Diachronic Salience in Love Analogies

Abstract

In New York City in 1996, the Associate Editor of New Media at Sports Illustrated, Mark McClusky, went to hear a televised talk by Ellen Fein and Sherrie Schneider, authors of The Rules: Time-Tested Secrets for Capturing the Heart of Mr Right (1995), at which well-dressed women packed themselves in like ‘Chanel-soaked sardines’ (McClusky 1996). Analysed in some detail, the 35 rules share a certain number of parallels with medieval courtly love. The scenario resembles that of the passive princess who waits for the adventurous knight to seek her out. Above all, she has to be permanently ‘beautiful’ when visible:

The crowd, the largest ever for a book signing at this branch, is filled with women who looked like television news anchors — just so in appearance and demeanor. Of course, this is part of the Rules. ‘Don’t leave the house without wearing makeup’, Fein and Schneider write. ‘Put lipstick on even when you go jogging!’ But after a moment of sizing up the crowd, one begins to sense a desperation about these women. They look accomplished; I imagine that many are successful professionals. But they aren’t married, and they obviously view that as a failure. Thankfully for them, Fein and Schneider’s book guarantees success. ‘What we are promising you’, they write, ‘is happily ever after’.

(McClusky 1996)