Bridget Jones's Diary Analysis 2

                          Bridget Jones's Diary 

Classical music gives hints to genre and rest of the movie. Establishing shot of a small picturesque village. She gets out of a taxi, hints towards her class. The fact that it’s snowing adds to the idyllic feeling. Quality street Christmas music is playing which further adds to this effect.

There is a poppy wreath on a monument. This is a very British cliché. The framing is very cosy and British, small church, small cottages.

When Bridget gets out of the car, there is a phone box in the background, again going back to the typical British theme. When she talks about the “turkey curry buffet” it would be very confusing to an American audience as it’s a very British thing to have turkey curry after Christmas.

The house has a large garden and is very big, very quaint and typically British which again goes back to her social economic status.

The Dutch angle represents an awkward moment. The décor of the house itself is very quaint and old fashioned because England is stereotyped in this way. The shot allows the audience to take in all of this. The décor in the house again is very antique, even the mother’s dress (floral, old fashioned) adds to the stereotype. Things that are unknown are very difficult to sell, which is why stereo-types are so crucial in films.

There is the non-diegetic sound of the music, but the fact that it has singing in it again proves that it is not at all a social realist film. The budget of a social realist film wouldn’t allow it.

Bridget’s accent is extremely posh and stereotypical.

The British marketing used all three main actors to promote the movie. However, worldwide they would have mainly included Bridget as the other two actors wouldn’t be very well known globally at the time in which this movie was made.

The actress who played Bridget had to gain a lot of weight in order to prepare for the role. This is because in the book she is meant to be a bit overweight. However, in the movie she is still a lot slimmer than the average British woman. This is a very negative message to put out to the primarily female audience of this film.

Bridget is represented as the central protagonist as we always return to her character. Bridget is kept in the centre of the frame in order to establish her as the main character.

There is a stereotype and cliché of the British man, middle aged, wearing dull clothes, brown, a cardigan, balding, wearing spectacles. They are all drinking wine/sherry, again going back to the stereotype.

The way that Bridget says “Ding dong” is unrealistic and completely invented. However its part of the invented film language and does seem very plausible, especially to an American audience.