Who do we blame for this?

Tsukuyomi

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May 28, 2011
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With the 50 Shades hype slowly burning down, only likely to be re-kindled when they pull a movie out of it, I find myself waiting to see what abomination of literature will be hoisted onto the pedestal of worship for the masses. As I was thinking about the possibilities of what will be next in terms of genre, setting, plot and such, I asked myself the question I'll ask everyone:

Many of us gnash our teeth and wail about the poor quality of the recent titles such as Twilight, 50 Shades, etc. We direct rage at the books and the authors. But who's REALLY to blame for this? After all the fact that these things exist tells us it's not terribly difficult to get published. There's dozens of books that are variations on the Twilight theme and likely going to be many more that are variations on the 50 shades theme in the future.

The Authors merely wrote what they wanted to write. (unless this was their evil plan to take over the world without being thwarted by those meddlesome Joes) The books, for however bad they are, merely exist. They don't force people to read them or like them. If we're going to be outraged about awful things, I'd say it's best to be outraged in the right direction. But who do you point the finger at for all this?
 

Thaluikhain

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Jan 16, 2010
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Can't say I disagree with that. Stuff doesn't tend to get published unless there's a market for it (though you have some people who are so certain of what will sell they don't feel the need to consult actual facts).
 

Verzin

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Jan 23, 2012
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I blame the public. *Shakes fist* Get off of my damn literary lawn you philistines!
 

Bertylicious

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Apr 10, 2012
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thaluikhain said:
Can't say I disagree with that. Stuff doesn't tend to get published unless there's a market for it (you have some people who are so certain of what will sell they don't feel the need to consult actual facts).
It could be argued that Marketing creative ventures is just an excercise in trying to capture the zeitgeist; afterall if you're succesful you'll reflect what people are feeling and they'll buy your product.

There are loads of people creating art for arts sake, it's just that most of it is garbage or created by people being so autor-ific as to render the subject matter impenetrable to wider audiences.
 

Hazy992

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Aug 1, 2010
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I think we should blame John Barrowman!



*shakes fist*

Or Dinkleberg!



Or Wernstrom!

 

Colour Scientist

Troll the Respawn, Jeremy!
Jul 15, 2009
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Why is everyone so worked up about this book?

It's just a bit of erotica, it's not claiming to be Shakespeare. For a lot of women, erotica is almost as good as porn, some women even prefer it.

Also, I'd like to know how many people ranting and raving about it have actually read 50 Shades of Grey or the Twilight Saga.
 

shrekfan246

Not actually a Japanese pop star
May 26, 2011
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Colour-Scientist said:
Also, I'd like to know how many people ranting and raving about it have actually read 50 Shades of Grey
I've never even heard of it, so this thread is news to me. Why are people getting worked up over it?

Hazy won me over with that Fairly OddParents .gif though, so I think I need to join the bandwagon just for the sake of it.

Dinkleberg! *shakes fist*
 

Colour Scientist

Troll the Respawn, Jeremy!
Jul 15, 2009
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shrekfan246 said:
Colour-Scientist said:
Also, I'd like to know how many people ranting and raving about it have actually read 50 Shades of Grey
I've never even heard of it, so this thread is news to me. Why are people getting worked up over it?

Hazy won me over with that Fairly OddParents .gif though, so I think I need to join the bandwagon just for the sake of it.

Dinkleberg! *shakes fist*
It's just a book that came out that has a lot of sex in it and has gained a sizable female audience, lots of people are pissy about it for some reason. That is literally it.
 

Colour Scientist

Troll the Respawn, Jeremy!
Jul 15, 2009
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Spot1990 said:
It is literally a Twilight fanfiction that got published and is about as creepy as you'd expect a Twilight fanfiction to be.
How is it Twilight fanfiction?
 

shrekfan246

Not actually a Japanese pop star
May 26, 2011
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Spot1990 said:
It is literally a Twilight fanfiction that got published and is about as creepy as you'd expect a Twilight fanfiction to be.
Colour-Scientist said:
It's just a book that came out that has a lot of sex in it and has gained a sizable female audience, lots of people are pissy about it for some reason. That is literally it.
I like how you both used the word "literally". It literally made me laugh.

I hope these forums don't explode with hatred over this for the next few weeks, it was just finally starting to die down with the whole "sexism" topic...

A quick Google trip later --
Holy damn, this thing has sold faster than Harry Potter did? Where the hell have I been? So is it being criticized because of the rumors of it starting as a Twilight fanfic? If that's the case, then... well, at least it would make a little more sense than people getting into an uproar because it's an erotica novel.

Wait, Universal, Sony, Paramount, and Warner Bros. have all submitted bids for movie rights to this? ... wow, I really don't pay attention to much of anything happening in the outside world.
 

shrekfan246

Not actually a Japanese pop star
May 26, 2011
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Yay, the server melted down as I was trying to post. That's just grand.
 

shrekfan246

Not actually a Japanese pop star
May 26, 2011
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Please delete or something if you can, I didn't mean for this to happen...
 

shrekfan246

Not actually a Japanese pop star
May 26, 2011
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I never asked for this. I don't even know how it managed to post so many times, I only tried to refresh the page once.
 

shrekfan246

Not actually a Japanese pop star
May 26, 2011
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Spot1990 said:
shrekfan246 said:
So getting your post duplicated five times really sucks.
Try being the one quoted in the post. Ha. How'd I go from 0 to 5 quotes in the blink of an eye? THought I was popular for a second.
Yeah, I hit the "post" button and got a "The server was reset!" message, and instantly went "Oh fuck..." and now... yep. Five posts. That was a fun experience!

Anyway, I suppose if the forums do get into an uproar over this I'll probably need to avoid those topics. I'm not going to bad-mouth something I know very little about, and I don't care enough to read the story in question. I'm a bit shocked that movie rights are already being established though, that seems a bit... strange, especially given the content matter of the story in question.