To think that Bridget Jones is a terrible role model for women?

[malificent7]

I quite like the films...they are funny... but they do make me cringe.
Bridget overhears Mark Darcy slag her off. ( calling her a spinster- terrible sexist word) then ends up obsessed with him.
She has a perfectly lovely figure but we are led to believe she is fat as she permanently struggles to loose weight and become like her "stick insect" love rivals..
She is quite inept and bumbling....adorable but useless.
That bloody song " all by myself!"

I know as women we can probably all relate to Bridget on some level ..especially her insecueities but bloody hell...we should not want to be like her!

Am I missing the point here? Are the films/ book sexist or are they trying to highlight sexism? Either way...Bridget Jones is anti feminist .

[Hopoindown31]

She's a comic character not a role model, surely? Does every female lead have to be a role model?

[lioncitygirl]

YABU. She was not meant to be a role model and it’s a film for goodness sake!

[billy1966]

@longvodkalover10

Ahh i love the BJ movies, but as a role model, no!
I also remember her weight being made a big deal of, both on screen and off. The line i really detest in the first movie is when she catches daniel cleaver cheating on her, and the other woman says "i thought you said she was thin", i dont know why but thats always bothered me. I feel that was for the audiences benefit, for us to judge her as not thin, in a way

I thought the thin remark was a way of displaying what a prize bitch she was.

Exactly the type of woman Clever deserved.

BJ was light hearted escapism IMO.

[DrawingLife]

I read one of the books, thought it was awful. Boring, sexist, unfunny.

[TeamLannister]

She's a privileged, self obsessed dosebag!

[dottiedodah]

I agree with above PP .Bridget was lovely kind and attractive as well.Not in a skinny big boobed way. But just like a normal woman who made some mistakes yes ,but took it on the chin and bounced back.Obsession with weight has always been there through the ages, with Corsets ,Girdles ,and a 1950s style Diet plan I read about. Which basically meant starving oneself for 2/3 days to look good for a "Special Occasion"whatever that was .Dont really go on Instagram but messages of Tanning ,Running ,fake photos and so on seem to be all around us .Many young girls wanting to look like Kardashians or Beyonce with big boobs /bums and tiny tums!

[longvodkalover10]

Ahh i love the BJ movies, but as a role model, no!
I also remember her weight being made a big deal of, both on screen and off. The line i really detest in the first movie is when she catches daniel cleaver cheating on her, and the other woman says "i thought you said she was thin", i dont know why but thats always bothered me. I feel that was for the audiences benefit, for us to judge her as not thin, in a way

[Camogue]

@nicky7654

She is a normal woman!!

See, I certainly don't think BJ is a role model, or in any way intended as one, but neither do I think she's a 'normal woman', any more than I think Bertie Wooster is a 'normal man' of his time, or Carrie Bradshaw a 'normal woman' of hers. She's a hapless comic caricature, fleshed out from a newspaper column into a fairly standard 'lovably flawed' chick-lit heroine.

[user1472151176]

I would rather my daughter turned to Bridgette Jones as a role model rather than trawling through Instagram and seeing some of those 'role models'. Bridgette Jones was strong, she dumped the man who was doing the dirty on her, she owned her costume when she turned up at the tarts and vicars party, great relationship with her friends and parents.
Body image in my eyes is 1 million times worse then it was 20 years ago. Always seeing campaigns about loving your body but Instagram is full of filled lips, false eyelashes, photoshop, hair extensions, fake tans, false nails and running. Everyone is always running 🤷‍♀️. Each to their own but personally I don't think feminism is any better now then it was, probably worse.

[ImEatingVeryHealthilyOhYes]

She was lovably fallible

I read the book in my early 20s and loved the excitement of her life in London. I’d just
moved to a city from very rural and was in my first proper job. It hinted at the fun to come

I disagree Mark deserved better, he needed her help to unclench! Mutually beneficial relationship

[TheKeatingFive]

She’s not supposed to be a role model dur.

Are we only allowed to read/watch films about perfect people now or something?

[billy1966]

@Happycat74

Oh for goodness sake it’s just a bit of fun!

That scene where she slides down the pole nearly killed me in the cinema.

I was eating something and it went down wrong as I was roaring laughing.

Just hilarious.

[Happycat74]

Oh for goodness sake it’s just a bit of fun!

[nicky7654]

She is a normal woman!!

[lottiegarbanzo]

Why are women forever meant to be role models yet no one complains that the mass murderers in Stephen King books aren't very nice for other men to look up to?

Indeed. The very idea that women should be forever 'looking up' to someone and that fictional characters that fail to provide morally rigorous leadership to the feminine flock, is itself, a deeply unfeminist concept.

In the meantime men are free to carry on as (generally perceived) morally mature leaders of their own destiny, fully able to judge and find the entertainment value in the flaws of others.

And yes, she and Darcy were good for each other, a la P&P.

@GlummyMcGlummerson
@IdblowJonSnow

[Byebye1to1]

Please tell me this is deep irony !!!

[Grilledaubergines]

She was never set up to be a role model though.

[billy1966]

Jesus but she wasn't even remotely role model material.

She was vacuous, self absorbed and ditzy, in the way some people are.

I enjoyed the movies for the mindless entertainment they were.

Certainly didn't get any social messages from it.🤣

[Den1se]

Thank you,Sheba.

[GlummyMcGlummerson]

Why are women forever meant to be role models yet no one complains that the mass murderers in Stephen King books aren't very nice for other men to look up to?

[WingsOnCats]

I never thought of Bridget as a 'role model'. I saw her as a fairly typical woman of that age - someone people can relate to but not aspire to.

[throwingawaymyshot]

Love Bridget because she made me feel normal. She is me (minus the drinking/fags/mr darcy).

She's gorgeous in the first film. Not fat at all. Definitely fat in the second film although they deliberately squeezed her into too tight outfits. Last film was good script wise although not having daniel cleaver ruined it.

I read an article that interestingly called Fleabag this generation's Bridget Jones. I also love Fleabag as like Bridget, I can relate to her but again I'm not exactly the same (only been with the one man - my DH!)

[ShebaShimmyShake]

@Den1se

Who is Bridget Jones?

She led the rebels to victory in 1527 during the Elbonia Uprising.

[ulanbatorismynextstop]

She's not supposed to be a role model, it's entertainment not an advert for the new messiah!

[momtoboys]

Is this really what we have come to?