Toward a Better Understanding of ‘Rules of Attraction’

        ‘Rules of Attraction’ is a novel written in 1987 by Bret Easton Ellis.   The story of young adults living on-campus at an Eastern college.   The characters are all well off and live a rather isolated life amongst themselves.

          The author has used an interesting method to engage the reader.  Ellis starts and ends the novel in midsentence which gives the impression that the reader is just catching a glimpse of the lives of the characters.  There is the characters lives up to the time you (the reader) catch  a peek, and the life that goes on after you’ve stopped looking ‘looking over the wall.’  

          This reader felt as if she were glimpsing a speeding train, maybe a circus train.  The story is advanced by using the viewpoints of the various characters.  Each chapter is told by a different character.  The characters move along the same story line in a parallel way.  

          As the story moves along we see each character move separately, but acting in exactly the same aimless way.  The book is heavily layered with visual references.  Over that are the activities of the characters who are pursuing…what?   I felt that the characters were in pursuit of nothing.   Interesting to me was the fact that these characters were exposed to life’s lessons, but these people seemed unable to learn anything from these lessons. 

          The aspect of particular interest to me is Ellis' use of visual references in this book to humorous effect.  “A form of postmodern politics has emerged called ‘culture jamming’…’ culture jamming is subverting the meaning of mass media messages …through artistic satire.”  (Barker 205)  In one scene the character is planning to hang himself with …what….a Brooks Bros. tie or a Ralph Lauren tie?   Does a suicidal person ask that question?   What does the Brooks Bros. Co. or Ralph Lauren Co. think about being used to aide a suicide?  What does this say about the person killing himself? To me I found this hilarious. 

          The author has incorporated the use of a ‘brand’ in almost every thought or interaction.  It is not just a soda, it is a Tab.  Not just a beer but a St. Paulie Girl.  Postmodern culture is also marked by the ‘intertextuality, the citation of one text within another……“an aspect of enlarged self consciousness about history and function of cultural products.”    (Barker 203)    These actors understood, as the reader is expected to understand what it ‘means’ to use these products.  (Tab, a trendy diet drink that preceded diet-Coke and… Brooks Bros. ties speak of East Coast elitism, old money and establishment aesthetic)  

          The reader who understands the subtext of meaning will enjoy this book more.  Foucoult says,’ discourse is discontinuous…marked by historical breaks in understanding…by changes in the way objects are understood…..different historical eras are marked by different configurations of knowledge.’ (Barker 192)  The reader who encounters this book in 2011 without an understanding of the 1980’s  will not enjoy the humorous subtext throughout.  This seems an important lesson worth remembering when reading what we may innocently believe to be current literature.

Baker, Chris. 2008, Cultural Studies, Theory and Practice, 3rd Edition, Sage Publications