Bridezilla (UK, North America and Australia)

Carter, Julia

Abstract

The term bridezilla was coined by Diane White in a 1995 Boston Globe newspaper article to refer to ‘out of control’ brides (Moorhead 2018). The term caught on and has become part of a common wedding language used throughout Anglophone countries. Bridezilla is a portmanteau of ‘bride’ and ‘Godzilla’, the latter being a Japanese fictional monster originating in a series of Ishirô Honda films starting in 1954 (Engstrom 2012: 122). In Western media discourse in the UK, North America and Australia, bridezilla came to signify a monstrous version of a demure, virginal, and hyperfeminized bride. She is ‘out-of-control’ as well as ‘controlling’ in the entitlement and demand for perfection on ‘her day’: vulnerable and over-emotional, while being fierce, stubborn and military-like (Engstrom 2012: 171). Interpreted at face value, this role could be seen as the epitome of feminist independence, autonomy and power. However, the connotation is not one of empowerment but rather of derision, emerging from hetero-patriarchal anxiety (Samek 2014: 11).

Citation

Carter, J. Bridezilla (UK, North America and Australia). [Global Informality Project]

• Digital Artefact Type: Website Content
• Online Publication Date: Jul 26, 2019
• Deposit Date: Nov 4, 2022
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/10118071
• Publisher URL: https://www.in-formality.com/wiki/index.php?title=Bridezilla_(UK,_North_America_and_Australia)