Fifty shades of gray
Fifty shades of gray
by Unknown author · first published 2011
8mentions
0recommended by
8HN commenters
2015–2026first – last mentioned
50% neutral50% critical
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…like Americans were more honest about the lack of a strong relationship between excellence and financial success. People understood the "starving artist" concept, and that writers of trash novels (e.g. Fifty Shades of Gray) would economically outperform people writing genuine literature. (That said, don't write off Tolkien, King, or Rowling just 'cause they do "genre lit"; they're fantastically skilled.) The problem with…
on “What Microsoft is this the Altair Basic of?” ↗…articles are perfect. Porn and smut, on the other hand, serves no such purpose and is simply meant to satisfy reader's (sick) fantasies. I still find it strange though, why so many people read porn (aka Fifty Shades of Gray) instead of watching it on Internet which is much faster way to achieve the same effect.
on “How Repulsive: On the merits of disturbing literature” ↗…actually is what the market wants too. Check out the top ten list of Netflix most watched shows. You wont find much critically acclaimed content there. Whats the highest selling Kindle book of all time? Fifty Shades of Gray. The only channel which has been really consistent in quality over the years has been HBO.
on “Why Mashable flamed out” ↗…visual. Even the word reflects this, "pórnos" (fornicators) + "gráphein" (writing, recording, or description). Anyone who wants to learn what women's porn looks like needs to look at the sales numbers for Fifty Shades of Gray.
on “We Can't Compete with AI Girlfriends” ↗I'd rather lick the pages of a fifth hand copy of Fifty Shades of Gray.
on “2026 Unslop AI-Written Fiction Contest Results (judged by Gwern Branwen)” ↗Sadomasochism has been in the public eye for a long time. Fifty shades of gray made it popular to carry a book about it on the bus, but this was absolutely not an unrecognized fetish prior. It was (and is) one of the more openly discussed kinks.
on “Show HN: Tree of Reddit Sex Life” ↗…they're less likely to be put off by abstract concepts or complexity. Specialized critics are better; if you want a sci-fi book you ask a sci-fi reader. As anecdotal evidence I submit the sales figures of Fifty Shades of Gray.
on “How Finland rebranded itself as a literary country (2018)” ↗…for - a citation, with financial justification, is clearly needed otherwise I believe your assertion is pure speculation. Publishers have a role in quality assurance and marketing and while crap like “Fifty Shades of Gray” are a slap in the face to the profession, there was a market and it got what it demanded. There is a lot of gatekeeping in the US “business of the arts” and it still is a multi billion dollar industry.…
on “Another Reason Not to Use "AI" for Your Writing” ↗