

Men are the ones who get to ultimately make decisions that matter. Women in these films are still seen as helpless little play-things. Curiously, with an audience of mainly middle-aged women who gleefully refer to the stories as #MommyPorn, there is very little exploitation of the male form in the films, particularly that of Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan). One example is that the director is a male, using his camera to continually exploit female sexuality through the filter of the predatory male gaze, particularly focusing on the character of Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson). In my previous review for Fifty Shades Darker, the 2nd film in the series, I recounted examples of the feminist failings of these films. On every front, the Fifty Shades trilogy is falling short of this standard. No, it must also look at the stories being told by Hollywood in the name of female empowerment and truly evaluate whether it is actually providing what it is advertising, or hurting its cause. If the #MeToo movement is ever going to truly succeed in Hollywood, then it must do more than just create a new environment (though that’s a great start).
#SCREENIT FIFTY SHADES SERIES#
Each entry only hardens my resolve to be brutally honest about a series that holds itself up as a symbol of female empowerment while actually doing everything it can to send women back into the shadows where the Harvey Weinsteins of this world would be free to use their power and money to exploit women everywhere.

By this point, for those of you who have either read the books this series is based upon, or have watched all of the films thus far, I will probably not be able to change your mind about my loathing of this film series.
