Bend It Like Beckham Essay

dell Beckham Jr. was born on November 5, 1992 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. His mother name was Heather Norman, father Odell Beckham Sr., a younger brother Kordell, and a younger sister Jasmine. He went to Isidore Newman School in New Orleans, Louisiana where he played football, basketball, and track. As a junior he caught 45 passes for 743 yards and 10 touchdowns. As a senior he caught 50 catches for 1,010 yard and 19 touchdowns. He joined Cooper Manning as the only two players in school history to record 1,000 receiving yards in a season. Beckham followed in his mother footsteps in track. He was a standout track & field athlete. He took silver in long jump in 2020 with career-best leap of 6.83.

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.

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.

“Men are supposed to be assertive, competitive, and tough. Women are supposed to be more concerned with taking care of the home, of the children, and of people in general – to take the tender roles”( Hofstede,2005,p.117). A series of events in this film also highlight the Indian and British belief on that concern. In the scene after Jess’s mother catches her being lift by a boy ( 00:20:05- 00:23:00), her mother angrily says "Jess, we let you play all you wanted when you were young. You've played enough. What family will want a daughter in law who can run around kicking football all day but can't make round chapattis? ". In addition, Jess’s father also advises her to behave like a decent girl. It is clearly illustrated in the film that Jess’ family firmly believe that it is abnormal and unacceptable for women to have such unladylike behaviour. Playing sports which is performed in masculine ways is considered an unladylike trait as Joe, the coach shares “ I’ve never seen an Indian girl playing football”. By Indian tradition, Jess is supposed to learn cooking, dressing like a true Indian lady and marry a Silk man. Jules’ mother, a British, is also totally disappointed in her daughter’s lack of femininity ( 00:15:30- 00:16:21) “ Allen, when you gonna realize you have a toll topped with Brett not Sun our employees boys gonna want to go out with a goatee got bigger muscles”.

Overall, ‘Bend it like Beckham’ was an inspiring and comical film of the conflicts that arise in the clash of culture versus family/culture. Many themes were presented within the film such as wanting is will. This theme is explained with the constant perseverance of Jess, where she set a dream for herself and never gave up, in the end accomplishing what she dreamed for; her goal. Another theme explored was that of, your parents don’t always know what’s best for you. Times

In the films Bend It Like Beckham and My Big Fat Greek Wedding, two very different folk cultures are shown. Due to the culture and traditions of the protagonists, there are some significant gender conflicts, as well as conflicts with popular culture. Both Jess, the main character of Bend It Like Beckham, and Toula in My Big Fat Greek Wedding want to have experiences that the do not agree with the ways of their families. With these differing views, there are high tensions between family and friends, and some secrets are kept. Throughout the films, the effects of folk culture on young adults in a modern society are demonstrated.

Conflict of Cultures in the film Bend It Like Beckham Gurinder Chada creates conflict of cultures in various different ways in the film Bend It Like Beckham. Gurinder Chada uses techniques such as accents in the voice, contrasts, stereotypes, sarcasm, characterization and juxtaposition of British and Indian cultures which creates humour. This creates a film that attracts the attention of the audience and keeps them interested in the storyline. In the film Bend It Like Beckham a young female Indian footballer hopes that one day she will be able to become a professional footballer and play for her country.

My two texts are “The Namesake” and “Bend it like Beckham”. Our prescribed text, Jhumpa Lahiris “The Namesake” explores the link to belonging in detail. The emphasis is on Gogol Ganguli. Gogol struggles with a sense of belonging to his family and his Bengali culture and heritage throughout his life in the course of the novel. Born and raised in the U.S., while his parents spent their entire life in India following Bengali culture and practices and moved on to America as young adults. Gogol must try to find a sense of belonging as he deals with trying to belong in American society, while following his Bengali traditions. This shares many similarities with Jesmindar Bhamra, the main character in my related text, “Bend it Like Beckham”. The

Family is the first structure that one becomes a part of and it has a huge impact on people’s life. Parents play an important part on a child’s development. Jess’s family had a significant impact on Jess’s emotional state. Hir parents did not give the love that a child would require from the beginning. Leslie Feinberg states, “My mother admitted she was afraid to touch me, except to pin on a diaper or stick a bottle in my mouth” (Feinberg 14). They treated hir as ze was different (?) .Another significant experience that Jess had in hir childhood was when

Jessica is gentle and tender hearted. She seeks to bring restoration and equality to all people groups ranging from individuals with special needs to individuals facing oppression. Jessica is passionate, a defender of the truth, an advocate for justice, and a servant-leader. I am confident she will create a safe, engaging, and fun camp atmosphere conducive for learning.

Her father engages in a family Feud with his brothers and thus gets his parents killed. Monica leaves home and sets out to find a new life after. She is sold into slavery and forced to participate in drug trafficking by a city drug dealer. Life on the streets is unbearable, living conditions in that particular street are very unbearable, but she strives to survive. There are intolerable conditions, but she works and assembles all the resources that she needs to go back and find out what went down with her uncles to the extent that they decided to kill her father. Monica believes that both her parents are dead and now she is on her own. She learns from the drug dealing business a lot, she is willing to provide any help to the fellow girls, but it is beyond her reach. She hates the place, but she has to buy time for her plans to work. One of her clients is her lawyer, and they get fond of each other, she promised to process immigration papers for her. They grow fond of each other as she takes

Portugal's best and Manchester United's darling midfielder, Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro was brought into this world on February 5, 1985 in Funchal, Madeira, Portugal. His mother Maria Dolores dos Santos Aveiro and father Jose Dinis Aveiro had four children. His parents decided to name this future famous footballer after someone that you wouldn't think a Portuguese family would normally consider. He was named after the 40th President of the United States, Ronald Reagan.

In ‘Bend it Like Beckham’ the Indian culture is reconnoitered through conventional Sikh pious principles. For instance the importance of cultural rituals, cookery, clothing, the traditional role of a woman, and the particular importance given to elders (A. Ratna). The Indian Sikh culture integrates prayers into their daily life. For example, the Bhamra family hung a portrait of Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism and Jess's mother is regularly praying and talking to the portrait. Unlike her mother, Jess has a portrait David Beckham, above her bed, and she is seen talking to the image about issues present on in her life. This portrait has a comparable part in Jess's life as that to the portrait of Guru Nanek.

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