A Thirty-Something Singleton
The successfull film Bridget Jones Diary was released in 2001. It had a budget of $26 million, and in the United Kingdom the film grossed a very impressive £42 million, and in the United States the film made $71,5 million. It was one of the most successful British film ever made. Bridget Jones Diary was based on Helen Fielding’s novel of the same name. Fielding’s novel was based on Jane Austen’s famous novel Pride and Prejudice, which was first published in 1813. Bridget Jones (played by Renee Zellweger) is the heroine of the film, a woman in her thirties, who is struggling with her many imperfections, such as her weight, her age, her drinking and smoking, and her status of “singleton” in a world of “smug marrieds”, who treat her like an outcast. She is surrounded by her surrogate "urban family" of friends Sharon (Shazzer), who is a feminist, Jude, a successful business woman, and Tom, a gay ex-singer (Wikipedia).
Bridget Jones’ appeal is that she’s a regular woman who triumphs over common embarrassments and indignities. She is a comical, clumsy, neurotic, semi-single woman, who is able to mock herself. Shanna Wendson describes this accurately:
Bridget Jones Diary was a breath of fresh air. She is such a delightful bundle of true-to-life quirks that every woman could find something of herself in Bridget, whether it's obsessive calorie counting, creative interpretation of popular diet plans, grand daydreams of happy endings or annoying maternal interferences.
Bridget Jones, just like the ladies of Sex and the City, is not old-fashioned or unemancipated, but a woman of the 1990s, accepting that its allright to be interested in physical appearances and finding a man, and seeing the humour in all this. (Wensink). This is illustrated very well by the quote that appears on the website, along with Bridget’s voice stating that:
I truly believe that happiness is possible even when you’re thirty three and have a bottom the size of two bowling balls.
Marketing Bridget Jones
The trailer’s voiceover states: “There is one question... that brings fear... into the heart... of everyone who is single: How’s your love life?” The voice continues: “For Bridget Jones it was always the same old story... [trailer showing daily life embarrassments] but everything is about to change... [trailer showing fragments of Bridget’s affair with Daniel Cleaver] Now Bridget needs to decide between a man who seems too good to be true... [trailer showing fragments of Daniel Cleaver] and a man so wrong he could be right...” [trailer showing fragments of Mark Darcy]. Bridget Jones Diary is marketed as romantic comedy for women, about a single, clumsy, full-figured woman, who is sympathetic and with whom women can easily identify. Bridget finds true love in spite of her flaws, and her knight in shining armour, Mark Darcy, tells Bridget that he loves her just the way she is. This film tells women that it is possible to be happy and find the right man even if you “have a bottom the size of two bowling balls”.
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Wendson, S.
Revisiting Bridget Jones's Diary: Why Chick Lit is Here to Stay. Retrieved 21-05-2007 from http://www.shannaswendson.com/bridget.html
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Wensink, H.
(02-02-2007). Wie is er bang voor Bridget Jones? NRC Handelsblad, p. 27.
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www.wikipedia.com
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www.bridgetjonesmovie.com