Bridget Jones and Pride and Prejudice: Timeless Expectations

     In Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, we are shown a romance story wherein the heroine is forced under societal expectations that continuously obstruct her end goal of falling in love. This concept, and much of the story itself, is timeless. Even in modern adaptations of Pride and Prejudice, the fundamentals of the story translate so well into our current lives and culture. One such movie that has achieved this remarkably well is Bridget Jones's Diary (2001). This age-old story of romantic struggle under society's expectations of what is "normal" or acceptable carries on Austen's proverbial torch in a masterclass of cinema. 

Darcy and Elizabeth... Or Bridget in this case. 

    In Austen's original text, we are shown an oftentimes tense and emotional back and forth between Elizabeth and Darcy, portraying a relationship that seems like it's ready to explode at any moment but certain societal chains are holding them back and creating the driving tension of the story. This holds true all the same in Sharon Maguire's 2001 film Bridget Jones's Diary. Bridget is now the representative of Elizabeth's character-- a single woman in her thirties struggling to find love amongst the constant reminders and expectations of everyone around her. This is the modern equivalent of what we are shown in Pride and Prejudice, wherein Elizabeth is at the age where marriage is socially upon her and the pressure of her peers' expectations are only growing.

    Darcy's name stays the same in Bridget Jones's Diary, and his personality shows little change, either. We are shown a very similar man to the original: uptight, heavily filtered, working exclusively under social expectations, and seemingly bound to his family and job. For us American audiences, I'm sure his being exceedingly British helped heaps with the "posh" image the character of Darcy is meant to portray. He works as a lawyer in the film, constantly bouncing back into Bridget's life at gatherings and being pressured into marriage himself with his female colleague. The two work perfectly as a believable and likely far more relatable modern take on the original two characters. 

How Gendered Expectations Haven't Changed

     In Pride and Prejudice, the gendered expectations of the time are everywhere to be found and end up largely driving the story. Elizabeth is expected to marry, Darcy is expected to marry, but due to their difference in social class, it simply isn't meant to be in society's eyes and the two must fight for it and break social norms. This may sound complicated or overly dramatic, leading some modern audiences to think things like, "Why worry? Just get together." In reality, things haven't changed all too much, and Bridget Jones's Diary brings it back into modern times in a beautiful display of how gendered norms are hardly different nowadays, merely under a different guise. In the modern retelling, Bridget is faced with the pressure to find a husband from her family, her coworkers, her friends, and her peers. Through more than one awkward gathering, the pressure builds on Bridget more and more, echoing Elizabeth's nearly two hundred year-old struggles. One such scene wherein the tension is literally palpable is during the dinner scene (0:52:45), wherein every single person at the dinner table intently stares at Bridget, using physical and visual humor to represent the very real expectations they have. 

    

Clip begins at 0:51:45

    Bridget Jones's Diary's main gendered focus is on how the pressures of peers and society have remained consistent over the course of two hundred years, even though their face appearances may have changed. Despite the movie's humorous story and atmosphere, it does bring to surface some very real issues regarding the expectations placed on women in today's society.

Conclusion and Personal Thoughts

    

    I really, really liked this movie! It had been recommended to me before, but I'd never gotten around to watching it. It was also very funny to see Colin Firth as Darcy with him having played Darcy in the limited TV series. I'm honestly quite happy I hadn't watched the movie until after I'd experienced Pride and Prejudice, as the experience was bettered by getting the original experience that Austen delivers and seeing the parallels with today's society. 

Works Cited

Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. T. Egerton, Whitehall, 1813.

Bridget Jones's Diary. Directed by Sharon Maguire, Miramax House Entertainment, 2001.