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Cultural resonance and Fifty Shades of Grey

In the social world of media, cultures and social movements, the most unjust metaphor appears to be the resonance phenomenon. Why is it ubiquitous? The most prominent reason is its nature of utilization—for the description of how cultures work, how and why some messages, discourses and objects are more appealing and acceptable for the individuals residing at the same place, at the same time with the same outlooks, orientations and preferences, why some of them surpass others with respect to their legitimization and felicitousness in the society. These objects, ideas or overviews, purely harmonizing with the cultural norms, provide sound basis to the development of media contents. Hence, it can be concluded that cognitive patterns of individuals and media discourse is aversively reshaped when resonance takes place with cultural phenomena. A bulk of literature is evident that the most primordial rationale behind individuals joining protests and processions is the efforts of movement-organizations that inspire people deploying and harmonizing their cultural objects with broader social contexts and problems.

Despite this appealing power of resonance, it is still considered as a metaphor, its metamorphosis into theory is still inconclusive. Schudson (1989) propounded the notion that institutions, cultural apparatus and collective memory of the individuals are strong determinants of how cultural phenomenon resonates with the audience. On the other hand, Snow (2008) describes resonance as a “moment” during which world views of cultures align with the discourses—providing it with the more interactional meaning. Hence, it is now quite justified to say that resonance phenomenon is having an exceptional tendency for circular reasoning—a cultural object is resonated therefore it “works” or “the cultural object works therefore it resonates.”

Up till now, researchers has seen cultural resonance through the lens of “congruence”, which led them to skip the its interactional nature within the audience and between audience and cultural objects—the crucial aspects for understanding resonance moment specifically when some “novel” interactions take place e.g., situation encountered by the actor is entirely unfamiliar and actively deviating from their preexisting cultural schemas. Benford (1997) assumed that the nature of cultural objects is purely dynamic in nature hence, in the framing literature, he calls their static tendency as a danger.

The “fit” between cultural objects and audience is a procedural activity which is prone to shift over time. Hence, it is unjustified to claim that cultural objects themselves are resonant in nature rather resonance itself is a process comprising a fit among audience, cultural objects, situations and persons. Emergent ideas suggest that “new objects” resonate when there is an even slight fit between the individual’s social condition and recognizable cultural themes. This definition is precise but not complete; propounding the notion that only familiar things are resonant, which is impotent to create a fine-line between resonance and simple congruence. Hence, resonance is much more than just a familiarity; an excellent example of resonance is the book “fifty shades of grey” which will help to clarify the resonance phenomenon. It is a series of sensual novels by British Novelist E. L. James, for now, it is a trilogy encapsulating Fifty Shades of Grey, Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed published in June 11, 2011. This series profoundly discerns a simmering closeness between a young business man—a sexual sadist—and college graduate—his life partner and victim at the same time.

By now, who can deny the fact that Fifty Shades of Grey books shed a major constructive influence on the publishing agencies and their revenue? Certainly no one can! The overall industry revenues have exceptionally been boosted resulted by the surprising velocity of purchases of these erotic triplets. The chronicle behind its impact is not only the content of the book but the “meaning” that audience deduced from the content—fascinating and appealing in its own way.

Although with the technological advancements, it was widely acknowledged that books have now been replaced by the internet and social media technology, but the latest ground breaking inclination of readers towards Fifty Shades of Grey has induced a profound change in the publishing industry drastically. It enkindled their cultural vehemence to the extent that it led people to enjoy a common adventure within shorter time span similar to what they get from television and movies.

The most remarkable thing about this book series is the profoundness of appeal for women because it is based on the intimacy and erotic fantasies which are particularly unacceptable in cultures. Initially, this book attained a massive readership from the married men in their thirties. With the passing time, teenage group became more interested in reading its content. Reportedly, nearly 25 million copies of this book are being sold in United States at $15.95 for paper back and $9.99 for e-book. On the other hand, the most famous suspense series of Stieg Larsson took approximately 4 years to reach 20 million purchases in all formats. According to the Wall Street Journal, Fifty Shades of Grey is the top selling series in all the formats.

Linking Fifty Shades of Grey to the cultural resonance, it can be concluded that society is made up of individuals; their cognitive and behavioral diversity directly affects cultural norms. A subgroup of society tends to acquire certain unique experiences (Book); rest of the individuals acquire it through “Social Learning Model of Albert Bandura” hence, cultural orientations are altered; resonance takes place. Hence, familiarity is not the essential component for resonance; unique experiences are also potent enough to bring about resonance; as Fifty Shades of Grey did!