Nor should weight be one of our defining features. First up, it’s not our life’s purpose to lose weight. So let’s tackle why the film’s heavy focus on weight was so problematic. I guess we were just too entrenched in diet culture.īut now, thankfully, we’re waking up to the idea that thinner does not equal better and thinness is not the best thing that we can achieve. This depiction of Bridget is ludicrous and dangerous in equal measure, and I can’t believe we didn’t see it at the time. Something many of us, young, vulnerable adults in the process of learning that we live in a society where thinness is valued above all else, internalised and believed without question, making it our eternal mission to avoid such a fate. Yet she is portrayed as a jolly, plump character who is destined to a life of documenting every single calorie consumed.
![bridget jones edge of reason weight bridget jones edge of reason weight](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/79/9a/ee/799aeebf314b9a5d851d53a19000817a.jpg)
Now, thankfully, we’re waking up to the idea that thinner does not equal better and thinness is not the best thing that we can achieve. I’d like to point out that 9st 4, never mind 8st 7, is very slim - someone on Twitter calculated that Bridget would have come out on the lower end of normal on the BMI scale (though that’s problematic in itself, but I’ll save that for another day). She takes us on a journey of all-consuming weight loss to hit ‘ideal weight’ 8st 7, and when she finally reaches it, she calls it ‘a miracle’. At one point, Bridget writes in her diary: ‘9st 4 (terrifying slide into obesity - why? Why?)’. It clearly resonates with a lot of people who grew up on the film as I did it.Īccording to this movie, 9st 7 was not acceptable. I posted about this on my Instagram recently and was inundated with comments from women who explained they had felt similarly. No carbs for me.īecause, how am I supposed to feel happy and comfortable existing in a body that weighs a stone more than Bridget’s, when she is openly disgusted by herself and ridiculed for her weight throughout the entire film (don’t forget the ‘I thought you said she was thin’ line)? Not to mention the media’s obsession over Renee Zellweger’s infamous three stone weight gain in order to play her. Riddled with shame and embarrassment, I silently vowed to stick to my diet - Atkins, at the time - better.
I used to feel a hot flush of panic and disgust wash over me when I saw Bridget Jones’ weight flash up on the screen - it was almost a stone less than mine, and I was 13. Trigger warning: eating disorder content.