Bridget Jones Diary opening scene analysis

We are first introduced to the film with an medium shot of a women walking toward the camera, the first thing you will notice is that it is snowing , this is a convention for  romance films because it

comes across as romantic and enchanting. Straight away Soliloquy of a women talking about her life is imported, this gives us some information about who we assume is the antagonist. The character speaking has a very strong English accent; stereo-typically Americans admire our accent so this may make the film more popular with a wider audience. Soliloquy is used in romance films rather a lot to inform us and make us, the audience, feel sorry for the character. The use of pathetic fallacy is used when you notice some calm music behind the voice , this mirrors the beautiful calm setting she is in. The camera then follows the character up a drive where we see a big house; this infers that she is from the middle class.

As soon as her mother is introduced we realise that she is the stereo typical mum who is very interfering in her love life. As she talks about a Japanese women you can notice that she is also racist which is a stereo-type of the elder generation. Another character called uncle G is named, the use of a low angle shot makes her look venerable and makes him look powerful. We then meet Bridgets Dad who is un-

surprisingly laid back, normally in a rom-com the parents are the opposite of each other. Another character is brought into the story called Mark Darcy the use of slow motion is used to make him across as dreamy. Stereo-typically the two characters don’t get along this is a convention for rom-coms which makes the film predictable because it’s obvious they will end up together. The contrast between the two characters is very strong with Bridget using colloquial language ,smoking a cigarette and drinking whereas Mark comes across very posh and speaks well.

The audience for this film would be between 15-40 year old women , I think this because there is use of explicit language which isn’t suitable for anyone younger but good use of comedy which is liked by adults, it’s also quite realistic to relationships which other women have had, this makes it relatable.