Why We All Relate to Bridget Jones (Even If We Don’t Want To)

lambchloe99
Mar 19
4 min read

Updated: Apr 19

Bridget Jones. The queen of modern adulthood. On Valentine's Day my dear friends (single, obviously), and I went to see Bridget Jones 4: Mad About The Boy. We sobbed and laughed in equal measure - it was just perfect. But how has she maintained her relatability and relevance from 2001-2025?

I've been pondering this, and think that Bridget is still as relevant as ever, because it isn't just her disastrous love life we all relate to so much. It's the professional, familial, and societal aspects as well. Pull up a pew - let's dive in.

Professional

Bridge (we're mates; she doesn't mind me using nicknames), at the start of the first film, is working in publishing. Being very junior, she writes to briefs like 'Tom the Happy Hamster'. Living the dream, huh? She consistently fucks up public appearances (remember the Kafka's Motorbike launch? Brilliant). In today's landscape, her work relationships are problematic. Dishy Mr Cleaver straight-up groped her bottom early in the lift in the first film. His delicious looks, however, somehow made this less predatory and digestable to the early 2000s audience... When she moves into TV, the famous "This is Bridget Jones, reporting to you, from a big vat of excrement", indicates the persistence of the professional faux pas.

Her bottom becomes the focus of many gags by her male colleagues, at her expense (think, skydiving, think, fireman's pole). This is sadly an issue, although more disguised, that very much still happens today in the workplace. We must do better.

Body Image

Bridget's relationship with her body is all too familiar.

Eternally trying to lose weight, even when the weight on the scales (60kgs! 60 KGS!) is perfectly gorgeous and demands no weight loss. She flip flops between exercising madly (and falling off bikes in gyms) and consuming copious amounts of Ben and Jerry's, to numb the pain of her romantic endeavours. She constantly compares herself:

"She's got legs up to here! My legs only come up to here!"

Bridget says to Mark Darcy...

"And yes, I will always be just a little bit fat",

How relatable and familiar is that? Sadly, it seems that women hating their bodies is a timeless affliction. But mustn't rant and rave on this particular topic as will never finish this blog.

Romantic

Gosh. What a rollercoaster. From Cleaver, to Darcy, back to Cleaver (briefly), back to Darcy again, onto shiny new American Jack, back to Darcy... to Roxster, and eventually, to Mr Walliker.

We've watched Bridget fall in and out of relationships in the most familiar way - falling in love, being cheated on, being slightly-more-into-it-than-he-was, being over-invested, being heartbroken, being fundamentally too different to go the distance (oof, this one hurts), being bereaved, feeling jealous, being terrified of being hurt...

She really did it all. And seeing a hopeless heroine on our screens trapped in the same situations as us young adults was powerful. I so remember, after one of my first breakups (or should I say, one of the many times I was dumped), I was watching the Edge of Reason... and just seeing a woman who was a little lost, a little heartbroken, a little mad, and a lot, well, brilliant...I found it very comforting.

Family

The Jones'. One of the film's anchors - the annual boxing day party never fails to bring a smile:

"It was, as usual, crammed full with some of the most dangerous perverts in the United Kingdom disguised as close personal friends of my parents"

Bridget's relationship with her Dad is just delightful. A proper father-daughter bond. He had some brilliant moments...

"Colin: Ciggy?

Bridget: No. No thanks. I've given up again.

Colin: Shame. I find them very useful. I take great comfort in the fact that they might kill me before things actually get worse"

Eternally kind, supportive, and united with Bridget in the painful management of Pamela.

"We're getting married! And absolutely EVERYTHING will be lavender!"

Bridget's Mum is another interesting character. Seemingly self obsessed and, to quote my own Mother, "awful", when explaining the temporary split from Colin, she tells Bridget:

"I've no money. No job. No real life since I had you"

A familiar plight of women trapped in the domestic sphere after having children, especially women of her generation. Again, Bridget Jones deals with important themes that sadly, stand the test of time.

Over the 4 films, Bridget's family are rocked by romantic separations, and eventually death. Colin dying in Mad About The Boy had me SOBBING my little heart out. The point is, no one area of Bridget's life is seamless or easy. The persistant trials of life, communicated on screen, make us love her even more. Fundamentally, she's one of us.

To conclude...

Feel like I've barely scratched the surface of these films, but we're all time poor. Except me, apparently... cue embarrassing confession.

These are my total comfort films. I have watched these 3 (and now 4) films probably 10 times a year. I first started watching when I was 11. That's 140 times. At roughly 2 hours a film, that's 280 hours...

CHRIST. Must expand cinematic horizons. Please leave suggestions below.

Ta'ra for now x

P.S. The team behind these films smashed their soundtracks... here are my top 10 songs, in no particular order...