British writer Helen Fielding published the novel "BJ's Single Diary" in 1996, which depicts the life of single women in the modern city with humor, and successfully established a model of urban women's literature (Chick lit). In 2001, directed by Sharon Maguire, The Diary of a Single took to the big screen, translating the trivial text into Renee Zellweger's murmurs. In 2016's "BJ Youxi", even though the diary has been digitized into a tablet, Renee Zellweger's muttering is still everywhere, reminding the audience at all times: this is Bridget's diary. Virginia Woolf once said, "If a woman wants to write, she must have money and a room of her own." In other words, this diary is the result of Bridget's writing. On the other hand, different from men's writing, the confession of life experience inside and outside of oneself is the characteristic of women's writing. There is no doubt that Bridget's single diary is an intimate story of women.
Through her diary, Bridget reveals her undisciplined side. Since the first movie, Bridget has been constantly vigilant about quitting smoking, drinking alcohol, and losing weight. Bridget demands this, demands that in an attempt to become the so-called "perfect woman," but she obviously fails; and she doesn't seem to care, anyway, as Mark D'Arcy (Colin Firth) says, "I love it so much. You are what you are now." In a patriarchal society, women are like private property and must be subject to the strictest monitoring, while the female body is a landscape that satisfies male voyeurism, so it must conform to the ideal female beauty. Among them, maintaining a slim body is the most important issue. Obesity then becomes a sin, a clear proof of a lack of will and self-discipline, as if to reflect a psychological flaw in the personality. In the novel, Bridget records the weight, the number of drinking and smoking, and the calories ingested at the beginning of each diary. The presentation of all kinds of precise numbers is all hope that it will become more perfect and make the love life progress. . On the surface, Bridget caters to the patriarchy's voyeurism, but even if she fails, she doesn't care much, and inadvertently mocks the patriarchy's discipline on the female body.
Bridget couldn't control not only her body, but also her lust. She meets Jack (Patrick Dempsey) at a music festival, gets drunk with him, a complete stranger, and sleeps with Darcy, whom she reunites with after a few days. Two one-night stands had Bridget impregnated in an unmarried and emotionally empty state, and to make matters worse, she had no idea who the child's father was. Although this question troubled Bridget for a while, just like weight, she didn't really care that much. The important thing was where the feelings belonged. So "BJ's Joy" lacks the sexy executive Daniel played by Hugh Grant, but with the rich and romantic American tycoon Jack, plus the dull but sincere Mr. Darcy, Bridget once again wanders in Between two men/difficulties.
The triangular exercise of two men and one woman is the most typical love model in romance. It is derived from the "BJ's Single Diary" series of the classic romance "Pride and Prejudice" in the early 19th century, and it is logical to cite examples as the main story structure. In addition, "BJ Youxi" also parodies the famous fairy tale "Cinderella". When Bridget fell muddy and embarrassed in the music festival venue, like a princess in distress, the graceful Jack, like a prince, reached out in a timely manner and picked up the high heels in the mud to help her put them on. Not only that, after Bridget escaped from Jack twice, Jack took the boots she left at the music festival to find her home and return it to the original owner. Although "BJ Youxi" appropriates romance and fairy tales, Bridget is not a princess after all; at least she won't be a fresh and pure canonical goddess projected from the hearts of men.
From the first episode, Bridget showed her eroticism generously, and even rushed out the door wearing a pair of leopard-print underwear, taking the initiative to chase Darcy back. Beginning with Daniel and Darcy, Bridget has repeatedly broken free from the shackles of chastity imposed on the female body by the patriarchy; more correctly, she has never cared about her "sexual worth". In the latest episode, she first had a one-night stand with two men in a row, and then talked about sex with her best friends, even in front of children. Not only Bridget, but even the female friends beside her can't be called a canonical goddess. In the film, Bridget and the anchor's friends talked about the experience of using the dating software on the live news broadcast several times through the headset; as soon as the screen changed, the anchor immediately broadcast the news in a serious manner. The rapid transformation of the two faces, on the one hand, succeeded in making jokes, and on the other hand, it also showed the dynamism of women freely roaming between the beautiful girl and the lustful girl. If it is said that the individual is politics, even if Bridget and her friends do not call themselves "feminists", they are not satisfied with the feminist march of the punk girls, but they collide with the patriarchy in their daily actions and practice their own women. doctrine.
In addition, "BJ Youxi" also continued the mockery of the married family in the first two episodes. A group photo of Bridget, Darcy and their dry son, a humorous parody of a happy family portrait. As for Jack, a series of actions are performed in various stages of the couple's dating, trying to fill the gap between him and Bridget's love. All this shows that love, marriage and family are not so sacred and inviolable, but can be accomplished and satisfied through "performance". At the same time, the film deconstructs traditional family forms. Whether it’s Bridget’s gay girlfriend who decides to adopt a child with her boyfriend, or Bridget’s unmarried pregnancy and wandering between two men, it alludes to the fact that the structure of the family is different. Stable and open. In particular, the transformation of Bridget's mother (Gemma Jones) has directly embraced the issue of multi-family marriage.
From the end of the 20th century to the beginning of the 21st century, Bridget finally got her wish to break away from being single and enter into marriage with her beloved. Does this mean that Bridget is under patriarchal inclusion? No, I believe that Bridget will continue to write women's private diaries and continue to try to discipline herself and then fail. After all, Bridget is not a "normal" woman, but a "queer" who strays from the norm and challenges the system.
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