Has the time to watch porn at the movies finally come?

I wrote this on my blog page of a Turkishnewspaper, and with it, I was chosen “Blogger of the Day” on Saturday. I thought I should share it here too; it’s slightly altered considering you guys aren’t Turkish :)

Has the time to watch porn at the movies finally come?

Most of you might heard of Istanbul’s famous Taksim Square: for generations, it’s been home to many things including gatherings, riots, etc. Years ago, it was also home to the porn industry. Some movie theaters in Taksim would apparently show porn movies back-to-back, and they would be packed. When older people told me about this, I considered what porn aimed to achieve and thought the whole thing was disgusting. I still think it’s disgusting. But, thanks to Hollywood, it looks like I’ll be watching porn with the great masses in August 2014, along with my Christian Grey loving friends. I only have one reason to agree to watching it at the movies: Charlie Hunnam.

50 Shades of Grey? GAG!

50 Shades of Grey by E.L. James is a book I’ve read only out of curiosity. When you’re a bookworm, and a book takes the world by storm, you can’t help but get curious and want to check it out. After I finished the first book of the series, I decided I didn’t like it, and I wrote about why. Even though I tried to be clear about it, most readers attributed it to my being anti-erotica. Well, I am not. I just think there’s such a thing as “good books” and “bad books”, even when it comes to erotica.

The book’s main female character Anastasia is the opposite of women who scream, “I’m strong, and I am independent.” He falls in love with Christian because he’s successful, rich and handsome. The whole falling in love happening very fast was one of the many things that bothered me about this book. Since she’s “in love,” she’s okay with Grey’s kinky requests in the bedroom. No deep thoughts or evaluations; she’s just okay with it. She can be with a control freak, manipulative man who’s afraid of commitment.

Leaving aside how badly the book is written, I must admit I have a problem with these kind of women. Having grown up with the likes of Jane Eyre (and she’s even considered rather conservative), Jo March and Buffy Summers with a family full of strong women who kept telling me “first, you must stand on your own two feet,” I cannot take Anastasia seriously. That’s how it is for me.

Why, Charlie, why?

I’d first seen Charlie Hunnam in the original Queer as Folk series. Later, and still, he’s Jax Teller on Sons of Anarchy. When I heard the news that he was cast as Christian Grey, I was truly upset. I guess I’d put him in better movies on my head although I have faith that he can make anything look good. He doesn’t even fit Christian Grey’s description, really, but obviously the producers thought he was a good fit, and he himself thinks he can do it.

After I was done sulking about this, my mind rushed off to the bigger picture: are all girls going to get together and watch porn at the movies? People read this book due to the sexy male character that is Christian Grey. The most talked about scenes are the sex scenes. If you look for a story, there really isn’t one… Considering all this, we WILL be watching porn at the movies come next summer. Is it really going to stay true to the book and be filled with kinky sex? If not, will they make up a story? Will it hit theatres in Turkey, a country where they recently built separate Olympic pools for males and females? If it does, how much of it will be censored? Will it be available for an 18+ audience?

I think these are questions worth pondering, and I hope we will find out more soon as the project develops.