50 (More) Shades of Schadenfreude

50 (More) Shades of Schadenfreude June 29, 2015

50ShadesofGreyCoverArt.crop

When the movie version of the — let’s not be kind about it — “mommy porn” book “50 Shades of Grey” came out, the press junket was an unmitigated disaster.

The gossip site Defamer enjoyed it immensely, and so did I, in a post for CatholicVote called “50 Shades of Schadenfreude.” Here’s a bit from Defamer:

Let’s undertake a thought experiment. Imagine that—rather than paper and ink—each of those books were composed of: a look of unabashed contempt; a single embittered sigh; an explicit request that audiences not see the film adaptation of 50 Shades of Grey, vocalized by one of the movie’s main stars. Imagine one hundred million pained expressions, one hundred million eyes rolled, one hundred million uncomfortable pauses that peter out into one hundred million dead silences.

You have imagined the press tour for the upcoming film 50 Shades of Grey—by now firmly established as among the most disastrous of the past decade, if not so far this century.

On Monday, June 29, the woman who typed the words that became “50 Shades” (don’t make me call her a writer, I’ve had a hard week) went on Twitter to do a Q&A.

It was a beautiful, beautiful thing, and for once, the Twitterverse did itself proud.

Click here to see what happened on Buzzfeed (it’s got over a million views and counting).

Oh, and by the way, the woman who typed the words that became “50 Shades” has seized control of the sequel, enlisting her husband, author Niall Leonard, to pen the script. I can only dream it matches the enormous critical acclaim heaped on both the book and the first movie.

The only thing that would be better if if the woman typist typed the script herself (which, seized by delusions of adequacy, she wanted to do).

Yeah, I know lots of people — including some Catholics, Lord have mercy on their souls — loved the books and shelled out their hard-earned cash for the movies.

How nice for them.

Image: Wikimedia Commons

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