Why
happy endings don’t
make
everything right
Rachel Mainwaring | Wales Online - September 30, 2013
While
fans of Bridget Jones take to social networks to express horror at Mark
Darcy’s death and Lady Mary continues to wear black in Downton Abbey,
Rachel Mainwaring wonders what’s wrong with everyone. As she says, if
you want happy endings pick up a Mills and Boon book.
Bridget Jones fans have been left devastated at the demise of her other
half Mark Darcy by author Helen Fielding.
But is it really so bad the lovely Mr Darcy has met his maker?
OK, so his demise has left Bridget Jones as a single mum of two children
but that will surely make her new adventures far more interesting.
Rumour has it that she, now 51, embarks on a relationship with a
30-year-old toyboy – hence the title Mad About the Boy – and,
as a reader, I’d far rather read about her new sexual exploits as a
cougar than whether she’s left happy ever after with Mr Darcy.
Because, let’s face it, happy endings can be a bit, well, boring.
Even Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellows admits contentment is
far harder to dramatise.
Much to the chagrin of the Downton-loving public, just as Matthew
Crawley and Lady Mary found bliss in a new marriage with a baby, Crawley
was unceremoniously bumped off.
Lord Fellowes said at the time that while he was hugely disappointed Dan
Stevens was leaving the show, he admitted that portraying a
contented marriage between Matthew and Lady Mary would have been of
little interest for viewers anyway.
He
said: “Actually, nothing is harder to dramatise than happiness.
“When two people are happy, that’s it. That’s why in the old
movies, they don’t kiss and marry in the middle – they kiss and
marry at the end, because in a way that’s it.”
Darcy,
played by the delectable Colin Firth, was a nice man.
So nice he wore Christmas jumpers to festive parties.
But where could Helen Fielding take that relationship that was ever
going to be interesting for us?
Arguing about which school to send the kids? How much to pay the
babysitter?
Don’t be heartbroken Darcy fans, as his death will surely be to our
advantage.
If
you want happy endings, go and read some Mills and Boon.
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