English 1057 Pastiche & Bridget Jones

What is a parody or ‘pastiche’? An imitation or reference to something in popular culture in history, usually humorous. Pastiche can be mocking but is often playful or even a tribute to the original.

A movie pastiche

Mashups 1. Dvorak K-Pop Mashup; 2. Wham – Careless Whisper; 3. Postmodern Jukebox – Careless Whisper; 4. Billy Idol – Rebel Yell; 5. Mashup of Billy Idol & Wham

Helen Fielding Grew up in a middle-class background near Leeds, England Worked as a researcher and journalist for the BBC, The Sunday Times, The Independent, and The Telegraph since 1979 Was asked by the Independent to write a column about single life and created Bridget as a character Bridget Jones’s Diary published 1996

The novel’s plot largely follows that of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice; Fielding says “I thought that she wouldn’t mind and anyway, she’s dead” Bridget watches the TV show of P&P and compares Mark Darcy to Mr. Darcy The actor from the BBC TV show, Colin Firth, plays Mark Darcy in the movie In the novel sequel, Mark Darcy (played by Colin Firth) interviews Colin Firth

Criticisms of the Novel The use of P&P shows that the novel isn’t really original—true? The tangle of references between TV-movie-P&P-characters and real people is a cheap gimmick The novel and movie are “chick-lit” or “bonkbusters” and are disposable, low quality works The novel does nothing to advance women’s rights if Bridget can only be happy having a man

Why Study Literature? Process based education and content based education Critical reasoning and communication skills Cultural content It’s fun

How to study literature Critical approaches include: Formal readings (narrative; symbolism; imagery) Historical readings (What does the text tell us about its time or author?) Religious, Political, Feminist, Marxist, Psychological, Eco-Green, Queer, Reader-response readings