MOVIE NEWS – Helen Fielding, the author of the Bridget Jones books, surprisingly finds that she has found a new audience, as members of Generation Z (those born between 1995-2008) also recognize the heroine. According to the writer, identification is made easier by the fact that new readers may have more mental distress than Bridget had 30 years ago.
“I’m very happy when 18-20-year-old girls come up to me and tell me how much comfort they find in laughing at Bridget’s antics and stumbles, because they walk in similar shoes,” said Fielding as a guest at the Cheltenham Literay Festival.
Bridget Jones was one of the most popular literary heroines of the 1990s, but Fielding was criticized for not being the best role model for women.Bridget is constantly preoccupied with her weight and relationship problems instead of setting realistic goals and trying to achieve them.
Fielding did not expect that his books would find savvy readers among Generation Z, but then he began to guess what might be the reason. “During the pandemic, this generation experienced that the world can fall apart,” the writer continued at the book festival. – Because of this, they are very sensitive, but at the same time they are able to talk about their emotions honestly. This looks like they cry in the bathroom and then put it on TikTok. It’s a million times worse for them than for Bridget because they see these filtered users online and compare themselves to them. They worry about their appearance, and because of it, they are much more anxious than Bridget. I see this in my friends’ children, so it’s just personal experience, I’m not a sociologist.”
Bridget Jones‘s adventures are of course not over, next year on Valentine’s Day, Bridget Jones: To Madness will be released in cinemas, in which the heroine she is now a widow and a mother of two, wandering in the maze of love. Of course, Renée Zellweger plays the title character, and the other regular character of the series, Hugh Grant, also returns. It’s still not certain whether Colin Firth, whose character is said to have passed away, will also pay his respects in the new episode, but theoretically they’ll appear in a few scenes when the characters remember him.
(Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy – domestic release: February 13, 2025.)
