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| Bridget Jones's Diary |
The story begins with Bridget Jones, a 32 year old unmarried woman who works for a publishing company, starting to keep a diary. It is an attempt of self-organizing, thus she sets out a list of New Year resolutions on the first day; reduce in weight, quit smoking, restrain in alcohol, etc. Saving money may be commonly added to these lists, though financial problem has never been mentioned in the whole film. Both of the Bridget's boyfriends, Daniel Cleaver and Mark Darcy are people of fortunes, and yet she does not seem to be fascinated by their wealth. Each of her urban friends, Jude, Sheila, and Tom, who are all remaining single, is also making their own living in one way or another. These middle class "singletons" in Britain are self-reliant, and old enough not to choose a partner only by his earnings, which append a tone of purity to this comedy. It does not mean that any men could be the one; they have strict criteria, while they are anxious in some measure. Bridget is the first one to be conscious of marriage among the friends, thus they give several advices in frequent meetings, as a successful career woman, a stubborn feminist, or a sympathetic gay.
Motivations of Bridget for getting married can be roughly divided into three groups. The first one owes it to her family and relatives who asks her about the present love life every time they meet up. In particular, her mother has been introducing Bridget a new prospect for years, but for the person in question, it has been nothing but a burden, and has even been embarrassed by it. The second reason is the physiologic anxiety, which occasionally appears as an image of her dead body lying on the floor of her apartment without being noticed by anyone but hungry dogs. She simply feels lonely, and wants someone to share her life with. The last but not least is the desire for obtaining the social status by being a wife and mother, since the idea of Victorian virtue that women should be responsible for the children is still remaining among the British people from the middle class. Bridget is especially conscious of the latter, since child-bearing period is more limited than the marriageable ages. From these reasons, the desire for getting married precedes the idea of any definite person.
Now, it is comprehensive that her mother, Pamela Jones, takes an important role in the film. She has been an ideal housewife, but after bringing up her only daughter and going through her husband's retirement, she feels of herself needless. Her appearance is fine for her age, which widened the discrepancy between her ideal self-image and actual life. At length, she decides to start her career as an assistant in a television program. Her work fellow, Julian, becomes her new partner, and then she suddenly moves out from the Jones's house, leaving her husband alone. However, Pamela's struggle in television business ends in failure, when she finds out that the relation with her new partner came to an end. Bridget accepts her mother coming back home, with a complex emotion consisting of different standpoints. As her daughter, she must be happy to see Pamela back in the Jones' family home. Moreover, she may have felt sympathetic for her failing in her career as one of the working women. What makes her feelings complicated are a sense of envy that occurs when she watches her parents downstairs, sitting side by side, confirming each other that they would live together for the rest of their lives; at this point, Bridget is disappointed in her hopes. Indeed, the mother is described in marked contrast to her daughter, nevertheless shows the common difficulty to realize the ideal for the working women from the middle class.
Keeping a diary is the first substantial effort to the attainment of her ideal for Bridget. She narrates the occurrences toward the diary, as many diaries are written in a similar way. When the fact that her job takes place in a publish company is put into concern, it is symbolic that she starts to use her words to express herself, instead of merely giving publicity to novels written by others. In the latter part of the film, Bridget switches her career in television in a dramatic way, just as her mother has done. Women working in television are highly estimated by general people, especially if they are announcers and reporters, who are directly exposed to the audience. Women going into this field are demanded to be both high talented and good-looking. Bridget is again sexually harassed by her new boss, as she had been by Daniel before. However, being an attractive woman is sometimes helpful, too. For instance, Mark, who is certainly fond of her at this time, helps Bridget with arranging an exclusive interview for her, which turns out to be a quantum leap in her course as a news reporter.
The heroine of the film has enough luck to meet a person who likes her "just as she is." Her friends are also moved by the phrase, which is namely unusual for others. Today, the definition of middle class includes most of the population in the United Kingdom, thus conflicts between the classes are not serious anymore. On behalf of being labeled by the class they have been brought up, the social status of contemporary Britain middle class women are determined by dual standards. Being a fine worker for one thing, and being a good wife or mother for another. Evaluation as a working woman changes quickly, and even being a good wife becomes a life-long struggle regarding the case of Pamela. It is also notable that the relationship between men is highly influential with both of the standards mentioned above. In most of the developed countries, the career mobility has increased, institutional gender discrimination has been rectified, and still gender prejudice and other obstacles remain in workplaces. For example, maternity leave is approved by the labor contract; however, a temporary departure from the forefront may virtually take a woman away from the high road to success.
It would be too much to say that Bridget Jones's Diary represents with precision the actual lives of unmarried working women in Britain, though it is highly suggestive about the nature of agony which is shared by the group at large. Indeed, although it is a comedy in the first place, nevertheless the film showed two generations, a mother and her daughter, who made strenuous efforts to attain dual social statuses at once, but from different sides, in a community that men still have great influence on women going through the process.