Bend It Like Beckham Analysis

People often think of family as positive, loving, and with no flaws. However, there is almost a stereotype that all families love each other and there aren’t problems or challenges in a family. Sometimes families put people through challenges and some families aren’t “perfect”. In the book Make Lemonade by Virginia Euwer Wolff, Jolly has two kids and goes through challenges with her family. Most careful readers can see how Jolly has these challenges with her kids and how she is far off from the “perfect” family. She goes through many of these challenges in life and finds a way to overcome them. Jollys family shapes her identity because the challenges she faces ends up making her stronger. Jeremy and Jilly challenging her, LaVaughn helping her out, and her past family all shape her identity.

Bend it Like Beckham (2002/3) is a romantic comedy written, directed and produced by Gurinder Chadha, a Kenya-born British film maker who grew up India. Director Chadha’s films often reflect on her complex background. Unlike many comedies, Bend it Like Beckham is filled with plenty of important themes. One of them addresses the importance of cultural integration.

While there are many strong relationships, there are also familial relationships as evidenced through Shelby and her mother, M’Lynn. Their relationship does a great job demonstrating the characteristic of responsibility in family relationships. M’Lynn constantly felt the need to protect Shelby. She also felt responsible for Shelby’s health and well being. Our text explains this same idea claiming, “Family members see themselves as having certain obligations and responsibilities to one another,” (DeVito, 2015). We found that Shelby and M’Lynn’s relationship is based off of this element of obligation and demonstrates how a family characteristic can dictate how members act. For example, because of Shelby’s diabetes, M’Lynn constantly watches after her. When Shelby’s blood sugar drops in the salon, her mother runs right over to her and feeds her juice demonstrating her duty to take care of her daughter. If she was not a family member of Shelby she may have just uncomfortably observed the whole incident like some of the other women. However, because they do have a familial bond, M’lynn knows more about Shelby and her condition than anyone else; she understands that she is the only one out of the women that knows how to take care of her daughter during a diabetic

Our parents often play an important role in shaping us into the type of people we will eventually become. In the short story “Two Kinds” written by Amy Tan, Tan portrays a mother daughter relationship through the daughters eyes while she struggles with her mother trying to make her into prodigy. Although I was never thought to be a prodigy, I was very good at soccer, and therefor I was forced to play it. Like Jing Mei, I played soccer because I wanted my parents to be proud, I wanted to be socially accepted, and

Family ties people down and brings people together. It chains people down with rules and regulations, caging them in with familial obligations. While most would not complain or fight against being encaged and molded into their parents’ desires, some let go, abandoning these duties in exchange for happiness. In the production Bend It Like Beckham, the protagonist, Jess, struggles with the reason why it is important to abandon family obligations when it conflicts with one’s personal desires.

What you want in comparison to what your family expects form you is a common disagreement through most family households. In the movie ‘Bend it like Beckham’ we saw the conflict between jess and her parents on how they feel and what they want for her, how jess sees the situation and how it is resolved. Throughout Jess’s journey she is constantly pulled in what she truly wants and what here family/culture expects (internal conflict).

By now, Jennie’s life was focused on softball, though she did have a normal life outside the sport. She liked to shop, try on her mom’s makeup and hang out with her friends. In school, she was an excellent student. But softball consumed most of her free time. Every summer the sport brought her to a new part of the country for a national tournament.

Paul has to face another person, the coach of the soccer team, when he tells him he can’t play soccer anymore because he is visually impaired and has an IEP. The readers sees this conflict arise when the coach says ““You can’t play soccer for Lake WIndsor Middle School”, and Paul replies “What are you talking about--- ‘cant play’? I can play! I’m one of the best players here!”

The theme of the book is to be patient. Being patient has a lot to do with Sarah who is the only girl on the football team. It took a while for Sarah to get on the football team, but her impressive kicking skills really showed why she should be on the football team. Sarah is the type of girl who workouts everyday and wants Vanden High School to win the state championship. At first Sarah had to wait for a week to get on the team because she disguised herself as a boy, which wasn’t the smartest idea, but a way to show off her talents.

Similarly, the 2002 film ‘Bend it Like Beckham’ by Gurinder Chadha displays the impact of an individual’s interaction with others in shaping meaningful relationships that contribute to their belonging. The key themes of conflict, identity and choices that exist in relations are essential in enriching or limiting and individual’s experience of belonging.

The seventh grade football team makes an effort to conquer other schools. Their victories against them would be music to their ears.Although they seem tough, they are all softies. “ I love being out in the field with the boys, seeing how they are and what they do.” Natalie Alveraz states.She is the waterboy, or in this case watergirl, who is captivated by the many football players who make an effort to win. Another interested person who is actually on the team is Evan Bradshaw, who is determined to make splendid grades in class and on the field.

Throughout time, family has been proven to be one of the largest influences on a person’s life. A person’s relationship with their family members completely shapes who they are as a person and creates who that person is going to be in life. The theme of familial life shaping how a person turns out is exemplified throughout three different short stories: “Flavio’s Home” by Gordon Parks, “Being an Other” by Melissa Algranati, and “The Married Woman” by Simone de Beauvoir. These three stories exemplify that being a part of family comes with many responsibilities, whether they are cultural responsibilities or responsibilities that help to keep the family running.

There will always be a common disagreement when your family doesn't want you to do something but you want to pursue your dream. In the film ‘Bend it Like Beckham’, Jess and her parents have a conflict between each other and how she wants to become a soccer player but her parents expect her to do something else just like how in the book ‘An Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian’ by Sherman Alexie, Junior wanted to play basketball with a better school but his childhood friend Rowdy got mad at him because he was going to a rival school. Jess chose soccer over her culture just like how Junior the rival school over Rowdy, both Jess and Junior fight with there best friend and reunites at the end, and Juniors parents were very supportive when he wanted to change school because of basketball but Jess’ parents didn't like it and didn't want to support her when she chose to play soccer over her culture. Within a family you will always have disagreements but when you show that you love something then maybe you will have motivation from your friends and family.

Bend it like Beckham is a film that was written, directed, and produced by Gurinder Chadha, a British film maker who was grew up in India. The film focuses on the main character's desire to play football and the conflict she faces due to her obligations to her traditional Sikh family. The character, Jess Bhamra, must make the decision to pursue football or follow her parent's wishes and complete school and marry and Indian man. As Jess struggles to find her own identity without losing her family, she befriends a British footballer Jules. Jules' parents offer an interesting parallel to Jess' family, showing that although cultures may be very different in some ways, they are actually very similar in others. Director Chadha explains that

Through the use of cinematic techniques, Hidden figures, a movie directed by Theodore Melfi and Bend it like Beckham by Gurinder Chadha both explore the dangers that are inherent in a marginalised society. Each text demonstrates that hope for change is needed in society as it can build the momentum for an individual to strive. Through these texts, we see that people have no conscience about harming others until they learn the truth about their circumstances. This is depicted by the way in which Jess’ coach Joe behaves after learning about her cultural expectations in Bend it like Beckham. Similarly, this is shown in Hidden Figures by Mr. Harrison. Both directors emphasise that the abuse of power leads to corruption and this can be seen through the segregation between the black and white people in Hidden Figures and the way in which cultural values overrule the lives of the Bhamra’s in Bend it like Beckham. Both characters highlight the importance of creating opportunities rather than seeking it, this is shown when Mary Jackson goes to court for educational rights in Hidden Figures and in Bend it like Beckham when Jess stands up to her father who appears to be patriotic about his cultural values. The resolutions to both texts justify that determination comes from within and that though many factors can outweigh a person’s ability to triumph, consistency can lead to rewarding results. As an audience we are able to further increase our understanding of perseverance through