Buy booze and gather urban family because the one and only Bridget Jones is back in cinemas this Valentine’s Day. The fourth instalment in the Bridget Jones franchise, Mad About the Boy, follows Bridget (Renée Zellweger) as she navigates motherhood as a newly-single mum. Verging on spinsterhood again, Bridget gets back out on the dating scene where she meets the delightfully dreamy Roxster (Leo Woodall, of One Day fame) and the handsome Mr Wallaker (Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave). Don’t fret, familiar faces will also return, including a certain Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant).
Based on the column and later novels by Helen Fielding, Bridget Jones has become something of a cultural icon. From her body image struggles, to her attitude towards dating, she perfectly embodies the female experience and her struggles have become part of our cultural jargon.
In the first Pride and Prejudice-influenced film, Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001) we see her torn between two potential love interests: the playboy-wannabe Daniel Cleaver (Grant), who also happens to be her boss, and the reputable, sensible barrister Mark Darcy (Colin Firth).
The second film, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004), was influenced by Austen’s Persuasion and sees Bridget wonder if Mark has fallen for someone else, and how she spends some time in a Thai prison. Released in 2016, the third film (Bridget Jones’s Baby) follows Bridget as she embarks on a few one night stands and ends up pregnant, leaving us all wondering who the father is.
Throughout the films, one theme is clear: the pressure that single women face from their married friends, or the ‘smug marrieds’ as Bridget so lovingly calls them.
But she is not alone during this mess, she is equipped with her urban family: teary Jude (Shirley Henderson), one-hit wonder Tom (James Callis) and Shazzer (Sally Phillips), a journalist who likes to say ‘fuck’ a lot. She also has her actual family: her mother (Gemma Jones) is constantly haranguing Bridget about settling down, while her father (Jim Broadbent) provides moral support.
Watching these films has become a therapy of sorts for many, myself included, and Bridget feels like an old friend. She did, however, experience a slight fall from grace in the mid-2010s where she was branded ‘anti-feminist’ on account of her obsession with her weight and with men. However, this turned out to be a fad and was not indicative of a larger trend, because Gen Z have welcomed Bridget with open arms.
I would argue that Bridget Jones is very feminist. Not only does she have a career in the male-dominated media industry, but she also has a flat by Borough Market (Holland Park in the books). While it is true that Bridget spends much of her time worrying about her weight, this is arguably true for a lot of women. In a world dominated by Instagram ideals, Bridget’s body image woes feel more relatable and relevant than ever. Who hasn’t cringed at the sight of themselves in a full length mirror and made a list of all the things they would change? (Although, luckily for Bridget, having a big arse is very much desired nowadays).
Her ‘obsession’ with men also rings true for many of us. In the first film, while writing in her diary, Bridget makes a note that she will “find nice sensible boyfriend and stop forming romantic attachments to any of the following: alcoholics, workaholics, sexaholics, commitment-phobics, peeping toms, megalomaniacs, emotional fuckwits, or perverts”. But, like many of us, Bridget soon discovers that that is easier said than done.
Besides, why do female protagonists always have to be morally flawless anyway? No one is arguing about whether James Bond or Luke Skywalker has to be a good person: it’s just one of the many double standards that women face.
Pre-social media, pre-#MeToo, pre-Fleabag, pre first-female-Chancellor-of-the-Exchequer, Helen Fielding was a trailblazer in bringing women’s issues to the forefront. At her time of writing in the 1990s, it was not as common nor socially acceptable to discuss the more intimate details of being a woman back then: the casual workplace harassment, the tedious beauty rituals, and the pressure to get married and have children.
With her stunningly accurate observations of ‘smug marrieds’ and overbearing middle-class parents, Fielding is truly the Jane Austen of our time. Bridget represents all of us while simultaneously remaining a unique and one-of-a-kind character. She also taught us some valuable life lessons, from embracing imperfection to not applying blusher in the dark, and that, if all else fails, there is always vodka and Chaka Khan.
24 years on from the release of the first film, Bridget’s world now acts as a time capsule to a forgotten era of glorious fun before everyone got too sensible. A time of tarts and vicars parties and offices that actually had people in them. Bridget Jones’s story is a piece of our collective culture that will be loved for generations. We are just lucky that we get to live in a time when we can see the latest film in all its glory at the cinema.
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy is in cinemas 14 February.
