A perennial singleton among the many smug marrieds, with a ardour for Chardonnay, massive knickers and emotional f***wits.
Who’s Bridget Jones and why is she beloved by so many?
Created by Helen Fielding as an nameless method to write about being a single lady in London, Bridget first got here to life in a weekly column within the Impartial.
Fielding did not suppose it could final six weeks. She was very improper, and Bridget Jones remains to be alive and kicking almost three a long time later with 4 novels, 4 films and a legion of followers worldwide.
First off, now we have to pay homage to Jane Austen. With out Pleasure And Prejudice, Bridget Jones would not exist.
All the plot line of Bridget Jones’s Diary is constructed across the love triangle of Elizabeth Bennett, the dashing however aloof Mr Darcy and absolutely the cad Mr Wickham – however retold in1990s London with Bridget, Mark Darcy and Daniel Cleaver.
As a ingesting, smoking, swearing and non-corset-wearing Elizabeth Bennett, Bridget was an enormous hit. Set free within the capital within the hedonistic ’90s, there was loads of enjoyable available, and lots to poke enjoyable at.
Created pre-social media, we will solely think about a world wherein Bridget was documenting her weight and alcohol items on TikTok as an alternative of in her diary…
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The primary film
With life imitating artwork, whereas Bridget religiously notes her weight day by day in her diary, the world grew to become obsessive about Zellweger’s personal measurement – very a lot proving the purpose that her character’s obsessive relationship with the scales mirrored society’s obsession with feminine look.
After all, we do not know the way tall Bridget is, so regardless of realizing her day by day calorie consumption and weight to the pound, we do not know how massive or small she truly is, simply her personal notion of her measurement.
In the meantime, qualms over how convincing Zellweger could be at pulling off a British accent had been shortly quashed when she nailed it, with the assistance of the identical voice coach who labored with Gwyneth Paltrow on Shakespeare In Love. It is faultless.
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Brat Bridget and feminist Marmite
Bridget was Brat lengthy earlier than Brat was a factor. Smoking like a chimney, with a questionable costume sense and sporting hair that – not like just about 99% of movies – seems messy and actual, Bridget was relatable and have become an on the spot icon to many ladies – notably these over 35 – who felt largely ignored by society.
Nevertheless, the character was feminist Marmite – whereas some cherished Bridget, others hated her and all the pieces she stood for.
Some felt her obsession along with her look and discovering a person flew within the face of what it meant to be an unbiased lady – and all the pieces the primary waves of the feminist motion had fought for.
Others thought that for a era that had been informed they may have all of it, Bridget’s battles to attempt to obtain all that society informed her she ought to, had been a valiant try and triumph in an unattainable state of affairs.
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Pic: Rex Options
Principled, trustworthy and unwaveringly variety – whereas Bridget might not have been good, in an period of heroin stylish, lad mags and outrageously unrealistic magnificence requirements, there have been lots much less healthful function fashions for younger girls to aspire to.
Pre-MeToo world
The primary books and movies got here to life in a pre-MeToo world and boy have you learnt it – there’s a number of bum-pinching, and inappropriate feedback within the workplace and past. Mr Tits Pervert was not an anomaly.
Helen Fielding has since stated she was shocked when rewatching to notice the quantity of inappropriate behaviour Bridget has to place up with.
Every movie has a construction working from the tip of 1 yr, by Christmas and New Yr, and looking forward to a brand new begin.
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Why is Bridget Jones so common?
Nostalgic soundtracks are a staple, with lip-synced favourites a mainstay of each movie. In the event you’ve by no means cried into your wine glass whereas singing All By Myself, you have by no means lived.
The movies even have a largely returning solid – who like Bridget have been in our lives for years. Watching them develop up from film to film – as we do too – is a part of the enjoyment.
We additionally get to sit up for a ‘Mr Darcy within the lake second’ in each movie – be it in a river, an aqua cardio pre-natal class or a pond, with the most recent re-enactment courtesy of a half-naked Leo Woodall – who by the way was born within the yr the primary novel was printed.
The combat scenes within the first two movies have additionally develop into one thing of a cultural touchstone, largely due to the truth that middle-aged males ineffectually kicking one another whereas hopping round is never portrayed on the silver display screen.
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The second movie
Bridget Jones: The Edge Of Motive sees Bridget proceed her unbelievably fortunate streak in terms of jobs. Whereas she began out as a PR in a publishing home (most notably selling the intellectual learn Kafka’s Bike) she then stumbled into TV manufacturing, which shortly and inexplicably segued into turning into a TV presenter.
On this film she lands the dream function of a journey presenter, regardless of a whole lack of geographical information, and it supplies the premise of the plot which revolves round getting stranded in Thailand after by accident smuggling medication.
We won’t ignore some points round this one, not least scenes in a Thai jail wherein Bridget sings some Madonna after which fingers out bras and chocolate earlier than being freed by Mark Darcy. The film confronted criticism for perpetuating “white saviour” stereotypes, and isn’t Bridget’s most interesting second.
Sudden cameos punctuate the primary three films – from Salman Rushdie and Jeremy Paxman, to Paul Nicholls (aka Joe Wicks from EastEnders – an enormous heartthrob on the time), to Ed Sheeran.
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The third movie
Bridget Jones meets Three Males And A Child within the third film Bridget Jones’s Child, with the novel truly following the movie fairly than vice versa. It was based mostly on articles written by Fielding in 2005.
Spoiler alert – Hugh Grant wasn’t up for this one. Fortunately, Patrick Dempsey – the person who performed Dr McDreamy in Gray’s Anatomy – stepped in. It good-naturedly cracks by the challenges of getting a child as a geriatric, single-working mum and by some means choosing the right man on the finish of all of it. Bridget will get her fairytale marriage ceremony, her man and naturally turns into a mum.
Whereas the primary couple of movies contained extra smoking than could be believed, this one noticed the franchise ditch the behavior, a mirrored image each of Bridget’s new duties and the altering fashions of the time.
Whereas Grant sat this one out, there was hope for followers that he would return due to a cheeky front-page splash on the finish of the movie declaring him alive and effectively a yr after he was presumed useless following a airplane crash (within the bush).
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Pic: Common Footage
The fourth movie
It is not fairly a full-on reunion for the fourth movie – however nearly. Bridget’s life has taken some sudden turns, and whereas Daniel Cleaver might have risen from the useless, there’s a new and far greater gap in her life.
You will want to take tissues into this one, except you might have a coronary heart of stone.
Whereas previous casts have been notable for his or her lack of range, this one additionally seems a bit extra just like the multicultural capital Bridget lives in.
Bridget now has a shelf filled with diaries and rye observances embrace a takedown of the dismissal of “women of a certain age”, a lip-filler-esque fail that pokes enjoyable at makes an attempt to cheat age and the baffling fashionable phenomenon of buttonless lifts.
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The top of an period?
Is that this the tip for Bridget? For now. The exploration of her life from her early 30s to her mid-50s has seen her discover love, forge a profession and have a household. But it surely’s not out of the query we may enterprise into the subsequent phases of her life in some unspecified time in the future.
Helen Fielding remains to be writing books, simply not about Bridget. With a brand new legion of Gen Z followers now launched to – and loving – Bridget, by no means say by no means.
And whereas Bridget might have discovered her completely satisfied ever after – all followers of the books will know It’s a reality universally acknowledged that when one a part of your life begins going okay, one other falls spectacularly to items. So, watch this house.
