Bridget Jones’s Diary

May 12, 2001 D. H. McKee

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Saw "Bridget Jones’s Diary" today. I really liked it … and really thought Reneé Zellweger was beautiful as Bridget. As much as I hate my own self image, there is something to be said about the underrated sexiness of fat. There was an online poll (can’t find the link right now), that had you vote on which of Reneé’s looks were better: the untoned 140-pound Bridget, or the 105-pound Hollywood starlet. The result was that the more realistic and attainable figure was better.
Are we intimidated by the thin and toned? Are bulging muscles too unrealistic when compared against bulging bellies? One really unfortunate thing about this movie is that Reneé isn’t really that fat in normal life. She had to train to get that big and then lost it all afterward. So as much as this film is about a fat woman enjoying a successful love relationship, the actress has subsequently de-legitimized being fat, simply by being thin. Outside of the context of the film, there is no celebration of fatness, and as much as we like to think a film is a contained and separate entity, we as an audience cannot escape what happens outside of its context.
I think it’s unfortunate that they couldn’t have used a more Bridget-sized actor to play Bridget.

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