Overbearing Mothers and the Expectations of a Single Woman.
Jane Austens classic Pride and Prejudice has been reimagined countless times in the last 200+ years with different eras, locales and dynamics. The 2001 rom-com classic Bridget Jones's Diary tells the story of Elizabeth and Darcy in a fun, refreshing way with a revamped plot of how the world now would see it happen. The film stars Renee Zellweger and Colin Firth as this rendition of Elizabeth and Darcy. Colin Firth famously plays Mr. Darcy in the 1995 BBC miniseries of Pride and Prejudice so it is quite an obvious pull to revise Firth as the Darcy in this film. There is a lot of parallels in this film and the book, the main parallels is the depiction of societal expectations and the role of Bridgets mother within this dynamic.
(Film poster)
How the Film Adapts Darcy and Elizabeth
(The opening party scene in Bridget Jones's Diary, 2001)
In the regency era the expectation that a woman is to find a husband is a top priority and matters over anything. The entire story of Pride and Prejudice is Elizabeth and her sisters on the hunt for a husband. The Bennet family knows what is expected of their daughters. Elizabeth is fully aware of the expectations about her finding a husband. Bridget Jones also pulls from this theme in the opening scene where Bridgets mother is trying to drill Bridget about finding a nice man at the family turkey curry party. This party scene reads very closely to the ball scene in Pride and Prejudice where the whole Bennet family makes an absolute fool of themselves in the name of showing face to potential suitors. Bridget is in a ridiculous outfit and is being embarrassed by her creepy uncle, while Darcy is also in a ridiculous sweater. Bridgets mother is being incredibly overbearing during this scene to the point where she needs to be yanked away by a relative. Towards the end of the ball scene Mrs. Bennet gets removed from the festivities due to her drunkenness and saying crazy things about the looks of her daughters and their potential suitors. Darcy and Bridget dance around each other for the rest of the film, repeatedly calling back to the awkward run in at the holiday party.
Gender Expectations Translated Into a Modern Era
In the film, Bridget is briefly seeing Daniel Cleaver, her boss in an arguably unprofessional work relationship. In the progression of Bridget and Daniel, Bridget states her concerns of what will her coworkers think or notice of their relations. Even when said in a joking manner this reveals Bridgets overarching thoughts about what other people will think of her raunchy endeavor with Cleaver. Although something steamy and fleeting like this does not exactly happen in Pride and Prejudice, the idea of being concerned of what other people think of their relations is still an apparent theme in the book. In the iconic Darcy and Elizabeth proposal scene in the book, Elizabeth chews out Darcy for blatantly insulting her family during this proposal. Family is everything to Elizabeth and this anger reveals her intense need to defend herself and her family to Darcy. Darcys justifying of his disdain of Wickham parallels the modern Darcys unapologetic dislike of Cleaver.
When Darcy admits his feelings for Bridget he is met with the same anger of Bridget being embarrassed by what the world expects of her as a woman in her 30s and how even when Darcy admits feelings he still insults her deeply. The theme of a man being kind, insulting, and then kind again to soften the blow of the insult is a theme that spans longer than Pride and Prejudice to its modern counterpart. A common theme in the film is Bridget being insulted and then brought up a bit, and then shut down again by work or life. This also runs in Pride and Prejudice when Elizabeth and her sisters are wooed by suitors, tragedy falls and then the cycle repeats.
Conclusion
Womanhood can be described as very circular in older and modern works of literature and media. Bridget Jones's Diary and Pride and Prejudice are no different in this way. These stories simply replace balls and gowns for bars and miniskirts. Mothers will always be too invested in a daughters love life and people will always feel societal pressure. In a way its almost comforting to know these issues are timeless. Modern editions of a classic story can help a viewer/reader understand that some things never really change.
Works Cited
Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. T. Egerton, Whitehall, 1813.
Bridget Jones's Diary. Directed by Sharon Maguire, Miramax House Entertainment, 2001.
Hi Rebecca! I really liked how you compared Bridget Jone's Diary to Pride and Prejudice and showed how similar themes still exist in modern society. I thought it was interesting how both stories portray mothers putting pressure on their daughters to find a husband, even though the stories take place in very different time periods. I also liked your point about how women continue to feel societal pressure about relationships and how others perceive them!
ReplyDeleteHi Rebecca! I have not seen this film, so it was interesting to hear the differences and similarities between Bridget Jones Diary and Pride and Prejudice. I enjoyed your point that the two stories "simply replace balls and gowns for bars and miniskirts". Bridget's mom seems to be just like Mrs. Bennet especially when she gets drunk at the Christmas party and embarrasses Bridget in front of Darcy!
ReplyDeleteRebecca, from what you described about Darcy's confession, I cannot imagine that many women would be wowed or pleased hearing his sandwiched insult. The poor woman seems to get enough flak from her mother, so hearing it from a romantic interest would be angering. Your parallels between the Mrs. Bennet of the novel and of this adaptation were very interesting. It's interesting to see how they are similar and different from one another.
ReplyDeleteHi, Rebecca. I have not seen this adapatation, so I find your comparison that they re-casted Colin Firth as Darcy in this version to be quite an interesting choice, as you said. It is also pretty interestkng that this takes more of a modern interpretation from a classic novel set in the Regency Era. I also thought that it was a nice catch that this version has the man being kind, angry, then kind again as a longer theme than in the original novel. Great work, Rebecca.
ReplyDeleteRebecca, I'm unfamiliar with this adaptation, but you did a great job of putting it into perspective. I'm sure it's not easy to adapt a story so far into the future. From what you've said here, it seems that Bridget has a lot more agency than Elizabeth does (which makes sense considering the modern lens), and it's especially interesting to see how this agency is used to change the story and make it feel new. Like you mention, we would obviously never see Elizabeth talking as openly about sexuality as Bridget does, but it nevertheless aligns with the headstrong nature of Elizabeth in the original text.
ReplyDelete