02.17.2015
I contributed to this blog fairly regularly for awhile...and then when I was hanging with my grandson on a daily basis, I also posted on a daily basis. But then, I stopped. and it's crazy, but 2014 was full of changes and adventures for me and this blog would have been a good place to write all about it.
But I was living it and didn't really have the time to write it all down properly. Maybe I'll blog about it all in my next post, because THIS post is about...
50 Shades of Grey. I read the first book. I took the book out from the Greenwood Library, using the automated checkout lane so nobody really knew I had it ( not the reason I used the auto checkout..I always use it) but I DID find myself a little embarrassed when I turned it in and one of the nice women who work there commented on it...."ooooohhhhh you've read this, hmmmm?" with a sly little grin.
And really, as I used to tell the boys, " if you can't stand there with pride on your face and tell your grandfather or me exactly what it was you did or are planning to do...well, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place at the LEAST think long and hard about it to see if it's all gonna be worth it because I will find out."
so maybe I shouldn't have read it in the first place, but I really wanted to know what all the fuss was about. I read it and was darn happy I was not sitting on a bus or on a couch next to a kid while I was reading it because "sheesh" and "whew" and "just what is she thinking?" I didn't bother to go on to book 2 or 3. I figured it just would be more of the same and I didn't care enough about the characters to find out how it all ended.
Anyway - last night I was reading online a few articles written by people who are completely outraged by the movie. And I get while they're outraged... they say young impressionable people will view the movie and think it's all a good thing, perhaps leading each aforementioned impressionable person down the path to wrack and ruin.
And I get it. But you know? It's a movie. A movie based on a book. It's a book. It's not real. And I know that lives can be changed for better or worse by a book...but when you get right down to it, it's fiction.
I was a middle school librarian when the first Harry Potter book came out. Witches! Sorcery! Dark Magic! OH NO! And was I gonna put it into the library? Yep. And each elementary put that book on the shelf as well. The kids READ. Did any of them become witches or warlocks? I do not know. But sheesh. FICTION. It's a book! Fiction! and wow, look at all those kids reading, zipping thru those enormous books! They're Reading! It's a MIRACLE! Where's book 2!!!??/
One night I was at choir practice and there was a great brouhaha going on about the new movie coming out based on a novel titled The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman. I'd read all 3 of his Dark Materials books and really enjoyed them. I never thought any of them were based on fact, but the brouhaha? Oh my goodness people! It's FICTION.
I understand the power of the written word. I understand that some people can't tell the difference between right and wrong, between black and white, BUT a talking armored polar bear or a talking lion (let's just go ahead and drag Narnia in here) is fiction. And if the writing is good and the book starts people talking or omg, THINKING...well it's ALL GOOD.
So 50 Shades of Grey? No, I won't go see it...it'd be a waste of my money. And really, MEH...it's FICTION! If you want to read the book or see the movie? Go ahead! It's NOT REAL.. Just don't get into somebody else's face if they want to read or watch. Sheesh. It's NOT REAL.
Meh.
I'm inspirational!
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