Bridget Jones’s Diary is a 2001 British film directed by Sharon Maguire and written by Helen Fielding. Bridget Jones is a 32 year old woman working in publishing whose dream is to not end up alone. Her entire dream, spurred on by her mother and society around her, is to accept a more comfortable life with a male. On her way to doing so, Bridget works on herself: she works out, drinks less, smokes less, and buys empowering books - only to return to her bad habits at each sign of failure with a man. She leaves her job with an unethical and unprofessional boss in a short-lived parade of empowerment (with Aretha Franklin’s “Respect” playing in the background) only to accept a new one with another unprincipled boss quickly afterward. Bridget’s view of herself is lower than her desire to end up not-alone.

Bridget is shown as weak and bereft of agency, while her love interests in the film are powerful men: Daniel Cleaver is the CEO at a publishing company, and Mark Darcy is a top barrister. Bridget falls in love with Daniel Cleaver at first throughout a slew of codified consumptive vignettes of romance, while she falls for Mark Darcy later in the movie after she is saved by him multiple times in distressing situations that she cannot handle alone. The film includes gendered and consumptive themes that may be addressed by feminist and anti-capitalist critiques.

Feminist Critique

According to Henke & Zimmerman (1999) which discuss Disney movies according to feminist theory, women’s roles are defined in earlier Disney films by romantic myths such as “true love,” “meant to be,” “love conquers all,” and Plato’s “the other half” (Henke & Zimmerman, 1999). Despite misunderstandings and initial hatred between Mark Darcy and Bridget, Darcy’s coincidental presence at Bridget’s whereabouts, along with Bridget’s mother’s promotion of a romantic relationship between them, and Bridget’s deepest dreams of not being alone in her thirties, promote the “meant to be” myth of fulfilling one’s destiny with the “true love” of a specific person who is meant for you (“the other half”). When Bridget’s mother keeps telling her daughter to talk to Darcy, Bridget does not care to get to know him. She is not interested in him. But because of her more important dream of finding a man while in her thirties, she ends up with him despite all the things she does not like about him: “You once said that you like me just as I am, and I just wanted to say likewise. I mean the stupid things your mum buys you, tonight’s another classic, you’re haughty and you always say the wrong thing in every situation. I seriously believe that you should rethink the length of your sideburns. But you’re a nice man and I like you” (Bevan et al., 1991). Darcy does the same. Despite not liking many things about Bridget he wants to end up with her: “I know there are elements about the ridiculous about you. Your mother is pretty interesting. And you really are an appallingly bad public speaker. And you tend to let whatever is in your head come out of your mouth without much consideration of the consequences … But the thing is, what I’m trying to say very inarticulately, is that perhaps despite appearances I like you very much” (Bevan et al., 1991). Bridget and Darcy make concessions for the other’s negative characteristics during their speeches professing their love for one another. The Henke & Zimmerman (1999) critique of how “true love” is “meant to be” is underscored in the lyrics of the song after Darcy’s speech. “Someone Like You” by Van Morrison plays, with the lyrics, “Someone like you make it all worthwhile. Someone like you keep me satisfied. Someone exactly like you” (Bevan et al., 1991). Love does not seem to be built on an appreciation of difference, but rather in spite of it. The ultimate goal of being in a relationship is more powerful than fully respecting the one who they are with.

Henke & Zimmerman (1999) also critique the level of female power and degree to which they shape their own destinies. Generally in Disney, despite their dreams at the beginning of the film, women happily accept a life with a male controlling her new station by the end (Henke & Zimmerman, 1999). Not only is Bridget powerless throughout Bridget Jones’s Diary, but her initial dream is thoroughly entrenched in society’s expectations and possibly in Disney motifs, and has nothing to do with furthering her own potential: her deepest desire is to live “happily ever after” with a man. At the beginning of the film she voices her dream: “I suddenly realized that unless something changed soon I was going to live a life where my major relationship was with a bottle of wine. And I’d finally die, fat and alone, and be found three weeks later half eaten by alsatians. Or I was about to turn into Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction” (where a former love comes back to stalk the protagonist). The song in the background is “All By Myself” by Celine Dion with the lyrics “don’t want to live all by myself … don’t want to be all by myself anymore” (Bevan et al., 1991). But in achieving her goal of scoring a man, Bridget is powerless in shaping her own destiny: Darcy shows up unexpectedly to save her in “damsel in distress” moments and robs her of agency. He saves her career by enabling her to land an exclusive interview and he shows up at her house and saves the birthday dinner that she is trying to cook but is destroying (Appendices C and D).

When attempting to shape her own destiny she only succeeds at the end when she turns the 7 stage Hollywood formula around with her initiating “the run” and “the speech.” Regardless, the film integrates consequences of turning this formula around. Darcy seems to reject both of her speeches - at his parents’ Christmas party he turns from her speech of love to listen to his parents’ speech, and after she invites him up and he sees what is written in her diary he leaves her apartment to buy her a new diary despite presumably knowing his absence would upset her - only to choose Bridget on his own terms when he makes his own speeches after seemingly rejecting hers both times. Darcy shapes Bridget’s destiny rather than her shaping her own.

Anti-Capitalist Critique

In the fourth chapter of her book about consuming the romantic utopia, Illouz (1997) examines how commodities influence romantic love. She explains how the consumption of romance is similar to a ritual, and it occurs through four cultural boundaries: temporal, spatial, artifactual, and emotional. The temporal boundary of romance defines how romance in the media occurs outside of the productive and reproductive time of society. It is divorced from the idea of work and practical activities and chores. Spatial boundaries of romance on television illustrate how the home is frequently viewed as unromantic, while a couple’s ability to construct a private space in public is considered the measure of romantic love. Artifactual boundaries of romance in the media dictate that luxurious objects, such as gifts, expensive meals, and experience goods such as travel may not only display romantic feelings but generate them. Emotional boundaries of romantic consumption are that romantic feelings are described as special and exciting. One’s emotional energy is heightened and intensified during a romantic scene on television. These rituals are so codified in the media and society that we fail to notice the consumptive elements in our perception of romantic love (Illouz, 1997).

Romantic love in Bridget Jones’s Diary is contrasted through Bridget’s love interests, Daniel Cleaver and Mark Darcy, and is set up as a challenge to the cultural norms of romance. Bridget’s dates with Daniel Cleaver, the unethical and perfidious CEO, are codified vignettes of romance: when Bridget eats with Daniel it is at an elegant restaurant with food unnecessary for survival (wine, dessert) (Appendix A). This is a consumerist activity where their emotions are heightened and they feel like they are alone, yet are in public space - a picture of the cliche romantic experience.

On her way to a weekend trip with Daniel (Appendix B), Bridget narrates, “Hurrah. Am no longer tragic spinster, but proper girlfriend of bona fide sex god. So committed that he’s taking me on a full blown mini break holiday weekend. This can’t be just shagging. A mini break means true love” (Bevan et al., 1991).

Bridget here interprets the liminoid ritual of travel with a romantic partner - the epitome of materialistic displays of romantic norms according to Illouz (1997) - as the epitome of love.

In contrast, when Bridget is in scenes with Mark Darcy, the ethical alter hero, she is usually at a family or work function where she is stressed and not having fun. He shows up during practical situations in her day-to-day life: during working hours when she is attempting to score a filmed interview for her field anchor job (Appendix C) and when she is doing a chore in the domestic sphere (cooking at home) for her friends before her birthday party (Appendix D). Both of these are contrasted with her dates with Daniel where she is in exotic locations outside of work hours and they are not doing practical routine activities.

The film takes a stand against Hollywood’s codified vignettes of romance because the ethical and stalwart Mark Darcy is compared to the disreputable and glamorous Daniel Cleaver throughout the film, and Bridget eventually finds true love with Mark Darcy. The authenticity of Mark Darcy’s subdued romantic plotline is set up against the cultural standard of romance in Daniel Cleaver’s displays of ostentatious and luxurious romance.

Conclusion

Illouz (1997) may consider Bridget Jones’s Diary as a worthwhile critique of the media’s consumptive romantic norms. Bridget’s dates with Daniel Cleaver who ends up two-timing her are codified vignettes of romance; Bridget’s dates with the reputable Mark Darcy show that authentic romance does not have a time, place, ritualistic artifacts, or emotions of consumption. Yet, it is important to note that the expensive dinner and glamorous travel is still the cultural standard against which other tastes are articulated. Displaying these consumptive romantic norms in the film at all may deliver a boomerang effect where viewers idealize Daniel Cleaver’s dates regardless of his pernicious character flaws.

But, Bridget does not have the power to shape her own destiny. She is the pawn of the two male protagonists who execute the plot for her. Daniel Cleaver demands that she accompany him on glamorous outings and Mark Darcy invades her personal space by failing to call before showing up at her house at two separate occasions that she had plans with her friends. Not only this, but her autonomy is reduced further when she cancels her plans on one of the occasions in favor of spending time with Darcy instead. The film fails to be socially responsible in depicting how a woman can achieve happiness without the help of a storyline written in her favor.

References

Henke, J. B. & Zimmerman Umble, D. (1999). And she lived happily every after… The Disney myth in the video age. In Mediated women: Representations in popular culture, ed. Marian Myers (321-337). Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.

Illouz, E. (1997). An all-consuming love. In Consuming the romantic utopia: Love and the cultural contradictions of capitalism (112-152). Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press.

Bevan, T., Fellner, E., Cavendish, J., & Maguire, S. (1991). Bridget Jones’s diary [Motion picture]. United Kingdom, United States, France: Universal Pictures and Miramax Films.

Appendices