Bend It Like Beckham Themes

Culture builds up and shapes how people view the world and the people in it. It determines how we judge and view the way others act, look, and even how they think. In the texts “Where worlds collide”, “An Indian Father’s Plea”, and “Two Kinds”, it is shown that a person’s views of others and the world are solely determined by their culture.

In Santha Rama Rau’s story, “By Any Other Name,” she describes her experiences at the Anglo-Indian school to which she and her sister, Premila, are sent when Premila is eight and Santha is five and a half. Because the girls have been home schooled by their mother up to this point they find the transition to their new school strange and disconnecting. Santha’s sister, Premila, is initially willing to try and adapt to the culture and customs of her new environment; however, when a teacher is openly racist, Premila displays an impressive strength of character.

In her essay “My Two Lives,” Jhumpa Lahiri, an Indian American, explains the balance between the identities of the two countries inside her heart, as well as her psychological struggle between her bicultural identities. She describes herself as an Indian-American because she moved with her family from India to the United States when she was very young. However, confused with her identity through her growth, she feels that she doesn’t belong to either of the two countries because of its completely different cultures. When she is at home, she deals with her parents in an Indian way, which is strange compared to the American way that she come across outside. She says that she has a distinctive identity in spite of her Indian appearance

Jesminder Bhamra, like the director, is British-Asian. Just like Director Chadha had refused to take traditional Punjabi dancing lessons and watch Bollywood films as a child, Jesminder unintentionally rebels when trying to integrate cultures. Jesminder’s traditional Sikh parents want her to be ‘good’ by completing university and marrying an Indian man. However, due to local

Jhumpa Lahiri’s Unaccustomed Earth is comprised of eight short stories about different Indian families’ struggles in America, many of them going through the immigrant experience. The conflicts are with friends and family, and also with themselves, as each of them attempt to find their own identity along with fitting in with the rest of society. One of the causes of these struggles that because the families in the stories are mixed in terms of generation. Many of the adults in the stories were first generation immigrants from India, while many of the children were raised in the United States, which is the second generation. This led to blending of culture and at the same time, clashes between the immigrant mentality of living and the American mentality of living. In Unaccustomed Earth, Lahiri demonstrates to the reader the important influence of environment, specifically culture and how it impacts parental teachings, on the personality and development of an individuals’ identity, and how the actions and development of characters can affect one’s family and friends; the impact of environment and culture is shown especially by the characters and stories “Hell-Heaven” and “Hema and Kaushik”.

In an autobiographical story, “Journey by Inner Light,” the author Meeta Kaur shares her audiences her rebellion against her cultures of Sikhism. With her life feeling lost, Kaur began feeling dissatisfied and decided to cut her hair against her cultural belief in order to fit the young American lifestyle. She felt like she had lost her self-identity and her inner connections to her principles. As Kaur comes back home to her family, a mixed feelings of guilt and shame filled her when her mother saw her hair. After realizing her mistake, she returns to her mother and ancestors’ way of life to find a solid ground and foundation based of her people’s way of life. This autobiography made me realize that as much effort we give to run away from our

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.

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

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.

The main character is a girl named Usha, who was young when she moved to the United States. She grew up abiding to Bengali culture and lifestyle in Massachusetts. As she gradually matures to an adult and her own person, it's shown that Usha struggles to find a balance between the American culture that she's surrounded by and the Bengali culture that fits the mold of her family.

Forming a new identity in a foreign country is not an easy task. Immigrants usually face challenges to identify themselves. Identity formation is the development of one’s distinctive personality due to particular reasons such as new environment, new culture and conflicts. During the process, some characters from Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake either create or deny the bond with their own culture; some undergo conflicts among generations. Those processes reflect significantly in Ashima and Gogol throughout the book. The degree of assimilations determines to what extent the characters have formed the new identity in the new culture.

When adapting to a new culture, many find it hard to assimilate into their new world while still holding on to their past life. Finding yourself in a new place with a new language and unfamiliar faces is challenging for immigrants. Jhumpa Lahiri, an immigrant herself, sheds some light on the Indian culture in her book, Interpreter of Maladies. She conveys many challenges that immigrants face when moving away from their homeland in a myriad of short stories. These short stories introduce similar themes of immigration and adaptation through different experiences. Two of Lahiri’s short stories, “A Temporary Matter” and “Mrs. Sens”, do a great job in showing similar challenges of cultural differences in two different ways. They introduce characters

The movie Fools Rush In is a great example of how gender as well as cultural differences can hinder communication in a multicultural society. Fools Rush In is about two people, Alex and Isabel, who come from two different cultural backgrounds who after a one night stand become pregnant and decide to get married. However, along with the marriage come compromises that include cultural traditions and personal sacrifices. The movie is a comedy but can also be viewed as romantic and shows how two people who love each other can resolve the issues of cultural and gender differences.

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