ok but "it's music to my dick" is one of the funniest lines in the history of literature

You know what really annoys me? That Mitchell was the fanfic writer who made it big. Like, there are fanfic writers out there who write better stories than the stuff they base their fanfic on. But her slop got famous and those incredible stories didn’t.

The violations of consent are part of EL James's fantasy in the same way rejecting the fancy gifts is. She wants her female protagonists to be "good girls," not "sluts." So if they resist sexual advances but are overpowered, that "allows" them to do all kinds of sexual things while keeping their "good girl" persona intact. Just like how turning down the fancy gifts, but having them forced upon the protagonists anyway, allows them to remain "modest" like a properly feminine woman while still reaping the benefits of extravagant wealth.

i had an albanian girl as a classmate in high school and i can confirm she was in possession of a backbone. A lot more socially competent than I was, too. Her family were normal ass people. What I've heard about Alessia's characterisation really sounds like almost orientalist fetishisation but relocated to eastern europe so she could still be white. It also reminds me of weirdo pickup artists talking about how girls in the east (either asia or eastern europe) are so much more submissive and feminine than western women infected by feminism, and predatory creep Andrew Tate relocating to Romania to take advantage of the lax sexual assault laws. Genuinely fucked up shit.

It is very difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on him not understanding it. - Upton Sinclair

I'm sorry but "My c**ck stirs and agreement" and "It's music to my c**ck" are two of the most horrible and hilarious lines I've ever heard. I had to pause the video cause I couldn"t stop laughing. We all appreciate your brave sacrifice working on this book Dom

I need to add this because it's been driving me nuts, even though it's not a massive part of the book. Maxim's surname is Trevelyan. That is a name with deeply horrible connotations to the Irish, because Charles Trevelyan, 1st Baronet, was put in charge of the relief effort during the Great Hunger (aka the Potato Famine) and basically took the conservative line of 'well we don't want them to get attached to our charity, and they're not really human, so we'll keep taking all the non-potato food they grow so we can keep making money, and give them "Indian Corn"' which Irish people didn't know how to use so they ate it like their own and it shredded their insides and killed a lot of people. He was a monster and if you've ever heard Fields of Athenry at a Irish-English match, he's named in it because we remember his soft genocide approach. There is no doubt in my mind James picked the name for the legacy of nobility and historical importance - even if she didn't and just thought it was neat, she should have thought twice about using it because of that legacy which she absolutely should have known because her HUSBAND IS IRISH! Also Maxim has tenant farmers. A Trevelyan ... with tenant farmers. Fuck you James!

EL James took on herself to reverse the whole "men ridiculously writing women" and she has my respect for it.

I'm starting to think E L James should have turned her writing "talent" towards scripts for daytime soaps instead of erotica. Think about it: it's pure concentrated drama for the sake of drama without much continuity or character development, yet people just lap it up easily since it doesn't usually require much cognition in order to enjoy. Unless she finds another community to grossly misrepresent, there's no way she could go wrong.

It's less and less surprising that she is the one fanfiction author Hollywood is comfortable investing in. Her fetishes fit neatly into patriarchy and capitalism.

The wealth fetish seems to be a simple "Getting whisked away by a rich man and having all my problems solved" fantasy. Same with the consent thing. It's basically consensual non-consent without context so it's just non-consent.

Just remember, dear Dom, if they do actually make a film out of this horrible thing, "I don't want to" is ALWAYS a valid answer. :) You do seem pretty genuinely traumatized by these particular works and I don't feel that your fans would mind terribly if you just noped out of a LIA for that. I know that I would not mind it, for your sake. That having been said, this was a very good and, dare I say, fair, assessment of a garbage work and I thank you for it. I've not read any of her work, and thanks to your efforts I have neither need nor desire to alter that. ^_^

I laughed so hard at the numerous examples of Maxim's dick seemingly having a mind of its own. Like, is it possessed? Is it sentient? WHAT IS THIS WRITING???

This is why the spoiled sweet trope exists. And I personally love how the photo for that page is Charlotte and Tiana from Disney's Princess and the Frog- upon seeing Tiana fall and ruin her dress, Charlotte immediately runs to her, asks if she's alright, and takes her up to her (Charlottes) own room to let her friend wear one of her dresses

as a long time fanfic reader So many of James' writing problems, including the consent issues and the kidnapping thing, tie back to popular fanfic tropes from over a DECADE AGO. the constant power struggles during sex, the refusal to actually resolve any themes or arcs in any way aside from " Throw characters into brief mortal peril and just act like that somehow resolved everything". its all the worst kind of fanficcy. hell even the random Viewpoint Swapping thing is an old fanfic trope. one Modern fanfic writers tend to stay away from.

I read someone's theory that Erika's self-insert character isn't Ana/Alessia, it's Christian/Maxim and honestly that makes a lot of sense to me.

16:00 she wanted the female character coming from a 'backward' third-world esque country, so she could be submissive and innocent ,but still have her be white. That's why she chose Albania tbh. And yes from what I saw from Albanians she got almost everything wrong about that country

Maxim's scenes being written from first person pov while Alessia's are third person reminds me of Dan Olson (from Folding Ideas) proposing the theory that Christian is the author insert character in 50 Shades of Grey and not Anna.

“… and yes, I do want to be fair, even to E. L. James.” Classy as always, Dom. To quote Jono over on Cinema Therapy: “We treat people with respect, not because of who they are, but because of who we are.”

The part where Dom is narrating all of Maxim’s single word profanities gives fighting game character taking damage energy which brings me joy to imagine.

Here I am, an amateur historical recreationist, imagining a time three- to four-hundred years from now people reading this book and using it for historical accuracy on how people actually step-by-step played their digital music files 🤣 Cuz it's always the completely mundane "everyone already knows how to do this so why would we ever record it" stuff that gets lost to history

"E L James never resolve plot, she only resolve kidnappings." Me, thinking back to the Fifty Shades Lost in Adaptation: Huh... Didn't even realize that. Thanks Dom!

It's very depressing when authors whose work, if submitted to a high school English class, would get a "very poor, see me after class," somehow not only get published, but get on the Best Seller's list.

James' aversion to character arcs is honestly kind of astounding. Like when Dominic brings up Max's war vet friend Tom, my initial thought was "okay, it would be too much to expect James to do a deep dive into the effects of PTSD or even a more general theme of how society still stigmatizes those suffering from it as weak but even the LAZIEST writer would have an arc where he lost his best friend during a war and feels guilty about it and overcomes his guilt when he saves Max from a similar situation in the climax". Somehow even such a cliche obvious arc seems too much for James.

Part of me thinks EL James still writes like she is publishing weekly fanfiction. Churning out a sizable amount of content very quickly over a long period of time has probably lead to some bad habits, such as writing out every detail of every action to inflate the word count. It's likely also why events in the book is very self contained and doesn't connect to anything else, because she is used to writing chapter by chapter and not editing anything she has finished to make sure it all fits as a whole. Both these issues affect the pacing, making some scenes soo long that your eyes start drifting off the page every 20 seconds, and others where a conflict is brought up and resolved soo fast you didn't even have the chance to react. Reminds me of my old essays. But at least I've improved since then.

I mean...she also doesn't understand pacing, character development, natural sounding dialogue or how to come up with her own ideas for plots so maybe we're expecting too much...

my personal little theory is that, considering james' fetish for rebecca by daphne du maurier, alessia's chapters of the book were supposed to read as impersonal and distant, the way the main character of rebecca's did, hence the change in pov. if james was a decent writer, alessia growing a backbone and finding her strength through maxim's love would have caused her point of view to shift to first person to illustrate her developed sense of self and identity. that it was **her** side of the story to tell. except james isn't a good writer and alessia as a character stays flat pretty much the whole time.

Her writing kinda reminds me of my own writing from when I was 14. But even back then I kept looking over my chapters and went „Wow, this is bad…“, kept rewriting everything, reflected on my mistakes and, you know, moved on and improved from my teenage fanfic writing style. But she doesn‘t seem to think that she needs any of that nasty self reflecting or improving.

Dominic roasting E.L. James? Editing my novel can wait 🥰

Dom trying to divine arcs and themes in EL James’s writing is like trying to read tea leaves or make sense of conspiracy theories. Why try? But thank you for wasting so much time for our enjoyment

Caroline was in the story for one reason and one reason only: To establish Maxim not only as a ladies' man with questionable morals, but also make him seem like someone who could be a desirable long-term partner. Cue the woman who is really into him and has been for a long time, but that isn't a potential threat to the REAL love interest, since her complicated history with Maxim means they can't/shouldn't be together. It's a bit like resolving a love triangle by revealing one of the love interests is actually the protagonist's long lost sibling - except SLIGHTLY less awkward.

This book gave me the worst readers blueballs possible: it sets something up, you think you know what it is doing, and then the plot point fizzles down or gets resolved in one paragraph. Maxim's unwillingness to accept his role as an earl: oh great, he is going to learn responsibility and grow up, or he is going to see how his influence can help people like Alessia or some other such shit. The 'she makes him a better person' trope is overdone to the point that you expect it somehow. Caroline being there, the pregnancy scare, her attitude towards Alessia: great, the female lead has her villains, Maxim gets one too. Caroline can be the plotting bitch who wants her son to inherit so she doesn't lose her lifestyle. Or the obsessive lover who is trying to sabotage their relationship, to the point of exposing someone to actual danger to have her way. Her possible pregnancy could have been introduced the moment when Maxim actually begins to LIKE his role, thus increasing the tension a bit and making Maxim realise how much wasted potential the title will be in Caro's hands. Nope. It reads like a first draft where E. L. started going somewhere, got distracted and forgot and then she never read it a second time. Alessia... where do I start. I'm from Eastern Europe, Bulgaria, not Albania, so this hits a bit close to home. While her family situation is something that really exists... it just shows her as the stereotype Eastern European women are seen when they immigrate to the West. Regardless of who we were, what kind of education we had how clever we were, we are perceived as either the cleaning staff or a sex worker. That's the extent of our competences. It is hard to get a job and it is hard to get accepted, especially in situations when you are seen as a gold-digger/ someone who wants a quick marriage so they can stay. This could have been used - showing a competent, smart woman who is making her way, trying to navigate an unfamiliar environment; working several jobs to support herself and gain her independence after escaping a bad family life. She will be cautions to exchange one cage for another, cautious about her relationships and the power balance, working trough trauma. If she is not a gold digger she will understand how much pressure being the wife of a rich person will put her under. She may have to give up on her dreams and ambitions. She could have even been a student, she could have had a life outside of work, something that makes her less dependent on Maxim and less needing to be rescued in every possible way. She could chose to be with him or not but she will have a viable alternative other than r*pe. Instead of an actual human we get a child-like doll who is so happy not to be sold into marriage or forced into sex work she jumps in the arms of the first person who gives her an umbrella. Side note, in case anyone had any doubt: this is not how bilingual brains work.

The billionaire/aristocratic hero fantasy has a lot to do with women’s financial insecurity, plus you get the bonus of emotional security in one fell-swoop. Some other authors have started grappling with the issues related to this, including exploring how people born with wealth/power navigate the responsibilities and/or issues. While I don’t think EL James is that introspective of a writer, romance critics and other authors have unpacked her books in relation to the standard dynamics of this trope. Discussion of this in context with Fifty Shades makes up a chapter of author and critic Maya Rodale’s nonfic book, Dangerous Books for Girls; and while I don’t agree with all of Maya’s sentiments, it does make sense in context.

Normally, in a romance novel, over developing side characters is an indication that that character will be the main in the next book in the series. I have a feeling this is not the case for Tom though.

the thing about EL James is that... She writes like a fanfiction writer. Because that's where she came from. Using words and phrases that feel right, even if they don't really make sense. I know because (honestly?) that's what I do. When you're writing fanfiction you don't have to worry about it being perfect. I just don't think she realizes there's a totally different expectation in actual publishing-

Fun fact: The Mister is also based on a fanfic ELJ wrote, albeit less well-known. “Safe Haven,” a Poldark fanfiction. Even this isn’t original.

Speaking as someone who met EL James in 2019, the thing that I noticed the most was... how unremarkable she was. And I've met hundreds of authors over the years. Many of them are nice, some are a bit prudish or rude, and some are just... odd. I could go on a whole tangent about when I met Daniel Handler. But not much stood out from James compared to all the other authors. She seemed friendly enough, she even added a piece to my special collection of writing advice. Just goes to show that outward appearances aren't everything.

I have to say, the infantilization of the female lead is only more and more obvious in this book, and it's clear it's a Thing for James. Which is... disturbing.

Oh my god, the Spongebob Trevelyan song killed me! But also, your writing analysis was amazing as always. So I guess thank you for your suffering, Dom!

"It's music to my dick" absolutely KILLED me. I can't believe that was a genuine line she wrote and not a joke.

I have been trying to get my books published for thirteen years. This woman had people begging for her manuscript to be published.

That “Hush, it’s okay” MADE MY BLOOD PRESSURE RISE UGGGHHHH

By this point, ELJ and Stephanie Meyer are my "Beware!!!" Reminders as a published author: when I think that some story of a book of mine is not being great, I just remember myself "at least it's not like their books" and, boom, I automatically feel better about my writing 🤗😁.

I still can't get over that the "love interest" is named for the word meaning proverbial saying, but Dom calling him Maxipad just made everything better. Thanks, Dom!

Poor Dominic having to revisit his old nightmare to talk about his new nightmare

For as much as we make fun of E.L. James, you do have to wonder what kind of men she grew up around to push characters like Christian and Maxim as romantic gold standards.

I never have, nor will, read any of EL James's books, but with how you explain some of how this person writes, I am starting to wonder if this was a person I once met sometime in 1999-2002 on AOL in a chat room that was on RP/writing stories. There was this person who wrote like half a page of text(though if it was in a printed paperback it would have been a full page or more) and took about 5+ minutes to read, just to explain a woman winking at you. Like every line was to explain every eyelash, color of eyelid and its skin, etc. Everyone else in the room thought it was the best thing ever. Please don't tell me that is what this EL James does in her novels as well because if so, it makes me wonder if I met her online a decade before she began to be famous for... this.

Finding out that Indigo from OSP edited this video is like the Joker finding out that Batman has been fighting other villains.

Between making Maxim's chapters in the first person and the fact that when you were reviewing the Grey series, you said you kept slipping up and referring to Christian as EL James, it's weird that Mitchell seems to self-insert herself into her male love interests rather than the supposed female protagonists. Like why wasn't this book called The Daily? Makes more sense since the book starts with the definition of the word and as you said, Maxim refers to Alessia as his daily constantly. The Mister makes it sound like the book is from Alessia's POV but it's not.

i have a quote that i want to share here that i feel fits in with this: "Our words have meaning, we can't just EL James our way through life."

Thank you EL James for writing bad male anatomy for a change! 😂

As a person who does, in fact, clarify to myself during internal monologues I feel it necessary to defend James on that single point. I do also admit, however, that I'm weird.

E.L.James must have gotten her idea of consent from watching SpongeBob. As Patrick Star said in one episode - "SpongeBob, when are you gonna learn? No means yes."

Not sure what it says about EL James, but my most prominent memory of this book was how she managed to describe melting butter while casually cooking with far more passion/eroticism than any of the sexual scenes combined. I went into it knowing it was going to be bad, but that scene was just so...surreal.

I think it was after the last video you did on the Mister that I realized “hang on, if someone as bad as E.L. James can get published, wtf is stopping me? Well, first I need to actually write a book, but I’ve written fanfics before, a novel length one even before, and James proved it’s not a far leap from there to blockbusters, so let’s go then!

Yes, it's always a glorious day when Dom roasts EL James and her toxic erotic fantasies. She clearly doesn't know what healthy relationships even look like!

I know that "help me" at the end was supposed to be a joke but it kinda broke my heart.

Wait… Granted, I didn‘t read any of James‘s books and will forever refuse to, but if I remember the synopsis part correctly, the kidnapping „plot“ leads the whole pack to Zagreb. Now, Maxim goes on a quest to Albania. What? I mentioned this before under the synopsis video, but those two locations don‘t fit (apart from being located roughly in south-east Europe or even vaguely the Balkan). Reminder: Zagreb is the capital of Croatia, a country that doesn‘t share a border with Albania and is an EU member. Zagreb isn’t even conveniently located when travelling from Croatia to Albania (considering that every border will be an EU periphery border and the most likely route from HR to Albania would lead via Serbia - and both Serbia and Croatia (imagine two countries that share basically the same language despite a few regional words and minor grammar changes, and Serbia usually using Cyrillic letters, many Serbs will refuse to understand Croatioan both spoken and written and vice versa) and Serbia and Albania (just a quick reminder of a certain area known as the Kosovo) are not exactly the best of friends, resulting in rather suspiciously watched and controlled borders (for that Region of the world, at least). Has this woman even bothered to open an atlas, twist a globe a bit or open frickin‘ Google Maps for one minute? Does she really lack any knowledge of European geography and/or politics (well, as a Brit she probably doesn‘t even understand properly what the EU is and represents, so…)? What the heck is wrong with this woman? There are weekly pulp crime novels with better plots and more accurate details about places, goddammit…

The way James cares way more about sympathizing with the toxic dominant male characters makes me think she must've been quite the pick me in her youth

Was wondering which song will be parodied for the end credits... and then the fucking SpongeBob pajama pants reference had to ruin my day yet again. You win this one Noble!!!

I deeply appreciate going into detail about both the writing techniques, theming, and ethics when it comes to roasting these books. They don't deserve much good faith but the analytical skill makes the review even more effective :D

On some level I find it logical to have the POV character be the one EL James fantasises about. It gives her the chance to mold him exactly to her wishes, have him confirm that all her fantasies about this man are true by giving full insight into his thoughts - all the while conveniently blocking out, I suppose, that it was *her* who made him that way. I actually used to do this myself, writing characters how I wanted people to behave (and feel/think) irl. As long as you're aware what you're doing it can actually be quite therapeutic.

I was not expecting that Yu-Gi-Oh! reference at 19:14 ish! I legitimately choked on my food with startled laughter. Good work as always, Dom. Love to see your stuff every time!

Personally I think the reason why E.L. James always uses kidnappings to resolve her plots might be because of her Twilight Alumni status. However unlike in her work the dramatic Endgame battle *actually makes sense* in Twilight. Also thanks for the funny Upperlip biting pictures Dom.

EL James: She Only Resolves Kidnappings.

James's plotting always reminds me of that dialogue at the end of Speed. Her "romantic" "relationships" are all based on trauma, with the "characters" therein are desperately trying to convince themselves and others that said "relationships" are based on sex. With this in mind, of COURSE every book ends in a kidnapping and fails to resolve any plotlines. Because the new layer of trauma IS the conclusion, the new coat of paint on the rotting wood of said "characters" and their "relationships".

Okay, I'm going to provide context on all this as someone who has been reading fanfic for around ten years now. I am in no way defending it, just giving an idea of where some of this might have come from. TW for discussions of consent and non-descriptive mentions of rape. *TL;DR at the end.* The general idea of dubious consent and what constitutes consent is somewhat blurred in the fanfiction world. For better or for worse (I'd argue for worse in most context), there's an unspoken rule when it comes to fanfics and sex. You're supposed to read it but keep it at a sort of distance, and know that the rules that apply to fanfic shouldn't apply to real life. For example, it's pretty common in fanfiction for one character to kiss the other somewhat suddenly, and it's rarely disclosed that this is in the story because this is par for the course. However, there's an assumption that the reader will see this, recognize it as the certain brand of romantic fantasy that only exists in the fanfic world. In addition, sexual consent is given a similar treatment. It operates on the same premise as the kiss example: fanfic is a fantasy that is unique to the format, and what happens in it should be separated from reality. Dubcon, short for dubious consent, is common, and was much more common in the earlier days of fanfiction. In the early days, or at least, early to me, it was used to describe everything from "these people are slightly intoxicated" to "this person is straight up saying 'no'". You were also lucky to get a warning. AO3, which is the preferred option of most of the experienced readers and writers, offers an extensive tagging system, so now things like drunk sex are tagged more frequently, so untagged dubcon is less and less frequent, but it still happens. Of course, there's a lot of problems with this, notably that fanfiction's reader base can skew young, and a lot of the younger readers are understandably unfamiliar with the unspoken divide between reality and fanfiction, and may grow up consuming things that skew their perception of these things. Ask me how I know. In addition, if fanfic is introduced to a wider audience of the general public who have never interacted with the fanfiction sphere before, a lot gets lost in translation. It's a bit like trying to read a poem from the 1930's without considering the context of the time period. A lot gets lost culturally. *TL;DR: Consent in fanfiction is often handled differently than it would be in traditional fiction or real life, operating on a sort of cultural understanding of the unspoken rules around fanfiction. This becomes a problem when introduced to a larger reader base.*

13:58, as someone who has served upper class people drinks, that is exactly how they talk.

16:24 didn't the Albanian ambassador to the UK yell at E.L. James at the time this was first published?

I still don’t understand how this woman made it to the best seller list, I tried to read 50 shades darker after seeing the first movie, I was unable to pass from the page 20, it was so badly written and idiotic it baffles me how she sold so many of her books.

so your saying that, the British lead, is effectively *Earl Gray.*

365 Days has dethroned 50 Shades and now this in my eyes in terms of how bad it is, but it’s still relevant to have reminders of how bad EL James’ work still is.

Ah, so this is the review with the shouty bit. I’m sure it’ll be quite cathartic, actually almost tempted to rewatch part of the live readings in preparation.

So, I was running some errands yesterday and I saw the sequel ‘The Missus’ being advertised in the window of my local bookstore, I was afraid for Dom, but I also couldn’t help but laugh that it was already being sold for half price

I haven’t read the book, but I think what E.L. meant was “indulgent, but warm.” Maybe it’s because I’ve worked in retail, but just because someone is polite, doesn’t mean they like you. “Tolerant, but warm” would work even better. Either way, it’s lousy writing. If you’re going to be a writer you need to communicate as effectively as possible. If I have to decode, loosely interpret, or guess what you meant then, in the words of Betty Gilpin in The Hunt, “You f-cked up, b-tch!”

Still think the best part of this book was our DJ lord Thiccbasket gushing about his mother's attractiveness. It was so uncomfortable but in a funny way, so I appreciated it. Other parts were just mind-numbingly boring or flat-out scary. Learn about consent, James, and don't write anything else in the meantime.

im currently writing a fan fiction where one of Dom's cats has possessed his soul after hearing his stream reading this insufferable book only to read E.L. James to filth in all his glorious cattiness

The not wanting to be seen as a gold digger somewhat reminds me of Finns. Your wisting relatives/friends and they ask if you want coffee. The right thing is to say "oh no, not for me. I don't need anything" and fight against the thought and only after the person who you're visiting insists and say that they are making some for themselves you are allowed to say yes. Then drink 4 cups but you have to resist every time. Same with every gift or anything anyone is offering. Our worst nightmare is that somebody would think that we are greedy.

Idk I think if she’d slightly rephrased “polite but warm” as “polite but not without warmth” it wouldn’t seem contradictory. I think what she meant to say is that it was impersonal but not to the extent it could be. But I also haven’t read the surrounding passage 🤷‍♀️

I stopped watching another one of your videos so I could watch your video. Bragging rights aside, you have all of my sympathies

The line "polite but warm smile " could mean that she smiled out of courtesy, but at least a part of it was genuine.

So, watching a literary flagellant immolate their sensibilities by not only reading but analyzing the works of EL James for my apparent need of schadenfreude only proves that I have no better discernment than those who allow such an author to exist in the first place.

I think this is a first time a sponsor callout has made me laugh so hard. You fight that box, Dom. Your honor demands it!

I strongly suspect that Maxim Trevelyan is in fact the Lord Darcy from the Mirror Universe.

I went to EL James website and found out she was writing a sequel. (She probably plans to make this a trilogy like 50 shades), so this isn't gonna be the end of your suffering!

I feel like I could rewrite this book to make it good... and also gay. Okay, to start off, Max is a girl. The reason that she's a party girl who has random one night stands with women that never go anywhere is because she's a lesbian which she can't be openly due to the judgement she'd face from her family. Her older brother's fiance were dating prior to them getting together but she decided to deny her sexuality and marry the older brother out of a sense of duty to her family. Alyssa is the woman that finally gets Max to address what she wants out of life and decide that the opinions and status granted by her family name doesn't matter if she's miserable. She gives up her title and goes off with Alyssa for a happily ever after.

2:47 sounds like a writing tip and I appreciate it because I get lost in details. Also thank you for doing this video it needs to be said.

Hey... i've been having a pretty tough time with life lately. Just want to let you know that your videos always make my day! Keep up the great work!

God Bless you, Dominic. I hope you're doing well.

The "biting upper lip" bit reminds me of a shower thought o read thst said "biting your lower lip is seen as sexy but biting your upper lip is seen as absolutely ridiculous"

Hello, Dominic! 27:30 Speaking of Daphne du Maurier, I think you would have a very interesting and fun time going down the rabbithole that is her ancestry, as it could be argued that George du Maurier, her paternal grandfather, created a character in his book Trilby who influenced all future dark-romance-style stories, including directly inspiring Gaston Leroux's infamous novel The Phantom of the Opera 👀

Uuuh the ending song! As a man of culture once said: "leave spongebob out of your sex scenes E.L. James"

The title of this video could be EL James STILL Doesn't Understand & it would also be correct

11:44 I have this image in my head of his tongue and nose actually physically changing places on his face and she’s trying to stop him completing some weird, Eldritch metamorphosis. Edit: I just had a thought. I wonder if James was trying to “Baby It’s Cold Outside” this bit. The song has a bit of a reputation for being a bit…ominous. The lyrics can be (mis)interpreted as the female singer being pressured by the male singer, who is making advances towards her, when really the song is about the two lovers playfully flirting and convincing themselves that staying and getting it on is a great idea because it’s fucking freezing out. Alesia’s being all scandalized plus her “feeble” attempts to fight Maxim off when he’s nosing her nethers could be James’ way of trying to convey a sort of “OMG! I can’t believe we’re doing this! It’s so naughty! 😉” vibe. That or she was going for “It’s ok because she’s going to end up liking it.”

Ok the credit music was particularly hilarious this time. XD Great review. Thank you for enduring.

This video is literally the best possible way to start my day before work. Thank you Dom!! ❤️ A few thoughts I had while watching/possible answers to some questions: - The main character being a blank slate for the audience to project onto is out in romance writing; the main character’s *love interest* being the blank slate is in. This way the reader gets to read all about how much the dreamboat wants their love interest-and by proxy, the reader. This is usually much, much more appealing than reading about the reader-insert main character being anxious or unsure about things while being painfully bland at the same time. - If this had been the work of a halfway competent author, I would have said that the inclusion of Maxim’s dick’s antics were a tongue-in-cheek commentary on when male authors write women and treat their boobs or ovaries like whole separate characters or maybe anime cat ears that perk up or droop in response to the woman’s emotional state. With EL James, though…. It’s probably just an attempt to write a dude at all lmfao - YUGIOH REFERENCES MY BELOVED - Once again I feel so much better about my own writing just from hearing about this nightmare author. Thank you for your sacrifice, Dominic Noble. 🙏🏻

Love how much venom Dom can insert into the name of the author and her work.

Fyi: below timestamp makes mentions of male genitalia. 12:48 at least we're getting some un-ironic women writing men as badly as men often write women. Some measure of balance has been restored.

I took "sneakily unloading his gun" as a euphemism and had to do a double take.

Wait wait wait, master's of the universe?? What kind of workout routine has she committed to that allows her to carry around such copious amounts of AUDACITY?