Trying to get a press screening in line but haven't managed to catch it yet :( I may have to wait until it comes out properly but will deffo have thoughts for you!!
You’re a fantastic writer - I read a lot on film and rarely come across stuff that blends the personal with serious critical engagement this well. Rare professional jealousy, ha! I’m maxed out on new paid subscriptions for the moment but if that changes you’ll be in line! I have also never seen the BJones films which is crazy given that the originals came out when I was in high school/college. Maybe that will be my end-of-February comfort binge because I really need one!
Oh my god, Tania, thank you SO much for this comment - it made my day ♥️ You should absolutely give the franchise a go, it's the perfect comfort binge. Just get ready for Mad About The Boy...way sadder than I expected!!
It was sincere! Examining how the stories we receive influence our understanding of the world and especially ourselves (and especially as women) is such a fascinating and worthwhile project, and it's very hard to do well. And movies are really kind of at the apex of it, at least for a lot of the past century.
Oh god, don't know if I want to do sad rn. Escapism only!
Also I just recalled the PHANTOM THREAD shoutout in your bio and... a thousand times yes.
Once again thankyou Sophie. For your eloquence, lyrical composition AND making me think that I should finally investigate the whole BJ oeuvre. Is herstory actually, partly, living life all along or just an encapsulation of how women are made to feel? Regardless of the acceptable or otherwise roles they chose for themselves.
My pleasure 💖💖 I think you'll have lots of fun with it, especially its conclusion. The way I see it, it's mostly the former - but as a character she's been relentlessly criticised for falling for things that have historically made women feel shame e.g. eating disorders, sleeping with unavailable men and generally not excelling in being a woman. Imo, it's equally hurtful to always have women on the big screen who do the empowering/right thing in the end. This is now how life is. I still screw up every day. I'm not girl bossing my way through life and only advocating for this way of living is just an Instagram substitute. Bridget remains a "loser" in some ways and ends up winning in others. This is what womanhood really is. Progress is not linear and sometimes it's even non-existent.
You've a running theme of transience here that, speaking candidly and simultaneously not, is necessary to examine if this planet is going to heal. Honored to be swimming in this Substack circle.
My question is, what would manifest from a Bridget-esque story where our heroine believes everything happens for a reason, but has reconciled the fact that those reasons likely-to-certainly don't line up with what she thinks to be her best interests in that moment? Or if she further knows that those best interests (hell, any level of her interests) are only momentary?
Thank you for this thoughtful question - it really made me think. I think it exposes a blind spot in how we currently structure stories about women's relationships with time and meaning. Right now, we have two dominant modes: either everything has an immediate purpose that serves character growth, or nothing means anything at all.
What you're proposing....a heroine who believes in meaning while accepting its inscrutability - would force us to examine why we're so uncomfortable with the space between experience and understanding. Why do we demand that female characters either immediately metabolize their experiences into wisdom, or reject meaning entirely?
I think such a story would reveal how our current obsession with instantaneous meaning-making (hello, TikTok trauma dumps) isn't actually about processing experience - it's about controlling it. We've replaced genuine duration with performative epiphanies.
You've got me thinking about how different Mad About The Boy might be if Bridget approached widowhood this way - not as something to overcome or eternally suffer, but as an experience whose meaning might exceed her current ability to understand it. Not because she's failing to process it "correctly," but because some forms of understanding only emerge through living time rather than packaging it.
What's next on the list? What do you think of Mickey 17?
Trying to get a press screening in line but haven't managed to catch it yet :( I may have to wait until it comes out properly but will deffo have thoughts for you!!
You’re a fantastic writer - I read a lot on film and rarely come across stuff that blends the personal with serious critical engagement this well. Rare professional jealousy, ha! I’m maxed out on new paid subscriptions for the moment but if that changes you’ll be in line! I have also never seen the BJones films which is crazy given that the originals came out when I was in high school/college. Maybe that will be my end-of-February comfort binge because I really need one!
Oh my god, Tania, thank you SO much for this comment - it made my day ♥️ You should absolutely give the franchise a go, it's the perfect comfort binge. Just get ready for Mad About The Boy...way sadder than I expected!!
It was sincere! Examining how the stories we receive influence our understanding of the world and especially ourselves (and especially as women) is such a fascinating and worthwhile project, and it's very hard to do well. And movies are really kind of at the apex of it, at least for a lot of the past century.
Oh god, don't know if I want to do sad rn. Escapism only!
Also I just recalled the PHANTOM THREAD shoutout in your bio and... a thousand times yes.
Time to get the dvds out of the library, 😊.
Once again thankyou Sophie. For your eloquence, lyrical composition AND making me think that I should finally investigate the whole BJ oeuvre. Is herstory actually, partly, living life all along or just an encapsulation of how women are made to feel? Regardless of the acceptable or otherwise roles they chose for themselves.
My pleasure 💖💖 I think you'll have lots of fun with it, especially its conclusion. The way I see it, it's mostly the former - but as a character she's been relentlessly criticised for falling for things that have historically made women feel shame e.g. eating disorders, sleeping with unavailable men and generally not excelling in being a woman. Imo, it's equally hurtful to always have women on the big screen who do the empowering/right thing in the end. This is now how life is. I still screw up every day. I'm not girl bossing my way through life and only advocating for this way of living is just an Instagram substitute. Bridget remains a "loser" in some ways and ends up winning in others. This is what womanhood really is. Progress is not linear and sometimes it's even non-existent.
You've a running theme of transience here that, speaking candidly and simultaneously not, is necessary to examine if this planet is going to heal. Honored to be swimming in this Substack circle.
My question is, what would manifest from a Bridget-esque story where our heroine believes everything happens for a reason, but has reconciled the fact that those reasons likely-to-certainly don't line up with what she thinks to be her best interests in that moment? Or if she further knows that those best interests (hell, any level of her interests) are only momentary?
Thank you for this thoughtful question - it really made me think. I think it exposes a blind spot in how we currently structure stories about women's relationships with time and meaning. Right now, we have two dominant modes: either everything has an immediate purpose that serves character growth, or nothing means anything at all.
What you're proposing....a heroine who believes in meaning while accepting its inscrutability - would force us to examine why we're so uncomfortable with the space between experience and understanding. Why do we demand that female characters either immediately metabolize their experiences into wisdom, or reject meaning entirely?
I think such a story would reveal how our current obsession with instantaneous meaning-making (hello, TikTok trauma dumps) isn't actually about processing experience - it's about controlling it. We've replaced genuine duration with performative epiphanies.
You've got me thinking about how different Mad About The Boy might be if Bridget approached widowhood this way - not as something to overcome or eternally suffer, but as an experience whose meaning might exceed her current ability to understand it. Not because she's failing to process it "correctly," but because some forms of understanding only emerge through living time rather than packaging it.