Take a random woman in her mid-twenties, with a crazy mother, a lousy job and no sex life, add some insecurity and a lot of alcohol and wrap her up in pink, and congratulations, you have just created your own chick lit heroine.The question is whether a chick lit heroine is this simplistic, or if she carries an important message to the readers. The most important traits in a chick lit novel are the complicated mother-daughter relationship, the career and the love life.Thus, this essay will outline to what extent the postfeminist features are depicted in theidentity of Bridget Jones, as an epitome of later chick lit heroines.

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Though feminist scholars criticize Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones series as they feel that Bridget’s diary minimizes her work, close analysis reveals that Bridget’s work is equally important to her as her relationships. The novels charts Bridget’s linear progression toward autonomy and creative freedom, and her work mistakes function as ironic commentary on the creative industries. Though she critiques the entertainment industry, she validates its accessibility to a variety of audiences, particularly through adaptations. Throughout the series, Bridget documents her own life into her diary, and, in the final two novels, adapts her past diaries for a new purpose. The diary form departs from Austen’s more distanced narrator as well as from the traditional scholarship on the diary, which dictates the diary as a way to work through trauma. Fielding alters the diary form, and through her use of interiority, creates a complex protagonist whose success does not make her inaccessible.

This thesis analyses protagonist Elizabeth Bennet in Jane Austen’s book Pride and Prejudice (1813) and protagonist Bridget Jones in Helen Fielding’s book Bridget Jones' Diary (1996) from a gender theory perspective. I use a comparative method to analyse how two themes are portrayed in the books: family and marriage and education and career.  The study shows that Elizabeth, from a gender perspective, is controlled by the society and her family's expectations that she must marry a man of the right table. Bridget, on the other hand, lives in accordance to the patriarchal norm, but this seems rather appear on a more personal level. Regarding education and career it seems to have gone from seeing this as an important part of being a woman not just for herself personally but also for being more attractive for men, to an objective perspective where education seems to define your work ability instead of the woman herself.  The study, in a didactic point of view, can be useful for teachers to help their pupils to see how gender is constructed and deconstructed from time to time. The syllabus of the subject of Swedish gives opportunities for the pupils to discuss and maybe first and foremost problematize gender and equality in both a literary historical perspective and a personal way.

Under en lång tid har Harlequin-romaner och romantiska fantasier varit populära bland kvinnor. Den klassiska berättelsen om hjältinnan som finner kärleken med den perfekta mannen är specifikt riktad mot kvinnor. Det har forskats kring dessa romantiska fantasier, men det saknas forskning om hur dessa romantiska fantasier representerar maskuliniteten bland de manliga karaktärerna. Målet med det här arbetet är att försöka fylla en del av det tomrummet. Med hjälp av William Labovs narrativa modell och en kvalitativ textanalys har jag analyserat två filmer inom genren chick flick, Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001) och Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason (2004). Min analys visar att maskuliniteterna som framställs i romantiska berättelser följer väldigt stereotypiska maskulina drag. Exempelvis använder sig de manliga karaktärerna ofta av fysiskt våld för att visa sin manliga dominans och genom att vinna i ett slagsmål vill de visa vem som är den bästa mannen för Bridget Jones. / Harlequin novels and romantic fantasies have been popular with women for a number of years. The classic story of the heroine finding her true love with the perfect man is directed specifically to women, for their enjoyment. While there have been studies about the romantic fantasies themselves, there’s a distinct lack of research on how these romantic fantasies portray the male characters and their masculinity. This study is a step towards filling that gap. Using a combination of William Labov’s narrative model, as well as a qualitative textanalysis, to examine two chick flicks, Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001) and Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason (2004), I have found that the masculinities portrayed in romantic fantasies follow very stereotypical male behavior. For example, the male characters will often resort to physical violence to prove their male dominance and by winning a fight they want to prove that they are the right man for Bridget Jones.

This papers purpose is to compare the female protagonist as a subject and reader in Madame Bovary, Watermelon and Bridget Jones´s diary. The aim is feministic, where Judith Butler’s concepts of subjectivity and performativity have been used besides the method of close reading. These novels are pioneering works of each genre; the realistic novel and chick lit. Emma Bovary loses her subjectivity and turns in to a passive object when she is desired and looked at by men. Instead dead objects gets animated, which produces an extremely objectifying portrait of Emma. This culminates with the depiction of her suicide. Surprisingly Emma’s position as a subject, if she ever has one, appears through her reading. The performativity of the texts gives her power and agency to try to change her life within the limits of the bourgeoisie marriage. The protagonists of Watermelon and Bridget Jones´s diary are two female subjects in a modern society, who loves reading. Despite their different opportunities to live fulfilling lives, as compared to Emma, they tend to objectify themselves in relationship to men. They also emphasize the importance of love and having a man in their life, which is according to the genre. Interpreted through Butler, an explanation could be that the power of submission not only sets the outer limits, it also influences our internal desires. These chick lit-novels also discuss literature and cultural hierarchy, where the protagonists tend to prefer popular literature. Watermelon also contains an opening for subversion, depicted by Claire’s achieved independency at the end of the novel, and through some gender-parodies. Most of all, these two chick lit-novels tend to reiterate and consolidate a traditional gender-order through their performativity, although ironizing over the same. Keywords: Reading, genre, realistic novel, chick lit, feminism, Judith Butler, subjectivity, performativity, Madame Bovary, Watermelon, Bridget Jones´s diary. / Uppsatsens syfte har varit att analysera och jämföra den kvinnliga protagonisten som subjekt och läsare i tre romaner; Madame Bovary, Vattenmelonen och Bridget Jones dagbok. Metoden har varit närläsning och den teoretiska ingången feministisk och normkritisk. Judit Butlers teorier har varit tongivande, inte minst begreppen subjekt och performativitet. Resultaten visade bland annat att Emma Bovary tenderar att förlora sin roll som subjekt och förvandlas till ett passivt objekt när hon blir betraktad och åtrådd av män. Istället animeras döda ting som får liv och börjar agera som subjekt, vilket skapar en extremt objektifierad gestaltning av Emma som kulminerar i gestaltningen av hennes självmord. Om det alls går att finna någon subjektsposition hos Emma, uppstår den paradoxalt nog genom hennes läsning. Texternas performativitet skapar förvisso orimliga förväntningar på kärleken, men får även Emma att förändra sitt liv inom de snäva ramar 1800-talets borgerliga äktenskap innebär. Protagonisterna i Vattenmelonen och Bridget Jones dagbok är två kvinnliga subjekt som lever i ett modernt samhälle och liksom Emma älskar de att läsa. I dessa romaner förs även en diskussion kring litteratur och kulturella hierarkier. Alla tre protagonister i de undersökta romanerna kan kategoriseras som passionerade läsare och de föredrar att läsa populärlitteratur. I Vattenmelonen och Bridget Jones dagbok har protagonisterna helt andra förutsättningar till självförverkligande och att leva ett självständigt liv, jämfört med Emma Bovary. Trots detta tenderar både Claire och Bridget att objektifiera sig i sina relationer till män. De verbaliserar ofta vikten av kärlek och att ha en man i sitt liv, vilket också är genretypiskt. Tolkat enligt Butler (och Foucault) är förklaringen till detta ”frivilliga” förtryck att underordning inte enbart skapas genom yttre begränsningar, utan även genom påverkan av människors inre, via internaliserade drömmar och önskningar. I Vattenmelonen finns trots allt en subversiv ansats, vilken gestaltas genom Claires nyvunna självständighet i slutet av romanen, samt i förekomsten av ett antal genusparodier. Mest av allt tenderar dock dessa två chick lit-romaner att återupprepa och befästa traditionella genusmönster, trots att de samtidigt ironiserar över dessa.

<p>In this essay I compare the notion of the accomplished woman in Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice and Helen Fielding’s novels about Bridget Jones. My claim is that the notion of the accomplished woman that Austen described 200 years ago is still very relevant and not much different today as reflected in Helen Fielding’s narrative in Bridget Jones, but also that both authors satirically describe the pressure that is put on women to reach the ideal of the accomplished woman. I initially discuss feminist literary theory, and then I analyze the following characteristics and ideas which make up the accomplished woman: Physical appearance, Education & Knowledge, Marriage & Having Children, Career and Skills, Status & Class and Manners & Behaviour. This essay shows that the notion of the accomplished woman is still very much present and in some cases, like physical appearance, the pressure on women to reach this ideal has actually gotten worse. Both Jane Austen and Helen Fielding use irony and satirically describe the pressure on young women as a way of actually criticizing their contemporary societies.</p>

In this essay I compare the notion of the accomplished woman in Jane Austen’s Pride &amp; Prejudice and Helen Fielding’s novels about Bridget Jones. My claim is that the notion of the accomplished woman that Austen described 200 years ago is still very relevant and not much different today as reflected in Helen Fielding’s narrative in Bridget Jones, but also that both authors satirically describe the pressure that is put on women to reach the ideal of the accomplished woman. I initially discuss feminist literary theory, and then I analyze the following characteristics and ideas which make up the accomplished woman: Physical appearance, Education &amp; Knowledge, Marriage &amp; Having Children, Career and Skills, Status &amp; Class and Manners &amp; Behaviour. This essay shows that the notion of the accomplished woman is still very much present and in some cases, like physical appearance, the pressure on women to reach this ideal has actually gotten worse. Both Jane Austen and Helen Fielding use irony and satirically describe the pressure on young women as a way of actually criticizing their contemporary societies.

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