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 .

[JinglingHellsBells]

It's not real life @malificent7

She's a character in a book.

Who else could we choose as poor role models?

Juliet in Romeo and Juliet?

Emma (Jane Austin)

Lady Macbeth?

Do we only read books to find role models? [discuss]

[RaspberryCoulis]

Was she ever supposed to be a role model?

[pictish]

Every female character is not required to be a role model. Bridget Jones was certainly never intended to be aspired to but rather related to. You have misunderstood it.

[JinglingHellsBells]

Have you missed the point @malificent7 that it might JUST be tongue in cheek? [sense of humour fail?]

And the actress did have to put weight on for the role, if you didn't know that.

[Porridgeoat]

She’s not a role model. It’s a story about down trodden girl who comes good and the British live an underdog

[pictish]

Ohh ha ha, I can see that everyone else here has said exactly the same as me!

Don’t take it so seriously OP...not everything has to be worthy, sometimes we just want to be entertained.

[Candyfloss99]

Of course she's a terrible role model but that was the whole point. Nobody wanted to be her, everybody felt sorry for her.

[anastasiakrupnik]

@Doryhunky

The whole point is that she wasn’t fat, she was just worried about being fat. The film missed that point completely. But the film did get the central point when Darcy tells her he loves her “just the way you are”.

Not seen it in a while but didn't they make her stone heavier in the films that in the book? That pissed me off, as like you say, missed the point that she was never fat, just normal, it was all her perception.

[pinkstripeycat]

I was never that self obsessed and I don’t believe any of my friends were when it first came out and we were that age. She was like a ditsy 14 year old

[Mycatismadeofstringcheese]

I read Bridget Jones when it first came out and my initial reaction was it was like reading my own diary, just a mess of insecurities and beating myself up. And yet BJ is doing ok, good job, a flat, friends etc. It actually helped me to be a bit kinder to myself! It was helpful to realise other women are really hard on themselves to and maybe we need to celebrate our successes more.

But why all this handwringing (at the time and now) about how she shouldn’t be a role model. She not and isn’t intended to be. Why can’t we just enjoy her as a comic character without assuming women aspire to be her. Like PP have said we don’t get bent out of shape about Bertie Wooster or Adrian Mole not being good role models. We know they are written to make us laugh at their absurdities.

[BikeRunSki]

@SexyGiraffe

The book came out at a time when women were talking about 'having it all' (horrible phrase) and women's media was full of pieces about how women were incredible could achieve everything they wanted. Bridget was supposed to be an antidote to that, giving women permission to not be perfect and have everything together. Yes, they are dated but that was the point.

I totally agree with this. The first book was published in 1996. I am a few years younger than fictional Bridget - the books are social commentary on the time, and hit the zeitgeist perfectly. She’s not meant to be a role model, she’s meant to be you/your friend, bumbling her way through trying to meet everyone’s expectations of her.

I agree that the second book is far fetched, but Roth’s as a vehicle to reunite her with MD. The third book is terrible and sold only on the reputation of the others.

[Mycatismadeofstringcheese]

*too (oh for an edit function)!

[MilkandWater]

She’s a now dated comic stereotype — why would you think she’s a ‘role model’ any more than, say, Bill and Ted?

[AriesTheRam]

The films are amusing but the books are v funny especially the first one

[hopefulhalf]

I was 23 in 1999 Bridget was not so much a role model as a cautionary tale. I think she is supposed to be mid-thirties in the books, but pyschologically stuck in adolescence.

[KiposWonderbeasts]

You’ve completely missed the point of the character.

[Jocasta2018]

I remember the initial Bridget Jones Diary column back in the mid-90s which was fantastic.
I really identified with it - recently graduated, finding my way into a career, drinking & smoking too much, feeling that some women really did have it all whereas I was bumbling around, not quite sure of where I was going.
And yes there were a few Smug Marrieds although at least they were at least 5 years older so not yet a reason to be insecure of my place in the world.
There were excruciating dinner parties where some poor bloke was roped in 'to even the numbers' in the hope we'd couple up.
However it was very much of the time & things age similar the way Sex and the City hasn't aged very well either.
I enjoyed the books & films but nowadays I think young women are very different.

[CovidNightmare]

@BrizNiz

Did you know that Helen Fielding based the Mr Darcy character on Keir Starmer and she knew him in real life? Little early morning something to chew on for you...

I know what you mean about BJ but it was a book written 20 years agp. Not every character has to be a feminist role model.

This was just a myth/rumour. The author confirmed this year it wasn't true.

[liaun]

Reading about "role models" (assuming we all have the same standards) can be quite exhausting. Quite frankly I prefer reading about fuck ups- it makes me feel better about myself

[Graciebobcat]

The only negative thing was the book probably contributed to me being more sensitive and negative about my weight than I needed to be, all the stuff about 9 stone odd being "fat". I was ten and a half stone at age 20/21, BMI 22 and eventually ended up under 9 stone (BMI 19) by age 23. Never got quite to eating disorder stage though I was tipping into some disordered eating and over exercising for a time.

[Sally872]

She's not supposed to be a role model. She was a character a lot of women identified with. She was in no way meant to be something to aspire

Completely agree.

[fluffiphlox]

My understanding is that the character isn’t meant to be a role model, quite the reverse. But she’s a recognisable type I would say.

[liaun]

@BrizNiz

Did you know that Helen Fielding based the Mr Darcy character on Keir Starmer and she knew him in real life? Little early morning something to chew on for you...

I know what you mean about BJ but it was a book written 20 years agp. Not every character has to be a feminist role model.

I've heard this story so many times but always with a different famous man as the example

[CruCru]

The people who made the film didn’t understand the books (at least the first one).

In the book, she is actually someone with a perfectly reasonable job who is NOT fat (she refers to her Agnes B jeans - they don’t come come in a large size). She is someone who projects success but is privately insecure.

[Clareflairmare]

YANBU that she is a bad role model, but she isn’t meant to be. She is meant to be an anti hero I think.