Overrated
Fifty Shades of Grey Casting
— Andrea (@prettyandink)
It’s no secret that fans of popular book series are harsh critics when it comes to the casting choices made in the movie adaptations of their beloved books. Fans of the Harry Potter, Twilight and Hunger Games series all voiced their very loud opinions, good and bad, when it came down to who would play those coveted roles. Up until recently, I thought that becoming so invested in such acting choices was an activity confined to the realm of young adult literature movie adaptations. Nope. Turns out that adults, particularly women, are just as wildly opinionated when it comes to their erotica series as well.
Speculation over who was going to play the coveted roles of Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele had been an ongoing pop culture topic ever since fans found out a movie adaptation was in the works. Okay, let’s be honest; for all intents and purposes it’s really only the casting of Christian Grey that middle-aged women people were concerned about. Names like Ryan Gosling and Matt Bomer were tossed around enough times that it almost seemed certain to go to one of them. Middle-aged women The world waited with bated breath for the official casting news, but it was groans of disappointment that were let out when it was finally announced that Sons of Anarchy’s Charlie Hunnam had snagged the role of Christian with Dakota Johnson to accompany him as Anastasia Steele. Fans seemed fine with Johnson’s casting, but immediately after the announcement the internet was flooded by middle-aged women fans ranting about how Hunnan didn’t fit the build, the look, the charisma of one Mr. Grey.
It seemed awfully coincidental, then, when it was announced just weeks later that Hunnam had dropped out of the project. Hunnam reportedly dropped out due to his busy Sons of Anarchy filming schedule. Yeah, sure.
Once again, fans were forced to wait to find out who would play Christian, and once again the Matt Bomer rumors started. Fans even petitioned Matt Bomer to play Christian on change.org. Yup. Because that’s a serious cause.
Throughout all the fan fervor I was so tired of hearing about the movie casting that almost anyone would do. I silently prayed please God just let them pick someone so I can be done hearing people talk about this infernal movie. Thankfully I only had to wait a couple of weeks before news that the role of Christian had once again been cast, now with Jamie Dornan snagging the role. This time around, fans were split. It’s true the man has the smoldering eyes, and have you seen him in his underwear? But being a relative unknown, fans were unsure of whether or not his acting chops could do the role justice. How they think Dornan’s portrayal could possibly be more poor in quality than the written work the character comes from is beyond me. (For more on my literary critique see last years overrated entry here.)
Personally, I’m on team Dornan. I’ve seen him act on Once Upon a Time, and I know the man can rock a pair of skivvies. I’d like to say that this is the end of the Fifty Shades of Grey fandom drama, but that would be wishful thinking. I’m no fortune teller, but with pictures from the movie set being leaked and its rating still up in the air, I’m thinking its likely this won’t be the last time Fifty Shades makes the overrated list.
Underrated
Lana del Rey
— Brook (@brooklynhofstad)
I’m not hip. There. I said it. The time has come to face the music. I am getting old. That’s how I know Lana del Rey is underrated.
Here’s my test:
1. I know who the artist is.
2. I know more than one of their songs.
3. The artist is currently not enjoying Katy Perry-esque levels of fame (meaning they’re not being played every other song on every Clear Channel station).
Lana del Rey is sort of like Justin Bieber, only less douchy. Although she had already signed a record deal, she gained popularity by putting music videos on YouTube. Her first single, “Video Games,” went viral with over 20 million views.
She’s gone on to sell millions of records and she was nominated for a Grammy for her version of “Young and Beautiful” on the Great Gatsby soundtrack.
Her voice is beautiful, and it has an old-timey feel to it, which works well with her retro, Hollywood glam style. She has this smoky, mysterious aura about her that makes her seem almost Marilyn Monroe-like.
She has all the makings for A-list stardom, but she has yet to be household name.
Another thing I know for certain, since my mom has no idea who she is.
“Lana del-WHO?”
On Pointe
The Red Wedding
— Brook
WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS
Back in June people talked about the Red Wedding as nauseum. Now that a few months have passed, I think it’s fair to say that the Red Wedding was easily the most shocking television event in 2013 (Matthew Crawley’s death ain’t got nothin’ on the ruthlessness of GRRM).
From what I gather, HBO’s adaptation is as true an adaption that a fan could hope for. Having never made it through the books myself (yet!), I rely on others to tell me how great the show is in comparison.
Other popular shows like Dexter and True Blood are also novel adaptations, but both shows departed majorly from their respective source material, especially after season one.
Not GoT.
Game of Thrones producers proved they were aiming to meet and even exceed fan expectations when they didn’t shy away from the first (OF MANY) major deaths in the series: the beheading of Ned Stark.
The reason the Red Wedding from last season was so amazing was not because GRRM slaughtered many beloved characters (RIP Robb), or even that the showrunners decided to stay true to the novel and also render unemployed a great many actors. It was so brilliant because people were so surprised by it.
One thing you might not know about me is I LOVE spoilers. It drives my friends crazy, but I want to know everything before it happens. I knew the Red Wedding was coming ages in advance. But that’s only because I sought them out. Had I wanted to go along blissfully unaware, I could have. There were not trolls on the internet warning of the upcoming bloodbath (at least not that I saw).
In this day of technological ubiquity, it’s amazing that readers of the series were able to keep quiet about the event and not ruin it for everyone (unlike those Harry Potter a$$holes who made the t-shirts letting people know on which page Dumbledore died).
The Red Wedding in itself was shocking, but the most amazing thing was that watchers of the show were allowed the simple courtesy of being shocked.
prettyandink 