On Watching Bridget 瓊斯

「Nothing can ever, ever defeat a liberal London single woman.」As she returned home from several imprisoned weeks in Thailand, half smiling as always.
I love this blond girl, constantly amused and entirely enchanted throughout. Bridget 瓊斯 always takes action unexpectedly, which itself is quite expected. She’s self-independent and tough. Landing at the hogpen, embarrassing herself in the court’s party, she never feels sorry for herself. She seems awkward and unlikely to make her way around those elegant, educated women but though she seems inferior on those occasions, in my eyes she’s much stronger as she does not fear failure. Many people are strong in fear of failure,of the past or the future, but she lives for now and respond at once. Whether she wants to dump Darcy or to reconcile, she instantly goes to him’s without thinking. I really have no idea where her permanent confidence comes from. We usually build up confidence by success or fake it out to achieve something hard, but she’s a high spirit in her vein and nothing can bring it to knee. She adapts herself to the situation swiftly. In prison, she gets along with female prisoners as soon and makes the best of the awful life there however bad the situation is.Just imagine the picture of a British girl whirling and laughing in a Thai prison with her bra in hand. Any other girl would make it disgusting but in 瓊斯’s case, I kind of admire her. It’s not hard for a girl to drown herself in alcohol and cigarette and involve herself in futureless physical relationships, but it’s not at all easy for her to still hope for happiness.
I have to say, apperantly, 瓊斯 is everything in opposition to Darcy. One as a far-from-professional journalist, while the other as a promised lawyer. 瓊斯 shouts at and confronts Darcy when she speculates about him while Darcy holds his tongue to show anger. 瓊斯 is never lacking in facial expressions while Darcy keeps his poke face even proposing, as at the end of the movie.The difference between the future couple is exactly a vivid account of disparity betweent two classes. The company they keep, the topics they talk, the manners they display and especially the way they want to raise the child. Family tradition to go to Ethen, typical upper-class.
This does remind me of one episode in Downton where house maid Etho decides to raise her bastard herself against all odds when the child’s grandfather promises him a decent life on the condition that the son and the mother shall never meet again. Why social mobility is hard to achieve is more than a question of ability but more about willingness. The deep-rooted distinction (here,mother love &education) of values is more essential and harder to tackle. The lower class,if to use the phrase, put stability and family in the first place, while the upper class, usually more civilized in all aspects of life, pursue personal development, no matter career, dream, knowledge or whatever. I am sure this is no more than a personal opinion and a dangerous generalization but what dawns on me is that there shouldn』t be a correct answer. I have been taught to aim high, that is, to get myself civilized, and strive for success, that is, to do good to civilization. I almost always doubt the purpose of quality time with family or friends and prefer to shut myself in my room to read on my major. But I am more and more finding that maybe I am straying away from what it means to be human. 「They know life better than we do」, as Cora’s American mother put it. I am not labeling myself as a so-called upper class member, which is of course far from the truth. I am just trying to understand the values I happened to pick up on my way to maturity. The world has been changed just recently, by technology, science, commerce or so. Dare we say what most of us are doing most of the day is really what human life should be like? And those ancient heritages, usually more inherited by lower-class families are really something inessencial, ignorant and trivial? Why must I admire a scientist who didn』t sleep the whole week to conduct his important research but feel pity for a shepherd whose only concerns are sheep under the white clouds and blue sky?The species of humen have been living for hundreds of thousands of years and civcilization is just one tiny bit of it. But here it is obviously 瓊斯 who gets a bargin in their relationship from any possible perspective. Our instinct tells us to climb up in social positions.
Maybe I am making too big a thing of it and civilization is still a part of nature and there is no intrinsic difference between the values we hold among classes. But I am really curious about how 瓊斯 and Darcy get to fall in love with each other, which the movie didn』t give much account of. It’s just before we know it, they have already had a thing, which seemed unnatural. And afterwards we just watch a lot of how 瓊斯 feels about the relationship but hardly the relationship itself, making the character of Darcy quite remote from the audience. Maybe that’s partly because the movie puts too much emphasis on Cleaver’s part and the sparkle of love between Daniel and the heroine makes the one between Darcy and 瓊斯 vanishes a bit. For me, it seems if not for Cleaver’s profligacy sexually or just speaking of personality, Cleaver enchants 瓊斯 more than Darcy does.But with a second thought, I think, although wearing an unfeeling expression, Darcy is indeed much,much deeper in love with 瓊斯 and absolutely a much,much more glamourous man than the damn Cleaver.
And to do with some intercultrural reflection, apart from the typical but not that stereotopic images of Thailand, there is one thing that captured my attention, that is, how television programs work in Britain.Firstly, they do not rehearse or edit but preserve the whole truth. Secondly, they are always trying to come up with new ideas and compliment the original. I hope we Chinese TV companies can learn from how they do it, not only what they do.
All in all, it is a nice movie. I not only had fun with our cute heroine but also got a casual but vivid look at British social environment. Look forward to the next episode...