Bridget is every girl’s best friend
on her own in a drunken haze in her flat, but the sentiment lives on more strongly than ever in a new generation of twenty- and thirtysomethings.
Bridget, in times of need, doesn’t retreat to her family home – she retreats to her “London family”, as many of her problems are family-based. For many working in big cities now, their families are simply too far away to provide a solid support base. That “urban family” has become even more important. In that sense, Bridget Jones’s Diary was ahead of its time.
This creation of an urban family is an important aspect to consider within female friendships – any woman reading this will be able to identify that support group of fellow women (or men) who get them through the trials they face in a vast and lonely city.
The support from others who are going through similar trials and can provide advice (or a few bottles of wine) is essential. A family formed of friendships is a cheap (and readily available) form of therapy.
Strong friendships in harsh urban environments are what keep us going.
Bridget’s relationship with Daniel Cleaver still, unfortunately, depicts an accurate representation of many workplaces today – the sexism (think Mr “Titspervert” Fitzherbert), the young women quitting because they’ve been seduced into a relationship with their (usually much older) boss and then discarded for the next new thing that walks through the lift doors, the glass ceiling compounded by sexual politics.
Bridget’s constant battle with her weight and quitting smoking is also a great comfort to many – the pursuit for perfection that never happens.
Fielding showed us that we can strive to be the skinniest, or the healthiest, or the one who fits in with an ultra-chic crowd – but it’s bloody difficult, and it may just be better to accept yourself as you are.
Darcy’s assertion to Bridget that she is “perfect, just the way (she is)” offers reassurance to us all.
Our society demands educational excellence, career excellence, the perfect appearance – Fielding, through her writing, showed us how unachievable these expectations are, and how you can still have a happy ending even if you don’t attain all of those impossible goals.
Fielding’s Bridget is spectacular because, for so many female readers, she created someone who felt like a best friend.
No woman is truly alone if she has a copy of Bridget Jones’s Diary on her bedside table. – The Independent