Aside from having devoured the book, I finally decided to return my Netflix after five months and received a copy of The Rules of Attraction. Honestly, I really wanted to see the film for Shannyn Sossamon - I mean c’mon the lead character is that dood from Dawson’s Creek.
Anyway, I thought both were a fairly accurate reflection of human courtship — it’s all bullshit.
The film focused more on the debauchery and hedonism that was only part of what the book emphasized, which was that our "love" is mostly a one-sided collection of random events and when we are lucky it leads to something… good or bad.
There is no destiny involved in us copulating, just desire and delusion. The film portrays this most accurately through the inner monologue of Sean Bateman.
Sean Bateman: I need to get some more pot. I’m running out. Then I need to get laid. Where the fuck was Lauren tonight? That Lara girl was kind of hot. I could bang her and feel good about it. But I’d rather have Lauren. I wonder why? It would just ruin my illusion of her purity. Whoa, is that really what I want?
[pause]
Sean Bateman: I need to get laid.
[sniffs]
Sean Bateman: Then I need to get more pot.
Sean Bateman: I wonder if Lauren goes wild during sex. I wonder if she comes easily. Or at all. I won’t go to a bed with a girl who doesn’t. If I can’t make a girl come, then why bother? It’s like asking questions in a letter. Hm, I’m hungry.
You won’t believe how much my roommate enjoyed that scene.
Don’t let that scare you ladies, all men do not think this way 100% of the time — more like 90%. If you find a fella that thinks this way 70-50% of the time, you’re doing okay — and yes this goes for gay men as well. Also understand that in the midst of all that Id-Talk, Sean is focused on Lauren.
Men do love — we’re just idiots.
Comments (2)
I don’t know if I’d call Sean Bateman’s feelings “love.” Sounds to me like he turned Lauren into the one pure, non-Id related thing in his life. But if I remember the book correctly, he didn’t really know her at all. So basically, we’re talking classic virgin-whore complex here. Bang the one, idolize the other. Ho hum. Think I’ll read a good book instead.
How did I know that you would be the one to comment on this post. It was almost like, as I was writing I thought “Wonder what Jennie is gonna comment?”