Happy anniversary to the event that caused my favourite band, the most iconic book and film franchise, the most famous smut book that everyone’s mother owns somewhere and if she doesn’t she’s lying, and the downfall of Ellen DeGeneres.
Fastest Growing Fandoms on AO3 This Week (04/15/2024)
Every week I pull data on how many fics are in each fandom and compare to the previous week, then calculate the percentage increase to determine fastest growing fandoms. Since this naturally skews towards smaller fandoms, I have included the same data filtered to Over 1k, 5k, & 10k fics.
I think the most interesting thing to me about 50 shades so far is the way James very nearly mimics the voices of Meyer’s characters while completely failing to mimic the real chemistry that Edward and Bella have.
Edward and Bella are, fundamentally, deeply horny with no capacity to conceptualize, let alone express it. It’s that horniness—derived from the eroticism of danger and the unknown—that draws them together, and it’s that horniness that fuels what becomes their mutual obsession.
But by disposing with the mystery of Edward/Grey’s nature and by turning his obsession with Bella/Anastasia into something derived from pure sexual desire (instead of vampiric hunger), James eliminates the erotic tension that Twilight—much as it couches it in metaphor and three layers of allusion—very much does have!
Grey, we are told, is hot. Anastasia, we are told, is attracted to him. But there’s nothing anchoring these facts except (dubiously) their first conversation, which certainly sounds like Edward and Bella's, but has none of the underlying tension.
If there is sexual tension there, it’s the sexual tension of a pair of disembodied tits and dick in pornhub video. There’s nothing erotic about it.