In the run-up to the release of Fifty Shades of Grey, we've heard a great deal of controversy surrounding what is said to be an in-depth look at the world of taboo sexuality and BDSM play - but going by the numbers it seems that idea has been blown way out of proportion. After all, a statistical rundown of the movie has revealed that it actually only includes a rather limited amount of spanking - 14 spanks to be specific.
These numbers come to us courtesy of a Fifty Shades of Grey infographic posted by MTV, and while it has a surprisingly thorough breakdown of pretty much all of the sexuality in the film, the number that really stands out is the number of spanks - which comes with the notes indicating that the number reflects "both with hand with whip/flog." While 14 spanks would be a pretty large number for your average, run of the mill romantic drama, it's quite a small figure when put into context with what expectations for Fifty Shades of Grey are.
Need evidence that this is a rather small figure for a BDSM-themed romantic drama? Well, just watch this clip from 2002's Secretary featuring Maggie Gyllenhaal and James Spader. The two-and-a-half minute scene is two percent of the Fifty Shades of Grey running time, and yet it manages to squeeze in a total of 22 spanks (yes, I sat here and counted). WARNING: This is definitely not safe for work.
Meanwhile, Fifty Shades of Grey only averages one spank every 11 minutes.
But while it seems that the E.L. James adaptation is a bit limited in the BDSM area, there is plenty of sexuality in the film. Totally 19 minutes and 31 seconds of screen time, there are eight different sex scenes in the movie of various length (the longest being nearly six and a half minutes), and there's plenty of nudity of all varieties including front and back and male and female. Considering the movie isn't even out yet, MTV's infographic is shockingly through, and I'm honestly curious how they managed to get all of it together.
Fifty Shades of Grey will be arriving in theaters at midnight tonight, and is expected to be a box office behemoth that will take all of the movie conversation away from the upcoming Academy Awards and the run of American Sniper (which has pretty much already started to happen). Will you be buying a ticket?
