In their article \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Edge of Reason: the Myth of Bridget Jones,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Stephen Maddison and Merl Starr state that because so many women, indeed, people in general, identify Bridget Jones \u00e2\u20ac\u0153is far more than the patron saint of single women: she is everyman, or rather, everyperson. She is the most enchanting heroine for the millennium\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (4). Yet Maddison and Star believe she is \u00e2\u20ac\u0153a symbol of conservatism, neo-liberalism and post-feminism\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (4). In fact, Maddison and Star believe \u00e2\u20ac\u0153the effect of the comedy in these texts is rather more insidious than progressive\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (5). Maddison and Star focus on \u00e2\u20ac\u0153three predominant sites of recognition\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (5). The first is Bridget viewed as a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153neurotic sex symbol,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d second is Bridget as a white goddess, and the third figures into the entire discussion as the author\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s examine the way class functions throughout the novels. <\/p>\n
First, Bridget\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ditziness is the predominate quality of her character, and it is this quality, that renders her attractive; Maddison and Star refer to this quality as a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Neurotic Sex Symbol\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (6). In the case of Bridget, the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153lack of control and the irrationality it underwrites will become unproblematic with the consummation of heterosexual romance\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (6). They read Bridget\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s friends as functioning \u00e2\u20ac\u0153not only to offer the pleasures of female bonding which mitigate[s] their \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcman trouble\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 with shopping sprees and bouts of boozing, but to naturalize and normalize Bridget\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (6). They point out that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153despite the first person confessional idiom of both novels, there are numerous instances in which Bridget shares information with her diary where Fielding is offering us insight unavailable to Bridget herself\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (7). This knowledge situates the reader in a position where they feel protective or sympathetic to Bridget\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s character. But in fact, Bridget\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s naivet\u00c3\u00a9 works in advantage for her where he \u00e2\u20ac\u0153detailed knowledge of the TV game show Blind Date<\/I> makes her far more attractive to the hero, for whom the women talking about high culture are pretentious and undesirable\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (7). Maddison and Star also examine the role of Bridget\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gay friend Tom, who becomes much more marginalized in the Edge of Reason<\/I>, so much so that they believe the novel is homophobic. This homophobia \u00e2\u20ac\u0153prevents Bridget\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s continual \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcdating hell\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 from turning heterosexuality itself into a problematic category\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (9). <\/p>\n
Secondly, Bridget is viewed as a white goddess. Maddison and Star point out that in the 19th century \u00e2\u20ac\u0153while women in particular, especially those of more \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcrefined\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 classes, were regarded as prone to collapse under the strain of modern living, particularly the strain of romantic emotions and relationships\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (9). Bridget\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s whiteness comes into sharp relief when paired with both novels\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 depiction of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153funny foreigners.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d In fact, Maddison and Star notice, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Bridget and her white friends have no interactions with black or other minority ethnic British people at all\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (10). While Julio is Latino, he \u00e2\u20ac\u0153highlights the white masculinity of the hero Mark Darcy, who at the climax of the novel reveals, in a \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcthrillingly authoritative\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 manner, that Julio is a con man\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (10). <\/p>\n
Maddison and Star conclude their discussion of Bridget by observing \u00e2\u20ac\u0153the cultural and emotional landscape presented in the diaries is intensely conservative in terms of gender, race and class\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (13). They believe \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Bridget\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u02dccries\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 are entirely neurotic rather than material; nothing happens, from losing her job to taking out a second mortgage she cannot afford, ever has any permanent consequences in the material sphere\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (13). They also believe what makes the texts of Bridget Jones neo-liberal because they \u00e2\u20ac\u0153abstract \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcthe individual\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 from social and cultural power relations, and treat all problems as individual and emotional rather than as social and structural\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (14). <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In their article \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Edge of Reason: the Myth of Bridget Jones,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Stephen Maddison and Merl Starr state that because so many women, indeed, people in general, identify Bridget Jones \u00e2\u20ac\u0153is far more than the patron saint of single women: she is everyman, or rather, everyperson. She is the most enchanting heroine for the millennium\u00e2\u20ac\u009d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elsweb.org\/janeaustenfilm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elsweb.org\/janeaustenfilm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elsweb.org\/janeaustenfilm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elsweb.org\/janeaustenfilm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elsweb.org\/janeaustenfilm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elsweb.org\/janeaustenfilm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elsweb.org\/janeaustenfilm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elsweb.org\/janeaustenfilm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elsweb.org\/janeaustenfilm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}