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Fifty Shades of Chicken: A Parody in a Cookbook | F.L. Fowler

😂I think I might like Fifty Shades of Chicken better

In seriousness, this series is some #taintedlove.The author has the characters seemingly reveling in it. When you step back and think about the themes and how the female character is portrayed, it might behoove the reader to think about what exactly are you reading here?

I love a good romance novel but this series is just too messed up for me. 🤦🏽‍♀️ Ana needs her head checked.

#JuneTunz

Jess_Read_This To further my dissertation on this: I did a reread of the first book this week. For some reason it bothered me as highlighted as above. This girl can't speak her mind unless via email, whispers her answers to his questions, avoids eye contact, has issues eating, avoids her friends, and basically turns into a basket case over this guy. Why aren't we bothered by this? 😐 (edited) 7y

Riveted_Reader_Melissa Yes, yes, and YES!!! I read the trilogy after it came out too, with all the hype I wanted to know what the hype was about. I finished book one and thought...red flag city, run girl as fast as you can, far far away! Book 2 was a bit better, and three back to super controlling again (jeez even her work)! So yes, I totally agree... I the sex was kinky and I get why people loved that, but the story itself stunk. Yet it amazes me that Ana... 7y

Riveted_Reader_Melissa ...didn't see the character backlash that her supposedly based on character Bella did. (For those that don't know 50 Shades started as Twilight Fanfiction). Bella was lamented as a wimpy heroine in article after article, and I have to say after rewatching those movies the other day I was happy to be reminded that Bella was stronger than she got her credit for, and definitely stuck to her feelings throughout, no matter how many men her dad, Jacob.. 7y

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Riveted_Reader_Melissa ...even Edward himself, and by the end Carlo tried to tell her what she should or shouldn't do or feel, she just kept right in insisting, no I'm dating him, I'm marrying him, I want turned before this time, I want a human honeymoon, I am keeping this baby even if it kills me...she listen to them and followed what she wanted anyway. Yet Ana, is much more wimpy in my opinion....tell me not to see my friends, I go anyway but behind your back, then.. 7y

Jess_Read_This @Riveted_Reader_Melissa I am in complete agreement in regards to the characters Bella vs. Ana. I was thinking about that too while rereading this week! I agree with how you summarized the trilogy- 2 seemed to show Ana overcoming these issues and setting limits on what is acceptable behavior.. then 3 plummets. The first time I read these I wasn't so bothered due to the hype, enjoying the entertainment, I had friends raving about it, and I guess... 7y

Jess_Read_This It was easy to fall into the modality of thought "It's just fiction. It's not real". But gosh, how the character Ana is portrayed should bother us. This isn't a healthy woman and it isn't a love story. 7y

Riveted_Reader_Melissa ... the author twists it so that endangers her and he was right all along and she was "punished" by life for defying him. Or is punished by him at his parents house for having some boundaries of her own. A much sadder version, yet one character was tarred and feathered and the other celebrated, I've never understood it. Don't get me wrong, neither character is perfect, but Ana has serious issues. 7y

Jess_Read_This @Riveted_Reader_Melissa Exactly, both are flawed characters. I think I'm more forgiving of Bella because we see some actual character growth and she becomes more of an equal in the end. Serious progress happens. In the Fifty books, we are essentially witnessing a woman being coerced and manipulated because her love interest likes to be in control. She loses any real identity because she wraps her worth up into Christian Grey. 7y

Cinfhen I agree, this was NO LOVE STORY...definitely JUST #Tainted 7y

Riveted_Reader_Melissa @Jess_Read_This Sorry for the dissertation of my own there, but I was just thinking about it too the other day, but from the other side. I caught a marathon of the Twilight movies the other weekend and as I re-watched I was amazed to be reminded of how stubbornly strong Bella could be. It's been years since I read or watched them, and I guess I had fallen into believing the articles about what a bad heroine she was, how controlling he was, etc. 7y

Riveted_Reader_Melissa @Jess_Read_This And yes! That is a huge part of it. Bella fights to be an equal with him as well as fights to have all the human experiences before she joins him. Ana just learns how to live with and manage his "needs" 7y

Jess_Read_This @Cinfhen Yes!!! A most appropriate tag for this one! 7y

Jess_Read_This @Riveted_Reader_Melissa I'm loving our discussion! It's kind of funny, I rewatched all the Twilights two weeks ago and am listening the audio Grey this week bc my library's audiobook selection is limited and I thought "huh, why not." And I've been pissed and needing to vent my thoughts on it. ? I think a character study of the two is interesting especially since the character Ana is based off of the character Bella. 7y

Riveted_Reader_Melissa Me too! I haven't picked up Grey, I was so annoyed with him in the original trilogy, I wasn't sure I wanted to hear things from his point of view.... or encourage her as an author of this storyline anymore. The really sad part is that the 50 Shades books aren't even that well written, but she making tons while Stephanie Meyer was somewhat lambasted over her YA series, and she also started a book from Edward's POV that was stolen & released... 7y

Riveted_Reader_Melissa .. on the web years ago so she never finished it. 50 Shades copied even that idea, LOL 7y

Riveted_Reader_Melissa But yes, I think comparing the two is really interesting and I am loving this discussion too. I think Twilight got blasted because it was YA, and the first paranormal romance for many people. Their waiting until marriage and imprinting that people freaked a bit about, fit in more because it was YA, Edward's watching her sleep at night really upset critics, but I didn't have near as much of an issue with that since paranormal/fantasy/vampire. 7y

Riveted_Reader_Melissa 50 Shades since it is set more in our present real world, with modern characters (yes it's fantasy, but it can easily be contemporary, & many don't read it as a fantasy) since it lacked paranormal elements (like vampires) troubled me much more with the manipulation & stalking tendencies. I think Twilight had less of them, and the ones that were fit the fantasy of the story, whereas 50 Shades gloried in them, and tried to romanticize them today. 7y

Jess_Read_This Listening to Grey on audio really made the pieces click into place how bad this relationship is and it's glorified?! One reviewer on GR aptly says this is not a BDSM relationship. This is not a damaged guy. This is an abusive relationship through physical, mental, and psychological damage. It irritates me to no end when Ana says he's mercurial. No. He's a stalker that wants to punish you for rolling your eyes. He manipulates and coerces you. Run!! 7y

Jess_Read_This @Riveted_Reader_Melissa I agree. James writing is atrocious and she lacks any originality. It is a shame that Meyer got such a bad rap for something like imprinting when James gets away w a male character fantasizing about putting ginger in the female character's behind and using "judicious use of a belt or strap" as a form of punishment for disrespect. ??‍♀️ 7y

Riveted_Reader_Melissa @Jess_Read_This ?We live in a really screwed up world. Where teenagers mom's said, that's to molesty-like for YA book about werewolf mating habits, but we're perfectly fine with reading a book about manipulation, beating, controlling in an 'adult' "normal" relationship. (edited) 7y

Jess_Read_This @Riveted_Reader_Melissa And said teenager's mom probably is a fan of the Fifty series and bought teenager's dad a Grey tie.. 😂 7y

Riveted_Reader_Melissa Guess it really tells you where feminism stands at the moment. Protect the children from everything (including a waiting until marriage storyline, and love from day one but only in the form the girl wants or needs at the time), but once they are grown they better learn to please their Master of the Universe or else, seriously though learn to turn your life inside out to fit his. 7y

Riveted_Reader_Melissa And sadly these are the same growing girls....the teen girls who read Twilight, were the college girls who read 50 Shades....and you're right their mothers definitely did. 7y

britt_brooke Great discussion @Jess_Read_This and @Riveted_Reader_Melissa ! I completely agree with you both. 7y

lynneamch Interesting! If you get a chance to see the parody, 50 Shades: the Musical, it is hilarious. 7y

Christy2318 50 Shades could have been so much more if James had focused more on the psychology of the characters and why they were in this terrible relationship. I never did understand Anastasia's motivation. I also find it entertaining to imagine the reaction to the story if Grey had been a poor, fat, ugly guy living in the trailer park.... 7y

julesG Good thing you brought the 50 Shades up, so I don't have to do it. 😁 7y

Jess_Read_This @Christy2318 I agree and I think it might have be more acceptable if we see actual healthy progress in the progression of their relationship and even psychological state in working through what brought each to this unhealthy relationship. 😂A most excellent point too on what if Christian's socioeconomic status was reversed. I'm adding a stained shirt and a crunched PBR can to that mental image... lol! 7y

Jess_Read_This @julesG hehe! I checked and saw no one else had.. so I figured here we go with this one! I am enjoying all the discussion too! 7y

Jess_Read_This @lynneamch omg. I will check it out. I was snickering at a few GR reviews and know I'll enjoy a parody. 7y

Jess_Read_This @britt_brooke Thank you! I've been wanting to delve further into this series with a group of readers for a while now. I'm loving the discussion! 7y

Jess_Read_This @Riveted_Reader_Melissa Good point on the current age demographic of both series readers when each was released! I think this would be a great research paper topic. Poll the mothers on their reactions to Twilight and their daughters reading it with exploration questions whether they have read the Fifty series and their thoughts on it. I also wonder about feminism today which you mentioned. As a whole, do we like the "idea" of it but secretly.... 7y

Jess_Read_This @Riveted_Reader_Melissa Support these misguided ideas about gender roles, submission, what we want for our daughters is different than what we accept for ourselves and our entertainment? I'm not at all bashing a BDSM lifestyle; the Fifty books are not at all a representation of it. The Fifty books glorify punishment, coercion, stalking, manipulation, etc. The acceptance of those things is what concerns me. Whew.. so much to discuss! 7y

Christy2318 @Jess_Read_This - stained shirt and PBR 🤣😂😆. Hmmmm where would the elevator scene take place in this scenario? 7y

Jess_Read_This @Christy2318 🤔🤣On the third step of his rotting wood deck? 7y

Christy2318 Bwahahahahahaha! 7y

CindyMyLifeIsLit @Jess_Read_This I think that would make an EXCELLENT research paper! Are we going backwards? Why don't we just start republishing those dreadful romances from the 70's where the hero's rape of the heroine was just further proof of his virility? At least those women had the sense to resist! 7y

Jess_Read_This @CindyMyLifeIsLit I really want a Lit Major to tackle this subject... I'd love to see if the research supports our hunch that perhaps we are going backwards but it's couched behind "entertainment". I'm not sure but I'd like to see what a polling of women turns up. These books are popular for a reason and I can't think it is just because of the graphic sex scenes,you can find sex scenes in many romance novels. There's something more going on here. 7y

Jess_Read_This @CindyMyLifeIsLit And yes, at least the chicks in the 70's romance novels put up a fight in the face of rape! (edited) 7y

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