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| Colin Firth, Renee Zellweger and Hugh Grant starred in the Bridget Jones films |
No. of shocking news items received 1 (bad, because of the content of said news: killing off of The Mark Darcy by brave but brutal author), calories consumed in consequence 5,400 (v.v. bad), hours spent in google spiral to cross-verify news 3, minutes spent in imaginary author-to-author conversation (I said imaginary! Okay?) with Helen Fielding 51.
Every time somebody flashes the “chick lit is shallow card” at me, I calmly tell them four words. Go. Read. Bridget. Jones. And no, I don’t mean the movies, I add prissily. Read the books! And then, we can have this conversation.
So naturally, you can imagine, I have been waiting v.v. eagerly for the further adventures of Bridget Jones, along with other fans of the cult diaries that redefined women’s writing, both in terms of themes as well as narrative styles.
On Monday morning, however, I received the very disturbing news — on Twitter I must add — that Mr Darcy, who was truly the utterly butterly delicious Darcy to Bridget’s klutzy Elizabeth Bennet, has been killed off in book 3. I choked on my tea and biscuit and subsequently learnt that Bridget, now single mum to two young ’uns, Billy and Mabel, is dealing with challenges old and new: her parents, nits and well, yes, Twitter. Apparently.
But why must Mark Darcy die? I ask in a sort of despair. I mean, yes, yes, of course, wedded bliss might have been a bit too lame and even unrealistic (?!) given the demographic Bridget represents, but to actually kill off Colin Firth, I mean Mark Darcy? V. brutal. While Danny Cleaver is babysitting? And there is even a 20-something whippersnapper in her life? The rumours are getting to be too much already. There is no option but to wait till October 10 and see for ourselves.
All I can say: dead rather than divorced is probably a little romantic. Even against-the-grain? Jane Austen, ever the realist, might not have actually approved. And that is why I think I am now looking forward to it a bit more. Clever strategy, Helen Fielding, clever strategy indeed!
Devapriya Roy is the author of The Weight Loss Club and The Vague Woman’s Handbook
Who is Mark Darcy?
Born out of Helen Fielding’s “simple human need for [Fitzwilliam] Darcy to get off with Elizabeth [Bennet]” in Pride and Prejudice, Darcy is the slightly uptight Oxbridge-educated man Bridget Jones falls in love with after her disastrous affair with her boss, the “love rat”, Daniel Cleaver.
An environmental lawyer who’s born into wealth but wears it lightly, Mark Darcy is every woman’s dream man. And when he was played by Colin Firth in the film adaptations, he became every woman’s dreamboat!
Quite alarmingly, in her upcoming Bridget Jones: Mad about the Boy [Random House,
Rs 499], Fielding has killed off Darcy, leaving Bridget a 51-year-old widowed mother of two.
When I heard about Mark Darcy being bumped off, the first thing that came to my mind was of Colin Firth not existing anymore and that was a very sad thought! I am sure he’ll resurface, because everything in Bridget Jones’s universe is constant, except her weight. And what’s even more distressing is the delightfully devilish Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant in the movies) being transformed into a godfather!
—Malavika Banerjee, director, Kolkata Literary Meet
Killing off Mark Darcy is going to take away some of the charm of the book. I will especially miss seeing Colin Firth play Darcy. However, now Daniel Cleaver might step into Darcy’s shoes and that might not be too bad a thing!
—Arshia Dhar, PG English, Jadavpur University
It will be very depressing for readers as Darcy was the only guy who liked Bridget for who she was. I used to read the books when I was fed up with the petty issues of life, but now the series is moving in a different direction, somewhat serious, so I’ll miss the humour a lot
— Sunrita Sarkar, third-year computer science & engineering, IEM
Darcy noticed Bridget Jones when she was invisible to the rest of the world. I don’t really know if Prince Charming exists but if he does, he’s someone like Mark Darcy! Darcy being dead is like the end of a fairy tale
— Sutonuka Bhattacharya, third-year history, Presidency University
