At McCool's Speakeasy, she's offering up the 2001 virtual version of the speakeasies of Prohibition. Open 24 hours, no prohibition here. Always entertaining, not always coherent, this after hours joint is your number 1 spot for pop-cultural speculation. Tonight at McCool's Speakeasy she's serving up the waitress rant in 6 juicy parts. From Quentin Tarrantino Tipping Theory to Waitress Fantasies, join in and don't forget to tell her that avivalasvegas sent you.
McCool's Speakeasy
Yay or Nay?
'Bridget Jones' Diary': feminist or 'un-feminist', that is the question I found myself debating with a friend recently.
She believing it to be 'un-feminist (a word I had not yet encountered) and I believing it to be feminist (for lack of a better word). Having not had the time to debate it with her at length and with it still fresh in my mind, I thought why not continue this discussion with the world!? Lucky you!
For those of you not familiar with this book (and as of late, movie), it is a humorous fictitious exploration of one woman's experience (Bridget's!), via her diary, of being thirty and single.
Which brings me to my first point: Doesn't the subject matter in itself make it feminist? That is, isn't the detailed description of a woman's struggle with self-esteem and social pressures no matter what the outcome innately feminist? My friend disagrees. She felt the story was about a woman who validated her existence through a man (hence her 'un-feminist' verdict).
I beg to differ. I think it was about an involuntarily heterosexual woman in her thirties naturally longing to connect with a man who is not a total asshole (having had her fair share of those) and sensing an urgency to do so as she is deemed a failure in a society of which she is a product.
Hmmm...it seems that my friend and I have similar descriptions of the plot that evoke very different reactions. The movie angered my friend as she feels these ideas need not be re-inforced. The same movie comforted me because I feel that they most certainly do - in order to point out their absurdity!
For certain, feminist or 'un-feminist', 'Bridget Jones' Diary' is based on reality whether it's a reality we want to face or not. Call me Bridget, but in my experience (and my friends'), it's not an easy task to meet someone you connect with (whether you're a man, woman, gay or straight). On top of this, there is still a lingering stigma about being thirty and single (especially for women). Take it from me who has been there!
I would go as far as saying that we live in a society that focuses so much on being in a couple that people 'settle' to relieve themselves from their singlehood (a.k.a. social disease). (Flash! Wasn't there a 'Sex and the City' about this? Just call me Carrie Bradshaw!). Is it not understandable then that a single person (like Bridget) may occasionally feel like a failure because he/she is not part of a couple?
And is it not then reasonable to assess that a body of literary work that challenges these issues by exposing them is feminist?
Sure Bridget finds her guy in the end (another sore point for my friend) but that's not the point. The point is that she's a great person, single or not! And even though she may not know this, the audience does and they can learn from this and with a bit of hope, apply it to their own lives.
Or at least that's my take on it! As any debate proves, it all depends on the way that you look at it! What do you think?
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