The Universal Acknowledgement of Love, Shame, and Marriage

*Cue fireworks*

It was my first time watching the 2001 film, Bridget Jones's Diary, and I can honestly say I was quite pleased with it, especially as an English major. Unbeknownst to many, it is a modernized version of Jane Austen's famous romantic novel, Pride and Prejudice. 

The film does a nice job keeping the premise that women are often expected to settle down by a certain age. Tick tock goes the biological clock; with age, women become less and less desirable on the market. In Lizzy Bennett's case in the novel, she must find a husband with politics in mind, in hopes to secure financial stability, as women of the time were expected to do, considering the fact that women couldn't inherit their father's estate. Bridget Jones in the film is pressured by society to marry; she has a job and her own apartment, but she is primarily seeking a partner in hopes of ultimately avoiding the social shame that comes with ending up a lonely, alcoholic, overweight, spinster (that smokes too many cigarettes). Every time she is at a family party she's asked about her "love life"--cringe. There are many ironic similarities between both stories, and I found the modern adaptation of Austen's story to be relevant and profound. Also notable is Colin Firth, who famously plays Darcy, as he also did in 1995 miniseries version of Pride and Prejudice, which followed Austen's text more closely. Proceed to eat your heart out.

 Pride and Prejudice (1995)

My favorite of the similarities between Lizzy and Bridget is their witty personality, and their rebelliousness when facing the pressures of securing your life partner in a culture that insists you are incomplete without one. They both know darn well their tragic social/political circumstances, and yet unabashedly do their own thing. Both female protagonists end up meeting a Mr. Darcy in a public setting as well, and the two women's initial reactions to this character are famously parallel. Mr. Darcy at first does not appear to be of any love interest for the two female characters in both stories; he's rude, and he insults them in both cases, to which both Lizzy and Bridget end up writing off Darcy as someone very proud. It is not until about half way through the novel and the film that Mr. Darcy shows his true feelings to Lizzy and Bridget. To great pleasure of the audience, the stories both end happily, with them uniting with Darcy in the final scenes.

There are other instances when the modern adaptation refers directly to Austen's text; there is also notably a Wickham character, that Bridget initially thinks is "the one" she will marry. This character of the movie, Daniel, also has a history with the Darcy character in a vaguely similar way to the original text Austen wrote; he's attractive, a liar, a manipulator, and he's only thinking about himself. 

The differences in the film, mainly, are added to make it contemporary. The dialogue is not the same, and many social norms have changed since Austen's day. Austen's novel depicts Lizzy as 21, and Bridget mentions in the beginning of the movie that she is 32, therefore, social norms of when women are expected to marry have certainly changed over the centuries. Not to mention sexuality is clearly identified in the modern adaptation. Women's bodies are not as hidden as they were in 18th century middle class society. However, not only does Bridget have more agency in this society, and freedom of her voice, body, and sexuality, the film also mentions multiple times throughout that Bridget is "overweight" or must lose twenty pounds. Women are still being looked at as being commodities in this way. The film portrays the idea that women must remain sexually attractive to men in order to have appeal or be of worth. Fantastically, though, the movie also throws in a line from Darcy that he loves Bridget just the way she is, which implies that he doesn't need her to lose twenty pounds, become less embarrassing in public settings, and correct her neurotic mother, and so forth. What sweet liberation! This is very close to what Austen was implying with her original couple, Lizzy and Darcy, that not only do we deserve love in marriage, but we also deserve unconditional acceptance from our partners as well. I would absolutely reccommend this film, and can forsee myself watching the sequels in the near future. I am extremely partial to British humor; it is too good.