offer anything new or insightful to the discussions of this trilogy seems to emphasise to me that this really will not be a story that will age well or be remembered after a prolonged period of time.
The documentary went to great lengths to tell us that the books from EL James in question were causing a sexual frenzy in the UK with the increased sales of jiggle balls and nipple clamps with commentary from a few university professors and celebs like Brooke Magnanti and er, Amy Childs of all people, whose contribution to the documentary was to highlight a possible baby boom. If you were looking for maybe an intelligent debate as to why this overrated trilogy was flying off the shelf, this documentary spectacularly failed to deliver.
I have to admit that even though (from the bits and pieces I've actually read) I think the trilogy is a load of crap and about as sexy as piles with two of the worst main characters/'lovers' in modern day literature, I'm impressed that James herself has managed to amass so much in such little time. The fact that these books have managed to even beat out Harry Potter in the Amazon sales is an impressive feat but at the same time, this franchise is a fad and not one that will particularly age well. The fact that this documentary on Channel 4 couldn't offer anything new or insightful to the discussions of this trilogy seems to emphasise to me that this really will not be a story that will age well or be remembered after a prolonged period of time.
