Running Head: 50 SHADES OF GREY:

50 Shades of Grey:
Psychoanalysis of Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele
Donte Francis
Turks and Caicos Islands Community College
24th March 2015

QUESTION: Psychoanalyze the following characters in the movie; Anastasia

Steele, Christian Grey.
Discuss what personality traits or disorders witnessed and what developmental
theory/theories are evident.
Write a 3-page essay, essay the above using reference from the movie.

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50 Shades of Grey:
Psychoanalysis of Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele
50 Shades of Grey is a 2015 British-American erotic romance film, based on
a novel of the same name by E. L. James, about the beginning of a sadomasochistic
relationship between a wealthy businessman (Christian Grey) and a young student
(Anastasia Ana Steele) (Taylor-Johnson, 2015). In this essay, I have discussed the
plot of the movie and have psychoanalyzed the two characters in which their
personality traits and disorders are discussed and evident developmental theories are
identified.
Ana, aged twenty-one years old, in the beginning of the movie describes her
as, a literature student at Washington State Universitys satellite campus near
Vancouver, Washington (Taylor-Johnson, 2015). She agrees to switch spots with her
roommate, Kate Kavanagh who becomes ill and is unable to interview the successful
twenty-seven year old businessman, Christian Grey at his company in Seattle for the
schools newspaper. Christian surprisingly visits her at her job at a hardware store
after the interview in which he was greatly interested in her. Ana agrees to have coffee
after Christian completes her request for a photo-shoot to accompany the article in the

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newspaper. After which Christian leaves abruptly, confusing Ana. Ana graduates and
receives a graduation gift from Christian, first edition copies of a novel. After
celebrating with friends, Ana, being highly intoxicated with alcohol, impulsively calls
Christian after which she passes out. Christian, deeply concerned, finds Ana at the bar.
Ana wakes up the next morning in Christians hotel room relieved when he confirms,
they did not have sexual intercourse (Taylor-Johnson, 2015).
After Christian and Ana begin their relationship, Christian insisted she signs a
non-disclosure agreement that prevents her from revealing anything about their
relationship. Upon signing the agreement, he reveals his interest in relationships that
is strictly bondage. Ana reveals her virginity in which Christian, fixes the situation
(Taylor-Johnson, 2015). Christian proposes another contract that would make her, the
submissive and him, the dominant in a bondage relationship. While Ana is
considering the contract and negotiating her terms, they begin a sexual relationship
that would peek some sexual practices of which Christian heavily desires.
Ana, after being showered with gifts and favors from Christian, such as a new
car and laptop, moving back to Seattle with Kate, Christian and Ana becomes closer.
At one night, Ana accompanies Christian to his parents house. Ana mentions she is
leaving the next day to visit her mother in Georgia (Taylor-Johnson, 2015) during
dinner. Infuriated as he was, Christian did not like the fact that Ana had expressed the
want for a romantic relationship rather than a purely sexual one. Ana finds herself in
utter shock when he unexpectedly arrives in Georgia while her mother is being visited
after which, he leaves soon after to attend an emergency in Seattle.
After returning home, Ana continues seeing Christian, who is still interested in
further sexual experimentation. Ana, who initially consents and participates willingly,
is upset when Christian, however, keeps Ana emotionally distant. Ana, while

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considering the contract, asks Christian to demonstrate; show her the true taste of his
fifty shades of Grey pun intended. He is requested to show what would happen if she
broke the rules of the contract in which Anas buttocks would be whipped six times
with a belt, making her count each time he did it. The movie ends with a sad ending as
she finds herself deeply disappointed that Christian was far from her romantic
expectations. Sad as it was, she left strongly concluding that he is wrong for her.
However, psychoanalyzing Anastasia Ana Steele can be quite easy when in
the movie, she is shown to be a stubborn but shy and kind-hearted person (TaylorJohnson, 2015). Ana loves books (particularly British Literature) and is studious,
maintaining a 4.0 grade point average in college (Taylor-Johnson, 2015). However,
the day after she was born, her biological father died, resulting her mothers second
husband, Ray Steele, being called her real father. He taught Ana several practical
skills, including self-defense, gun safety, and using tools. Ana lived with her mother,
Carla Wilks, in Las Vegas during her mothers third marriage to Stephon Morton
which they all lived together until her college life. At the age of twenty-one, she is
belived to be at the Intimacy versus Isolation stage according to Erik Eriksons
psychosocial theory of development:
This stage covers the period of early adulthood when people are exploring
personal relationships. (Cherry, 2005)
At this stage she is exploring personal relationships, and in which Christian Grey is
her target. However, Erikson believed that a strong sense of personal identity was
important for developing intimate relationships. Ana was strongly stubborn of her
romantic pursuit, although Christian introduced her to sadism and masochism, she
stood by her values of romance and constantly questioned Christians way of being in
a relationship; she was strong of personal identity. However, in Eriksons

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psychosocial developmental theory, she grew up on trust instead of mistrust because

although she grew up without a biological stepfather, her first stepfather remained a
perfectly normal relationship with her, especially when he visited her graduation.
However, although a second stepfather is introduced, her mother is still seen as the
caring and supportive parent for everything Ana does. Erikson calls this stage:
Trust versus Mistrust: An infant is entirely dependent upon his or her
caregiver; therefore, the quality of care that the child receives plays an
important role in the shaping of the childs personality. If a child successfully
develops trust, he or she will feel safe and secure in the world. (Cherry, 2005)
Ana is therefore safe and secure.
In contrast to Anas psychoanalysis, Christian Grey was the total opposite
apart from his gender. Christian, the male protagonist of the movie, to the outside
world, he appears as a young, business-savvy, and charming man (Taylor-Johnson,
2015). However, he has a dark side in which he secretly practices bondage,
dominance, sadism and masochism (BDSM).
Christian was originally, born in Detroit. His mother Ella was addicted to
drugs, and worked as a prostitute. Her pimp was extremely abusive to both her and
Christian. When he was just four years old, sadly, his mother committed suicide; he
only refers to his birth mother as the crack whore (Taylor-Johnson, 2015). His new
mother, Dr. Grace Grey, adopted him into a rich lifestyle. His new, mothers friend,
Elena seduced him and took his virginity at the age of fifteen years old (TaylorJohnson, 2015). She introduced him to the BDSM lifestyle, which he credits with,
teaching him how to control his emotions and channel his anger into positive outlets.
She was the dominant and he was the submissive (Taylor-Johnson, 2015). Christian

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eventually lives this neat-freak, rich lifestyle in which led to becoming a successful
Chief Executive Officer of his own company.
However, in psychoanalyzing Christian, according to Freuds psychosexual
theory of development, Christian, at the age of birth is believed to be extremely neat
and in control merely because he was taught to hold his feces and urine at an early age
thus making him anal-retentive. Additionally, at the ages of about one to three, as a
result of his biological mother and pimps relationship with him, landed him in a stage
of mistrust. According to Eriksons psychosocial theory of development, result
mistrust is defined as:
If a caregiver fails to provide adequate care and love, the child will come to
feel that he or she cannot trust or depend upon the adults in his or her life.
(Cherry, 2005)
However, additionally, because of Elenas seduction, it gave Christian a sense of who
he was. She conditioned him. He was at the age of fifteen, stage of Identity versus
Confusion according to Erikson psychosocial theory of development:
Identity versus confusion is the fifth stage of Erik Erikson's theory of
psychosocial development. This stage occurs during adolescence between the
ages of approximately 12 to 18. Teens need to develop a sense of self and
personal identity. During adolescence, children are exploring their
independence and developing a sense of self. Those who receive proper
encouragement and reinforcement through personal exploration will emerge
from this stage with a strong sense of self and a feeling of independence and
control. (Taylor-Johnson, 2015)
He was encouraged that what he was doing with her was acceptable; therefore,
he eventually fell into control of his life. He knew what it felt like being the

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submissive and saw how great it was to be a dominant like Elena thus resulting in him
wanting to control others, including Ana. He is a pretty messed up adult, but that is
only so because of what was done to him at the early stages of development.
All in all, it is evident, these two characters, Anastasia Steele and Christian
Grey are two individuals who try to make a dog fly and ends meet in a sense. Ana is
the soft, literature, college graduate who falls in love and wants romance from a
person who is just messed up so badly because of what was done to him growing up,
that he is only about sex and not love- such a tragedy. However, I can thefore
conclude this essay by echoing the idiom, the child is the father of the man, because
the way Ana and Christian were brought up shaped the way they are as adults.

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8
References

Cherry, K. A. (2005). Erik Erikson's Stages of Psychosocial Development: The Eight

Stages of Psychosocial Development. Retrieved March 23, 2015, from About
Education:
http://psychology.about.com/od/psychosocialtheories/a/psychosocial.htm
Luca, M. D., Brunetti, D., James, E. L. (Producers), & Taylor-Johnson, S. (Director).
(2015). 50 Shades of Grey [Motion Picture]. United States: Universal
Pictures.