The “Twilight” book series began in 2005, and the last film was released in 2012. Over 100 million copies of the book were sold and the movies grossed over $3.3 billion.

The “Fifty Shades of Grey” series began in 2011. The first film was released in 2015 and the second installment will be released in 2017. Over 125 million copies were sold and the film grossed $500 million worldwide.

The statistics would deem these two the biggest romantic series’ of the 2000’s. The target audience for “Twilight” was females between 12 and 30. The target audience for “Fifty Shades of Grey” was females between 20 and 50. Not only do the age groups overlap but the change in years must be considered as well. The 12-year-old girl who purchased “Twilight” in 2005 is an eighteen-year-old girl when “Fifty Shades of Grey” hits the bookstores and the 30-year-old mom who read “Twilight” is 41 in 2011. The series' were both targeted to the exact same female audience and for some reason they both were found to be appealing. Over 100 million women swooned at both Edward Cullen and Christian Grey.

I did not read any of these books but I did watch all of the “Twilight” series and I did watch ¾ (I’ll explain later) of “Fifty Shades of Grey”. I have enough knowledge as I assume most women do to understand that these two heartthrobs could not be more different. Edward Cullen was not treasured because he was a vampire; glittering in the sun and living forever did not seem that attractive. He was treasured because of his passionate love for Bella. He adored her and always sought to protect her, even protect her virtue. He was traditional and the world went crazy over him and his crazy persistent desire to convince Bella to marry him and wait until she was married to have sex with him. In “Breaking Dawn Part One”, the two get married and go on a crazy wonderful and expensive-looking honeymoon. The series ends with the two not only being married but having a child and, in its own fantasy-loaded way, it demonstrated that even when two people are crazy in love, life and having a family is difficult. At its core the entire series portrayed the traditional family man with some added charm and the ability to say all the right things at the right time. From 2005 to the early 2010’s, over 100 million females wanted to be loved, adored, and chosen for marriage.

In 2011 Christian Grey steps onto the scene. When the film hit theaters in 2015, it was highly controversial. Women everywhere had something to say whether it was good or bad. In spite of all the negative articles being thrown at “Fifty Shades of Grey,” it did not change the fact that the book was insanely popular. I watched the film because I wanted to know what all the fuss was about. After all, it was released in theaters, which meant the worst it could show would be some boob views or butt views. I quit ¾ into the movie because I felt like I was traveling in a time machine that erased all of the steps being taken to make women’s rights equal. I am okay with the man in my relationship being the leader but this movie portrayed all new levels of dominance and was demeaning to the female character. The story revolves around a relationship between Anna and Christian. A relationship that is kept on track by a contract he forces her to sign before they can continue their relationship. The contract was filled with specific requests including:

Christian may flog, spank, whip or corporally punish Anna as he sees fit, for purposes of discipline, for his own personal enjoyment, or for any other reason, which he is not obliged to provide.

Anna must accept that she is now the property of Christian.

Anna must submit to any sexual activity demanded by Chrisitan and shall do without hesitation or argument.

Anna may only eat foods listed on a prescribed list of foods and wear clothes that are approved of by Christian.

Anna cannot look into Christian’s eyes or touch him at all.

The contract remained the crux of the relationship and eventually with some amendments Anna chose to sign it. She chose to give up her own free will and control to be in a one-sided relationship with Christian. Over 125 million copies of the novel were sold worldwide. So in the early 2010’s, the same audience of females who were captivated by a traditional man who adored a woman and wanted marriage were then swooned by a man who only wanted control and would not allow a woman to look at him.

I am confused how both series’ could become so popular yet represent such completely different things. Was “Fifty shades of Grey” popular because of curiosity about the topic or did women all around the world lower their standards and decide to settle for a man who wanted to control them? Has our society changed so much from 2005 to 2011? And if it has, how do we keep upcoming girls and current women from believing that control is the same as romance?