Fifty Shades of Fucked up

The frenzy surrounding the Fifty Shades trilogy is saturating society. I myself, becoming entranced by such hype bought myself the first book: Fifty Shades of Grey. Now I see the frenzy. It is an easily accessible holiday book giving women the thrill they lack in reality. But does the plot not seem somewhat familiar? Fifty Shades of Grey is just a rewrite of Twilight. People may gasp at this comparison, but read between the lines (to be honest you don't even need to go that far) and you'll see it yourself. The socially awkward protagonist, propelled into a world previously unbeknown, be that S&M or Vampires- it's all pretty arousing and violent either way. The role of both Christian Grey and Edward are very similar. They both want to protect Bella and Ana from their own demons and are portrayed as somewhat domineering throughout each book. Both female characters seem to 'change' the male, and bring him something that he has not experienced before. Although these examples may be deemed as common plot leads, there are more similarities. Christian's dislike of Ana's old beetle is somewhat reflective of Edward's fear of Bella driving her own beaten truck and the eminence of love rivals is another similarity with Jose and Michael posing a threat to Christian and Edward's efforts. All in all these are both stories about a woman giving up everything for a man- why is this so appealing to women?

 I feel increasingly antagonised by this plot in Fifty Shades of Grey rather than in Twilight, after all Twilight is simply a teen book; I expect a lot more from an adult novel. E L James' attempts to portray Ana as some sort of heroine through reference to her subconscious or her 'inner goddess' just makes me cringe with embarrassment at this literary faux pas- the term clique springs to mind. I find it almost offensive that James attempts to justify the abuse that Ana is undergoing for Christian (yes, abuse- it is very clear that she does not enjoy half of the sexual acts including the spanking) by suggesting that this is pleasing Ana's inner goddess. Is the term 'inner goddess' just another form of female submission? This is something that female writers should be propelling us out of rather than into.

 Overall the plot is poor- purely a sexed up, fucked up twilight, the character's are unrelatable, and the creation of 'darkness' is weak (so his mother was a crack whore, how does that justify his obsession with S&M and the likes?). It is safe to say that I will not be reading more.

Technical Difficulties

Recent issues in major companies, RBSG (The Royal Bank of Scotland Group) and O2, have posed the question as to whether we have become too heavily reliant upon technology.

Some people are unable to fathom how a 'computer' is able to cause such issues, and continue to blame the 'computer' profusely for this. The majority simply blame the programming or find some way in which this must have been some extravagant human error. To some extent these people forget that the technology can only be as good as its creator: us. Therefore it is purely egotistical to presume that technology is flawless.
The principle in which we presume that technology is  a perfect, magical creation is purely myth, and this idea only highlights how humans have deserted their own responsibilities and left them to 'the technology'. For example: remembering someone's birthday. For many this is no longer a responsibility and is simply retrieved from Facebook, or more usefully from your mobile phone's calendar in the morning which is nevertheless connected to Facebook and alerts you of this birthday. In some way this removes the sincerity of human actions. How can someone be appraised for wishing a 'happy birthday' or 'happy anniversary' any more? Surely forgetting to do so is simply pure idiocy- or ignorance of the new technological age. A new technological age which is, although leading us technologically forward and showing the abilities of man kind, is leading the common man backward; to laziness and forgetfulness, an age in which 'learning' is retrieving a fact from Google. Regurgitation over understanding. Computer games over reading. A lower breadth of vocabulary and understanding. Unrealistic idolisations plastered everywhere in this virtual world in which some have difficulty deciphering from reality. Utter absorption into something that does not exist, be it video games or social networking. Dependence upon technology to wake us up at the best time, rather than using our best resource: the sun. Our whole world lays in the palm of our hands, our journal, our agenda, our contacts and our information. Without this, what are we?

Animals.