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Gender and Professional Standards In Bridget Jones’s Diary Laura Pacelli First Year Seminar Professor Vujnovic Monmouth University December 11th 2017

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Abstract: This paper is a critical research paper on the movie, Bridget Jones’s Diary. This film from 2001, is an English romantic comedy film, that surrounds the world of journalists. The main focus in analyzing this movie is the idea of the role of the female in Bridget Jones’s Diary. This film shows both men and women journalist. These characters will be compared and assessed to see if they fit the code of ethics and follow ethical values surrounding journalists. Keywords in this paper will be gender in journalism, the role of women in journalism. The SPJ Code of Ethics, Professional Standards, and Ethical Values. Gender in journalism can be known as how differently a female journalist is viewed from a male one. The role of women in journalism is defined as something that is lesser than a man's role in journalist due to their genders nature. The SPJ Code of Ethics, which stands for Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics is a set of rules journalists have to abide by that started in 1973. Professional Standards is a way people must conduct themselves in a professional environment. Last, ethical values are what people see is correct for own individual moral principles. The position of the topic that this paper will be defending is the women are viewed as inferior in journalism culture. By examining this popular film that includes journalism, one can conclude that there is a weakness in women that make them lesser than men at the job of being a journalist.

Gender and Professional Standards In Bridget Jones’s Diary

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People can learn a plethora of new things about journalism though just watching movies. The Film Bridget Jones’s Diary was released on April 13th 2001 and is movie that discretely has journalism values and themes hidden in the plot. Viewers who do not examine the film looking for journalism ques, might just view this fun loving romantic comedy and not even question that it may have some deeper meaning. This movie’s storyline was written by Helen Fielding and the film was directed by Sharon Maguire (Lane 2003). Being in a journalism profession, the main woman character, Bridget Jones, was put in some unethical positions based on her gender. As well she portrayed with a very unprofessional persona that didn't quite follow the the SPJ Code of Ethics as well as moral varies, and professional standards that journalist of any nature should uphold. People who watch this movie though a journalism lense will see that women are viewed as inferior in journalism culture, opposed to men being more powerful figures. By examining this popular film that includes journalism, one can conclude that there is a weakness in women that make them lesser than men at the job of being a journalist. Therefore, one can say that through this film with the actions taken by Bridget Jones and the people around her, Hollywood is defining the women as inferior to men in any journalism profession. To start, this film is a romantic comedy, this means it is about love. This thirty-two year old women, Bridget Jones, was in the pursuit of love and happiness in her life. She believes that she was doomed to live a lonely life and become a cat lady and die never being in love. Yet, she takes the approach to find a partner in the wrong place: her place of work. She works for a printing company and is in charge of presenting people when books are released. In the office she starts off with a seemingly innocent crush on her boss, Daniel Cleaver. The the crush takes off into something else one day when she decides to wear something seductive to work, and he

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notices. First of all, this is is showing a female journalists in a negative and unethical light. Where she is trying to seduce her boss. This would go against professional standards. The SPJ code of ethics, only talk of doing one's job as a journalist, none should not be having ideas to have relations with a boss and create tension in a workplace. After back and forth emails, Jones and her boss agree to go out on a date. At first, Jones attempts to resist the temptation of going out with him by just plain rejecting him, but after a book release they go out and she couldn't resist but to start seeing him. They move very fast and attempt to hide their relations in the office. Jones and Cleaver in this point of the film seem to be having an epic romance that is typical for romantic comedy film. This romance that is seemingly too good to be true, gets disturbed by their work. At this point in their relationship, Cleaver was going to get introduced to Jones’s family at a party. Just prior to going to Jones’s family party, Cleaver suddenly had to leave because of an emergency business meeting with the paper company. Soon after, the truth came out that instead of going to a business meeting, Cleaver was cheating on Jones’s with is New York office partner, and made a fool out of Jones. When Jones found out she was distraught and was made out to be weak and inferior, avoiding him in the office. she decides to quit because she can not handle seeing him everyday. This part of the film really showed that women are weak as journalist, because they get to emotionally invested into people, which could potentially ruin their careers. Bridget Jones’s is seen as inferior to her boss Daniel Cleaver, because he is the one who deceived her, but she had to quit and got the short end of the stick. Jones was as well sextualized in the office which made her career there short lived, and inferior to her male boss. Bridget Jones gives up a traditional female life for her job. The typical role of the female

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journalist is to not be able to lead normal relationships because they have to be so dedicated to the job (Ehrlich 2015). She was 32 and not married with children yet mainly because of her job. Also, due to the fact she was wasting her time with her boss. She wasn't able to successful dste her boss because he as well was so wrapped up in work and cheated on her. Then, when the right man came into her life Mark Darcy, journalism ruined it for her in the beginning because he read her diary and questioned her character. This makes Bridge Jones inferior because she can't have a traditional lifestyle that normal women can get. In the office Bridget Jones was minimized. She was at first barely recognized for her any of her work, until she started dressing more attractive to the male eye and lost some weight. Her character was made out to have alcoholic tendencies, and to be very weak willed, since it was shown that even at company functions she was being a disgraceful drunk. A male co worker, who was above her in status, Mr. Fitzherbert, treated her as though he did not even know her. For example, countless times he would call her by the wrong name and he would ask her to present him at functions, making her name be less known at events. The character of Bridget Jones expcienced sextual harassment as a women in the office. Statistics show that 2 in for women have in the past or are experiencing sextual harassment in the workplace, includoing jobs surrounding journalism (Gaille 2017). Also, people ranging from age 18 to age 34 1 out of 3 of these woemn hbe been sextyallu harrase at work (Gaille 2017). Especially in work places similar to Bridget Jones’s 88% of women have been harassed, 79% of victims are women, 21% are men, 27% experience harassment from a colleague and 17% experienced harassment from a superior (Gaille 2017). These statistics show that it is really rare in real life that someone is being

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sextually harassed by a person in a superior position. Yet, in this film we see the sectula miscundict and hasrssemnt of Bridget Jones, thus making her inferior. The men such as Mr. Fitzherbert and Daniel Cleaver are both above he and only notice her when she is more appealing to them. In a comedic manner, Bridget Jones describes her superior writer Mr. Fitzherbert, as Mr. Fitzpervert because of how she feels around him. Now, towards later in the film Bridget Jones gets a job as a news reporter. The typical role of the female journalist is to not be able to lead normal relationships because they have to be so dedicated to the job (Ehrlich 2015). This job she think will be an escape from her old boss whom she had unethical relations with. Being portrayed as a quirky and clumsy woman, she manages to again sexalize herslef, this time on television. The produces or the news channel wnated to sextialies Bridget Jones on live televison. For example, he wanted her to seducingly slide down a fireman's pole in a skirt, and then inview a fireman. Instead of doing this, being the clumsy character Bridget Jones’s is Next, this film shows some unethical ideals, when it comes to career support. There is a part of the film where Bridget Jones is struggling to get an inside story as a television reporter. Once she quit the job at the printing press, where she had affiliations with her boss, she got hired as a television reported for a small television channel. She needs a very important story in order to be successful with this job, since she ruined her prior job. Everyone is aching to get the scoop on a local lawsuit. She goes to the scene of the lawsuit that she is supposed to get the details on, but the film shows her not being able to do this on her own. The help of Mark Darcy, the man who is a lawyer whom her mom tried to set her up with, comes to the rescue. Since he is a lawyer he is in on the case and was able to set her up with an exclusive interview, that launched her career in the right direction. The issues here is, the movie portrays the women journalist as

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her not being able to be a successful indeenpecte journalist, she needed the help of a man. Therefore, in this film Bridget Jones is shows as inferior to males. -

Needs the help of a man layer to succeed in this job

-

Needs man to be happy

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Typical idea of women who can't work in journals, and have a regular love life

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Has to quit Job bc man

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How she is porated as unstable (drinker) and a mess at public speaking at the company book release

Works Cited Ebert, Robert, “Bridget Jones’s Diary Review” 2001. https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/bridget-joness-diary-2001 Ehrlich, Matthew, Heroes and Scoundrels: Journalism in Popular Culture, 2015. https://monmouth.desire2learn.com/d2l/le/content/232486/viewContent/2464221/View Gaille, Brandon ,“23 Statistics on Sexual Harassment in the Workplace”, May 20th 2017. https://brandongaille.com/23-statistics-on-sexual-harassment-the-workplace/ Good, Howard, Journalism Ethics Goes to The Movies, 2007. https://monmouth.desire2learn.com/d2l/le/content/232486/viewContent/2464224/View Lane, Cara Anne “Bridget Jones's Diary (Film Reviews)” 2003.

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http://uq5yh4yu4g.search.serialssolutions.com/?ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_enc=info %3Aofi%2Fenc%3AUTF-8&rfr_id=info%3Asid %2Fsummon.serialssolutions.com&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx %3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.atitle=Bridget+Jones%27s+Diary&rft.jtitle=Film+ %26+History&rft.au=Lane%2C+Cara+Ann&rft.date=2003-0101&rft.pub=Center+for+the+Study+of+Film+and+History&rft.issn=0360-3695&rft.eissn=15489922&rft.volume=33&rft.issue=1&rft.spage=64&rft.externalDBID=n %2Fa&rft.externalDocID=A156737416¶mdict=en-US Lentz, Cherry Lentz “BRIDGET JONES'S DIARY (Film)” 2002. http://uq5yh4yu4g.search.serialssolutions.com/?ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_enc=info %3Aofi%2Fenc%3AUTF-8&rfr_id=info%3Asid %2Fsummon.serialssolutions.com&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx %3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.atitle=BRIDGET+JONES %27S+DIARY&rft.jtitle=Journal+of+Feminist+Family+Therapy&rft.au=Lentz %2C+Cherry+Lentz&rft.date=2002-01-31&rft.pub=Taylor+ %26+Francis+Group&rft.issn=0895-2833&rft.eissn=15404099&rft.volume=14&rft.issue=1&rft.spage=77&rft.externalDocID=468906271¶mdict=enUS Saltzman, Joseph, Heroes and Scoundrels: Journalism in Popular Culture, 2015. https://monmouth.desire2learn.com/d2l/le/content/232486/viewContent/2464218/View Willa, Mcdonald, “Women in journalism: Margaret Jones, gender discrimination and the Sydney Morning Herald 1965-1985” 2016. http://uq5yh4yu4g.search.serialssolutions.com/?ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_enc=info

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%3Aofi%2Fenc%3AUTF-8&rfr_id=info%3Asid %2Fsummon.serialssolutions.com&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx %3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.atitle=Women+in+journalism%3A+Margaret+Jones %2C+gender+discrimination+and+the+Sydney+Morning+Herald%2C+19651985&rft.jtitle=Media+International+Australia+incorporating+Culture+and+Policy&rft.au=Mc Donald%2C+Willa&rft.date=2016-11-01&rft.pub=Sage+Publications%2C+Inc&rft.issn=1329878X&rft.issue=161&rft.spage=38&rft_id=info:doi/10.1177%2F1329878X16664799&rft.extern alDBID=n%2Fa&rft.externalDocID=A497671593¶mdict=en-US

Gender and Professional Standards In Bridget Jones’s Diary Laura Pacelli First Year Seminar Professor Vujnovic Monmouth University December 11th 2017

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Abstract: This paper is a critical research paper on the movie, Bridget Jones’s Diary. This film from 2001, is an English romantic comedy film, that surrounds the world of journalists. The main focus in analyzing this movie is the idea of the role of the female in Bridget Jones’s Diary. This film shows both men and women journalist. These characters will be compared and assessed to see if they fit the code of ethics and follow ethical values surrounding journalists. Keywords in this paper will be gender in journalism, the role of women in journalism. The SPJ Code of Ethics, Professional Standards, and Ethical Values. Gender in journalism can be known as how differently a female journalist is viewed from a male one. The role of women in journalism is defined as something that is lesser than a man's role in journalist due to their genders nature. The SPJ Code of Ethics, which stands for Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics is a set of rules journalists have to abide by that started in 1973. Professional Standards is a way people

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must conduct themselves in a professional environment. Last, ethical values are what people see is correct for own individual moral principles. The position of the topic that this paper will be defending is the women are viewed as inferior in journalism culture. By examining this popular film that includes journalism, one can conclude that there is a weakness in women that make them lesser than men at the job of being a journalist.

Gender and Professional Standards In Bridget Jones’s Diary People can learn a plethora of new things about journalism though just watching movies. The Film Bridget Jones’s Diary was released on April 13th 2001 and is movie that discretely has journalism values and themes hidden in the plot. Viewers who do not examine the film looking for journalism ques, might just view this fun loving romantic comedy and not even question that it may have some deeper meaning. This movie’s storyline was written by Helen Fielding and the film was directed by Sharon Maguire (Lane 2003). Being in a journalism profession, the main woman character, Bridget Jones, was put in some unethical positions based on her gender. As well she portrayed with a very unprofessional persona that didn't quite follow the the SPJ Code of Ethics as well as moral varies, and professional standards that journalist of any nature should uphold (Howard 2007). People who watch this movie though a journalism lense will see that women are viewed as inferior in journalism culture, opposed to men being more powerful figures. By examining this popular film that includes journalism, one can conclude that there is a

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weakness in women that make them lesser than men at the job of being a journalist. Therefore, one can say that through this film with the actions taken by Bridget Jones and the people around her, Hollywood is defining the women as inferior to men in any journalism profession. To start, this film is a romantic comedy, this means it is about love. This thirty-two year old women, Bridget Jones, was in the pursuit of love and happiness in her life. She believes that she was doomed to live a lonely life and become a cat lady and die never being in love. Yet, she takes the approach to find a partner in the wrong place: her place of work. She works for a printing company and is in charge of presenting people when books are released. In the office she starts off with a seemingly innocent crush on her boss, Daniel Cleaver. The the crush takes off into something else one day when she decides to wear something seductive to work, and he notices. First of all, this is is showing a female journalists in a negative and unethical light. Where she is trying to seduce her boss. This would go against professional standards. The SPJ code of ethics, only talk of doing one's job as a journalist, none should not be having ideas to have relations with a boss and create tension in a workplace. After back and forth emails, Jones and her boss agree to go out on a date. At first, Jones attempts to resist the temptation of going out with him by just plain rejecting him, but after a book release they go out and she couldn't resist but to start seeing him. They move very fast and attempt to hide their relations in the office. Jones and Cleaver in this point of the film seem to be having an epic romance that is typical for romantic comedy film (Ebert 2001). This romance that is seemingly too good to be true, gets disturbed by their work. At this point in their relationship, Cleaver was going to get introduced to Jones’s family at a party. Just prior to going to Jones’s family party, Cleaver

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suddenly had to leave because of an emergency business meeting with the paper company. Soon after, the truth came out that instead of going to a business meeting, Cleaver was cheating on Jones’s with is New York office partner, and made a fool out of Jones (Lentz 2002). When Jones found out she was distraught and was made out to be weak and inferior, avoiding him in the office. she decides to quit because she can not handle seeing him everyday. This part of the film really showed that women are weak as journalist, because they get to emotionally invested into people, which could potentially ruin their careers. Bridget Jones’s is seen as inferior to her boss Daniel Cleaver, because he is the one who deceived her, but she had to quit and got the short end of the stick. Jones was as well sextualized in the office which made her career there short lived, and inferior to her male boss.

Bridget Jones gives up a traditional female life for her job. The typical role of the female journalist is to not be able to lead normal relationships because they have to be so dedicated to the job (Ehrlich 2015). She was 32 and not married with children yet mainly because of her job. Also, due to the fact she was wasting her time with her boss. She wasn't able to successful dste her boss because he as well was so wrapped up in work and cheated on her. Then, when the right man came into her life Mark Darcy, journalism ruined it for her in the beginning because he read her diary and questioned her character. This makes Bridge Jones inferior because she cannot have a traditional lifestyle that normal women can get. In the office Bridget Jones was minimized. She was at first barely recognized for her any of her work, until she started dressing more attractive to the male eye and lost some weight. Her

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character was made out to have alcoholic tendencies, and to be very weak willed, since it was shown that even at company functions she was being a disgraceful drunk. A male co worker, who was above her in status, Mr. Fitzherbert, treated her as though he did not even ...