Q

Jeet This Week: What 50 Shades of Grey can teach us about economics

Q cultural critic Jeet Heer takes a provocative look at Fifty Shades of Grey -- and what it has to teach us about economics and romance.
Romantic...or economic? Q cultural critic Jeet Heer says romance stories, like Fifty Shades of Grey, have parallels with the economic theories of John Meynard Keynes. (Universal Pictures/EPK.tv)

Ever since the novel and film Fifty Shades of Grey became a runaway success, people have been asking themselves what exactly this story is tapping into.

Q contributor and cultural critic Jeet Heer has an interesting theory. He says that romance films like Fifty Shades of Grey have parallels with the economic theories of John Maynard Keynes, the father of the welfare state.

"Christian Grey in Fifty Shades is basically Richie Rich​ who likes spanking women," Heer says.

*Click on the listen button above to hear the full segment (audio runs 12:11).