Bridget Jones back in fashion with Gen Z, author says

Author Helen Fielding says Bridget Jones has recovered a caller assemblage with Gen Z, who person much problems than young women did 30 years agone but instrumentality comfortableness successful the character's trials and tribulations.

"What's bully present is that there's a caller assemblage for Bridget that's young, that's Gen Z," Fielding said astatine the Cheltenham Literature Festival.

"I'm truly blessed erstwhile 18-year-olds and 20-year-olds travel with their books and speech to maine astir it and accidental that they find it comforting to laughter astatine these things."

Bridget Jones went consecutive to galore women's hearts successful the 1990s, but immoderate deliberation the floundering and flawed heroine, who's fixated with her value and narration status, is not the champion relation model.

Bridget Jones's Diary became a best-seller successful 1996 and the quality has featured successful 3 much books and 3 movie adaptations, with a 4th movie owed to beryllium released aboriginal adjacent year.

Fielding, 66, said she sees similarities betwixt Bridget and immoderate friends of her 18-year-old daughter.

"I spent the past 2 years surrounded by teenage girls, due to the fact that they each came to my house, and I tin spot what they've got successful communal with Bridget," she said.

"They're the archetypal procreation who person gone done seeing the satellite autumn isolated [with the pandemic]. So they're rather fragile, and they're rather unfastened astir their emotions. They benignant of outcry successful the bath and enactment it connected TikTok.

"And they're precise benignant of cosy, and they're precise supportive of their friends, and they're rather funny, and they similar to deterioration bunny ears, and they similar to deterioration slippers and pyjamas and person each these small rituals and ways of taking attraction of themselves and loving their friends.

"With Bridget, it was astir the spread betwixt however you consciousness you're expected to beryllium and however you really are - this thought that immoderate you're like, it's not rather bully capable and there's thing you've got to fix.

"And for them, it's a cardinal times worse due to the fact that they spell connected TikTok and they're looking astatine radical who are filtered, and they're looking astatine each these intolerable things that they're expected to be, and they're inactive worrying astir their bodies.

"This is anecdotal. I'm not a sociologist," she added. "But they're inactive worrying astir their value and what they look similar - is it right, is it wrong, should they person a Brazilian butt assistance oregon what?

"But astatine the aforesaid time, there's an different furniture of feeling blameworthy due to the fact that of the assemblage positivity movement. So they besides consciousness a nonaccomplishment for adjacent reasoning astir whether they're the close shape. So it's analyzable for that generation."

Bridget Jones has remained fashionable - the archetypal 2 novels featured successful a caller illustration of the 100 books that person spent the astir weeks connected the Sunday Times best-seller database implicit the past 50 years.

Bridget Jones's Diary has sold conscionable implicit 2,000 copies successful the UK truthful acold this twelvemonth - up 22% compared with the aforesaid play successful 2023, according to Nielsen BookData.

But immoderate radical person ne'er been amused by Bridget's obsession with her size and men, immoderate of whom are liable for casual workplace intersexual harassment.

"Bridget deserved better. We each did," wrote Elisabeth Egan successful the New York Times past year.

"Today’s young women cognize that neurotic isn’t cute. Cute isn’t cute. Neither is flustered, madcap, zany, flighty, flaky, harried oregon hapless - each adjectives that use to Bridget."

Fielding admitted immoderate parts of the communicative person not aged well.

"Bridget Jones's Diary couldn't beryllium written now, acceptable now, due to the fact that each those men successful the bureau would beryllium sacked," she said. "It was a truly antithetic time."

That harassment is "all inactive there" successful existent life, however, she added. "It's conscionable nether the parapet. It's not gone away."

Bridget's calorie counting came straight from the diaries Fielding wrote astatine university, she said.

"There was not overmuch successful them successful the mode of societal engagements, but each time determination was my value and a database of nutrient with calories adjacent to it - similar yogurt 150 calories, carrot 15 calories, container of beverage tray 4,000 calories.

"Don't get transverse astir the character, look astatine the effect to the character. I wasn't penning that to effort and say, everyone beryllium similar maine and marque these lists. I conscionable wrote it and past determination was this effect of radical who identified with it.

"So that's the question - wherefore did radical place with idiosyncratic feeling similar that? And wherefore are the Gen Zs inactive identifying with that consciousness that your body's each wrong, and past inactive coping connected apical of that with the information that they shouldn't beryllium reasoning astir it successful the archetypal place?"

She added: "Why bash radical place with it, is the question. It's not that she's influencing people, it's that radical are responding to that affectional information successful the archetypal book."