(Universal)
Fifty Shades of Grey is under attack once again from the anti-porn group Morality in Media, this time over the movie’s rating.
Last week, the Motion Picture Association of America gave the film an R rating for “strong sexual content including dialogue, some unusual behavior and graphic nudity.” An R rating means a film typically “contains some adult material,” and “parents are urged to learn more before taking their young children with them.” And any moviegoer under 17 requires a parent or guardian to accompany them.
Now Morality in Media, which was previously enraged by the movie’s trailer, is blasting the R designation, with executive director Dawn Hawkins saying it “severely undermines the violent themes in the film and does not adequately inform parents and patrons of the film’s content.” “What the term ‘unusual’ does not account for is the coercion, sexual violence, female inequality, and BDSM themes from which the entire Fifty Shades plot is based. Such a vague evaluation puts viewers at risk, sending the message that humiliation is pleasurable and that torture should be sexually gratifying,” reads Hawkins’ statement.
She continues, “The new extended trailer for the film calls it a ‘fairy tale’ which just further misleads the public into thinking this is simply a love story. The MPAA ratings and ‘fairy tale’ label mask the true themes of humiliation, manipulation, abuse, and degradation of women.” The message goes on, “Sexual violence and sexual exploitation are at an all time high, permeating our culture by way of hardcore pornography and now praised by films like Fifty Shades of Grey.”
In fact, Morality in Media says it wants the MPAA to change the rating description to read, “Promotes torture as sexually gratifying, graphic nudity, encourages stalking and abuse of power, promotes female inequality, glamorizes and legitimizes violence against women.” Hawkins further asks, “Is this the description of a movie you’d promote to your son or daughter? What about yourself?”
Speculation about the film’s sexual content and its rating began even before the lead roles were cast, with screenwriter Kelly Marcel saying in 2013 that they were going for NC-17. Star Jamie Dornan has since revealed his penis will not be seen onscreen, noting in an Observer interview that Gossip Cop reported on last year that “you want to appeal to as wide an audience as possible without grossing them out. You don’t want to make something gratuitous, and ugly, and graphic.” He further said of concerns that the movie promotes sexual violence , “I think it’s very hard to argue that when it is all consensual. Half the book is about making contracts. Permission and agreement that this be done. There’s no rape, no forced sexual situations.”
And director Sam Taylor-Johnson has deemed the flick, based on E L James’ erotic bestseller, a “love story.” As Gossip Cop reported, Dornan similarly said in Elle UK earlier this month that while he understands why some believe the project is “misogynistic,” “the love story is more important than the BDSM aspect.” He went on, “I mean, we are going to tell a love story, you know, it can’t just be what happens in the Red Room, that’s not a film. There’s so much more going on than that.”
Following the first trailer’s premiere in July, Gossip Cop reported that Morality in Media complained that the seeming “abuse of power, female inequality, coercion, and sexual violence” in the story only serves to “glamorize and legitimatize violence against women.” Fifty Shades of Grey opens on February 13. Check out the latest trailer (below), “Every fairy tale has a twist.” What do you think of the rating and Morality in Media’s statement?
