How to fix Fifty Shades of Grey (or make it less terrible)

The easiest way to make the story more entertaining is to place Anastasia in mortal danger. When Christian takes her into the red room, we should be jumping out of our chairs saying 'No, Anastasia. No! Don't go in there! Don't let that monster hurt you!' But, we aren't the least bit frightened, because we are told from the very beginning that Christian is a nice guy, and we know this is true.

The problem with the whole story is that it's essentially a fairy tale. Not only does Anastasia get to marry Mr. Tall, Dark & Handsome, but he's ridiculously wealthy to boot. Anastasia gets a devoted husband, a family and a dream house in the country. And, with hardly any previous experience she gets a great job as the editor-in-chief of publishing company. In short, Anastasia has everything she desires handed to her on a silver platter.

Compare Anastasia's life to say, Scarlett O'Hara, from Gone with the Wind, and I think you'll see a big difference in terms of how many failures and how much pain & suffering the two heroines have to endure, as well as how hard they have to work in order to succeed. Needless to say, Gone with the Wind does not have a 'and they lived happily ever after' ending. And we both know which movies the critics prefer.

I should add that I am critiquing the entire Fifty Shades series, including Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed.