# Fifty Shades Of Grey Fifty Shades of Grey is E.L. James's 2011 erotic novel that jumped from Twilight fanfiction to a viral meme in 2012, powered by dramatic celebrity readings, the 'Fifty Shades of X' snowclone, and sex-shop tie-ins. The 2015 film adaptation gave the meme a second life through trailer parodies and 'red room' exploitable images. ## Overview Fifty Shades of Grey is the first novel in E.L. James's erotic trilogy about the BDSM relationship between college student Anastasia Steele and young Seattle businessman Christian Grey[1]. Released as an e-book and print-on-demand paperback in May 2011, it exploded across the internet in 2012 through celebrity dramatic readings, mock parody trailers, and the 'Fifty Shades of X' snowclone image macro template[3]. The book's clunky prose was a running joke online long before critics weighed in. Viral list posts pairing awkward quotes with stock photos, plus comedians reading passages in-character for laughs, kept it in front of audiences who had never opened the book[4]. When the 2015 film arrived, its trailer supplied a fresh screenshot format that Tumblr users remixed into 'red room' fandom jokes[3]. ## How It Spread By March 2012 the book was a New York Times bestseller, and BuzzFeed's March 12 post 'The 15 Best/Worst Lines From Erotic Bestseller Fifty Shades of Grey' pushed the mockery to a mainstream audience[4]. Ellen DeGeneres read a passage on The Ellen Show on April 25, and actresses Kristen Stewart and Charlize Theron did the same on MTV After Hours on May 21, kicking off a wave of dramatic reading videos from Gilbert Gottfried, Selena Gomez and Nick Kroll, and hundreds of YouTubers[3]. Real-world spillover followed. New York sex shop Babeland told The New Yorker it saw a 20% sales bump in BDSM gear and started running classes based on scenes from the book[1]. The New York Times reported on a Florida library removing copies over the content on May 21, 2012[2], and the New York Post noted that hardware stores near New York City recorded a jump in rope sales to women in the first half of 2012, alongside an 81% traffic spike to Babeland's bondage pages[5]. The 2015 film adaptation gave the meme a second act. The official trailer, posted to the Fifty Shades of Grey YouTube channel on July 24, 2014, pulled 13.2 million views in a week[6]. The film opened wide on February 13, 2015, took roughly $239 million globally on its opening weekend, and was largely panned by critics with a 26% Rotten Tomatoes score, prompting a fresh cycle of parody trailers and the 'my interests are very singular / enlighten me' screenshot template[7]. ## How to Use The most durable format is the snowclone 'Fifty Shades of X,' where X swaps in any topic to imply a hidden kinky, absurd, or over-the-top angle, typically as an image macro over the book's gray tie cover[3]. The other common template pairs the trailer's 'my interests are very singular / enlighten me' shot with a reveal image of an anime figure shrine, plushie collection, or fandom bedroom in place of Christian Grey's red room[3]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Fifty Shades Of Grey? It is E.L. James's 2011 erotic novel about Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey that turned into a meme via dramatic celebrity readings and the 'Fifty Shades of X' snowclone[3]. ### Where did Fifty Shades Of Grey come from? It began as Twilight fanfiction titled Master of the Universe, posted to FanFiction.net under the pseudonym 'Snowqueens Icedragon' before being rebranded and published in May 2011[3]. ### What does Fifty Shades Of Grey mean? As a meme, 'Fifty Shades of X' is a snowclone signaling a hidden kinky or ridiculous side to whatever topic replaces X, riffing on the novel's BDSM plot[3]. ### How do you use Fifty Shades Of Grey? Most posts either use the 'Fifty Shades of X' image macro over the gray tie cover or remix the film's 'enlighten me' shot with a fandom bedroom in place of Grey's red room[3]. ### Is Fifty Shades Of Grey still popular? The novel and film were commercial hits, with the 2015 film opening to about $239 million globally, and the snowclone and dramatic-reading formats are still recognizable as classic 2012 to 2015 meme material[7]. ## References 1. [https://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2012/05/fifty-shades-of-grey-the-how-to-class.html]() 2. [https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/22/us/libraries-debate-stocking-fifty-shades-of-grey.html]() 3. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/fifty-shades-of-grey]() 4. [https://www.buzzfeed.com/erinlarosa/the-15-best-worst-lines-from-erotic-bestseller-fi]() 5. [https://nypost.com/2012/06/03/fifty-shades-of-grey-spurs-sales-of-sex-accessories-bondage-material/]() 6. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zr6FlfQZ1Is]() 7. [https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/fifty_shades_of_grey]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/fifty-shades-of-grey Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library