Oh, 50 Shades. What could we possibly say about this series? By now, we all know the basic story. Young, somewhat naïve Anastasia Steele is sent, in the place of her best friend Kate, to interview gazillionaire Christian Grey. After a somewhat interesting interview, the two embark into a tumultuous relationship (or adventure, depending on how you look at it). The story initially started out as Twilight (I can hear the groaning already) fan fiction. While not entirely identical, Twilight (which came first, let’s just make this clear) and 50 Shades do share some very striking similarities. Let’s take a look at some of the similarities.
Moving onto Christian and Edward. Both are considered very, VERY attractive. Again, this could happen in any novel, so let’s let that one go. If we were to look at both of the young men’s family lives, however, there are some striking coincidences there. Both are adopted at a young age into very loving, and very wealthy, families, in which there are several other children. Both families have a parent that is a doctor. For Edward, it is his father, Carlisle, who is the doctor, and for Christian, his mother. Edward’s adopted sister, Alice, is flighty, ambitious, loves to shop, and simply adores Bella. Mia, Christian’s adopted sister, is also flighty, full of ambition, ADORES shopping and is totally enamoured with Ana. Let’s get back to Christian and Edward. Both are brilliant when it comes to playing the piano, but neither can cook well. Edward warns Bella to stay away from him, as does Christian while talking to Ana. Surely, there are some coincidences in there, no?
Continuing on, let’s discuss the plot similarities between the two massively popular series. One of Bella’s best friends, Jacob, is very romantically interested in her. Ana’s best friend, Jose, is also interested, romantically, in Ana. Both Jose and Jacob kiss Ana and Bella (respectively, mind you), and both girls have been defended or defended themselves against said kiss. Ana is defended against by Christian, where as Bella slaps Jacob afterwards (and ends up breaking a bone afterwards). One of the BIGGEST similarities within the two series is in each of the first books. In Twilight, Bella is nearly struck by a van that has spiralled out of control. Edward rescues her at the very last minute. In 50 Shades of Grey, Ana is nearly knocked down by a bicycle, but is saved in the knick of time by Christian.
I could go on, and on, and on, and on and…. You get the point. These are just a few of the similarities of the two series. While the books are not identical, they are quite similar and some of the similarities are quite striking. 50 Shades started as a Twilight inspired fan fiction, initially featuring Bella and Edward as the main characters. After some criticism, EL James changed some things around and changed the central characters names to Anastasia (Ana) and Christian. Let us know if you’ve found some similarities in the two stories!