Bridget Jones may be 'problematic' but she's just as relatable in 2025
Bridget Jones may be 'problematic' but she's just as relatable in 2025
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Bridget Jones’s Diary is one of those novels about which people say “you wouldn’t be able to write that now.”. In modern parlance, it is “problematic” that each of Jones’s diary entries starts with her weight and calorie count. Her obsession with men who treat her badly is “toxic”, while the fact that she seemingly can’t be single and happy is considered regressive.
The fourth and final film based on the book series had a big glitzy premiere yesterday. Yet when it was announced last February, many argued that Bridget was a character best left in the past. Yet when I re-read the first book recently, I found Bridget refreshing rather than retrograde.
Jones’s obsession with weighing herself is anathema to the body positivity movement which took hold in the early 2010s. But despite the mid-range beauty brands who told us to “love the skin you’re in”, not much has really changed. High fashion brands may have a token “curve” model on the runway, but thin is still in.
This manifests itself in some uncomfortable ways. Take supermodel Bella Hadid, who has one of those ribs-and-abs stomachs which makes you feel terrible about yourself. She has often shared photos of herself chowing down on cheeseburgers and donuts and even claimed in an i-D interview once that her go-to snack was “probably pizza at least once a day”.
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