‘In defence of Bridget Jones – the rom-com lead that raised us’

Bridget Jones is the leading lady we grew up with

The fourth film in the franchise, Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy, was released this week and I cannot wait to be reunited with every millennial woman's comfort character.

24 years have passed since the first Bridget Jones movie was released and she remains one of the most-loved female protagonists of our time.

The Helen Fielding novel was published in 1996 so we're all aware of how poorly it's aged.

The language used in the book makes us cringe and some of the societal standards featured in the story are a far cry from where we are today. We're all too aware of how much has changed since the best-seller first landed in bookshops, but does that mean we should turn our back on Bridget Jones entirely?

Bridget's obsession with losing weight, the pressure to be a 'perfect' woman, and her complicated relationships are a far cry from our modern-day leading ladies. We've come leaps and bounds from when the movie was first released in 2001, but the dated content doesn't take away from the beloved character.

Bridget taught us about everything from the power of big knickers to the importance of leaning on your friends

The franchise itself holds so much nostalgia, and so many memories, and Bridget Jones is one of the fictional characters that still holds a special place in my heart.

There are undoubtedly a lot of problematic moments in both the novel and film, but we can also look beyond those and focus on what we learned from Chaka Khan's biggest fan.

She taught us about the importance of standing up for yourself, walking away from toxic situations, and leaning on your friends when it feels like your world is falling apart.

Bridget also warned us about applying blush in the back of a taxi, introduced us to culinary magic like blue soup, and made boyfriend pyjamas cool again.

The fourth film follows Bridget as she comes to terms with a harrowing loss and life as a single mom. She's no longer the hopeless and awkward journalist who didn't know her worth. She's stronger, more mature, and has realised that her life should be full of love.

Bridget Jones is a true comfort character that we'll welcome back with open arms

The fourth film is based on Helen Fielding's novel which was published in 2013. Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy follows the leading lady as she comes to terms with the loss of Mark Darcy.

The synopsis reads: 'Fourteen years after landing Mark Darcy, Bridget’s life has taken her places she never expected. But despite the new challenges of single parenting, online dating, wildly morphing dress sizes, and bafflingly complex remote controls, she is the same irrepressible and endearing soul we all remember—though her talent for embarrassing herself in hilarious ways has become dangerously amplified now that she has 752 Twitter followers.

'As Bridget navigates head lice epidemics, school-picnic humiliations, and cross-generational sex, she learns that life isn’t over when you start needing reading glasses—and why one should never, ever text while drunk.'

Returning to the cinema to see Bridget on the big screen feels like a real comfort and I can't wait to reunite with her again this month.

The thing about Bridget Jones is she's not a flawless leading lady. She isn't wearing the most perfect clothes and her hair doesn't look like she spent five hours in the salon.

She's a normal woman with issues many of us relate to (minus the Colin Firth/Hugh Grant relationship issues) and that's why she's still so loved.

She's a complete breath of fresh air in today's society when we spend hours being exposed to curated content from influencers.

Bridget is unfiltered and isn't perfect and that's why she means so much to millenial women. The leading lady is a reminder that you don't need to have it all figured out and you don't need to look completely perfect.

Bridget helped many of us realise that those who matter most will like you, just as you are.