50 Shades of Grey takes place in a fictional universe where consent doesn't matter. Why are people upset by this? Normally people don't have any problems accepting bizarre mechanics as literary devices in all kinds of other fictional universes: Harry Potter, The Matrix.
Is it because 50 Shades does not overtly set itself in a universe different from the real world? Would the story not be offensive if it took place in the Twilight universe as originally written? Of course vampires don't ask for consent: that's an accepted part of their character.
Is it because sex is special, the one thing people can't suspend disbelief about in fiction? But I strongly suspect there are other fictional universes with conventions about sex different from the real world that people have no problems accepting.
Hypothesize that the issue is something deeper.
What is different about the fictional universe of 50 Shades compared to the real world that causes consent not to matter there? A story can't be entertaining unless it obeys a consistent internal logic. What is that internal logic that has caused the story to be entertaining enough to be such a commercial success? Why can't that internal logic hold in the real world?
I suspect these are uncomfortable questions, forcing questioning why consent is important in the real world, to which answers may be uncomfortable: racism, classism, religious intolerance, vast social structures designed to control sex in which most people vigorously and enthusiastically participate.
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