Cultural Understanding on the Movie Example “Bend It Like Beckham”

Jess has the desire to play soccer, but her parents want her to conform to Indian traditions. Once Jess earns a place on a women’s soccer team, she is encouraged by her new found teammates to continue to defy her parent’s wishes for a chance to play with them. She starts playing on their team after Jules, one of the players, complements and urges her to play on a team most well known for their competitiveness and multiple accomplishments in the soccer world, for example winning the tournament in Europe. This decision goes against Jess’ family obligations in that it subjects her to being immodest and straying away from a traditional women’s role in Indian society. Jess’ mother wishes for her to adhere to Indian traditions in that she prospers into a good Indian wife, instead of playing a game most often looked upon as a boy’s sport. Furthermore, she tells her daughter to stop continuing on with her ongoing rebellions and resorts to forcing Jess to learn to cook good Indian meals and wear

They conclude with the huge difference that is being live between the two generations. But what they reflect is the importance that the Indian culture gives to the family, they say that the family is very important and whether they young folks are entering to a new world they still keep their roots with them.

The novel begins and centers around Salie, the narrator of the story and her football fanatic brother Madicke. Salie is struggling in France whilst her brother still in Niodior, Senegal, dreams of coming to France and becoming the next African football star in Europe by paying a fortune to be smuggled in illegally. Salie does not want to crush her brother's dreams, but she knows that coming to France is not the solution and understands how hard it is to convince him, especially when she “seems” to be doing well there from his point of view. ‘Salie was an outsider on the little Senegalese island of Niodior because she was illegitimate. She left to marry, got divorced, and now feels that she belongs nowhere’. Home is neither France nor Senegal for her. The novel recounts the fates of various immigrants who have tried to make it abroad with high hopes and dreams only to be crushed. For example, Moussa, the promising football player with lots of potential who is scouted and brought over to France only to have his dreams come crashing down when he is not qualified to join the team. ‘In leaving Niodior he had triumphed, but he will never return having conquered France and cannot let his family know he has failed’. ‘Salie knows that her brother Madicke may succeed as a footballer, but he will always be used by the colonial country. She sees this clearly in the French’s

Though their writings show similarity in the negativity that surround these sports, their essays differ for the feelings the writers feel now. Bowling refuses to watch hockey, whereas, Zimmerman still has a passion for the sport. For Bowling the sport has been ruined by the violence, the marketing, and the ways it has changed from a sport to business. He says, “ When I was a boy, the boards, ice, and score clock were free of advertising; goals and assists meant more than salaries; and players and teams had distinct character” (Bowling,215). For Bowling, he was still looking for the same sport that he watched growing up, what he sees today, he does not recognize. According to him young boys are being sexually abused by coaches, players are badly hurting others and people like Don Cherry are exploiting others for a good laugh. He sees violence everywhere in the sport now, not the good, old, pure sportsmanship he saw growing up. He also says, “Why should I follow a sport whose foundation in this country is made of blood and beer and an empty rhetoric around outdated and destructive notions of patriotism and manhood” (Bowling, 215). He loves the sport but cannot support what has become of it. Zimmerman shares the love for soccer as other Africans, he says, “my heart will break too, if Ghana fails to win the Africa Cup” (Zimmerman, 346). He wishes for the best, for both the country and the sport. He doesn’t want them to build an identity around

1. In the novel, The Glass Castle, fire plays an important role. Not only does fire play a physical part in Jeannette Walls’ life, but it also plays a mental role. In the way beginning of the novel, Jeannette explains an incident she had as a child.

To start off, Jess’s dreams are more important than here culture, because they are who she is as a person. Jess does not simply want to be the traditional Indian girl that her parents want her to be, she wants more. Instead, Jess makes a bold decision that traditional Indian girls wouldn’t do, she chose to

Firstly, Every hardship and obstacles she endured throughout her childhood helped Jeannette to become a successful adult.Jeannette’s parent were very unpredictable, her mother was self absorbed in her hobbies, and her father was an interminable alcoholic. Even though her parent neglected and gave less attention to Jeannette,

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.

A person’s heritage and cultural identity may be lost when moving to a new country where the culture is different and other cultures are not easily accepted. In the short story “Hindus”, Bharati Mukherjee uses setting, characters and the plot to discuss what it is like to lose your cultural identity while being a visible minority in America. Mukherjee uses the plot to describe the events that take place in the main characters life that lead her to realize how different the culture and life is in the America’s. She also uses the characters as a way of demonstrating how moving away from one’s culture and heritage can change a person’s perspective and ways of thinking. Mukerjee also uses setting in her story to identity the physical differences in culture between living in India and America. Alike the setting and characters, the plot helps describe the loss of culture with a sequence of events.

The girl’s inner characterization resembles a coming of age character. She develops because of the action and her traits as a child are presented in contrast with her traits as a teenager. This contrast is emphasized using the third-person narrator at the beginning of

Another concept of race in the movie revolves around the idea to ethnicity. When Jess's teammates question her about an acceptable marriage in her culture, she states them that it would be unacceptable to marry someone “white” or “black” and more importantly forbidden to marry a Muslim. From this scene the audience can understand that she is only allowed to marry a Hindu Indian man as, if the groom is not Indian then the in the society she will be considered the “odd one” which would also bring disgrace to her family.

Once the student is back in his room, he begins pondering his life's situation. He is sensitive to his current environment, and imagines Harlem and New York talking to him, as if they were friends. They are the two worlds he is a part of, and he tries to resolve the differences by acknowledging the similarities. He recognizes that his life has many things in common with other people; working, loving, reading, learning, eating, sleeping, etc. Only the objects of expression are different.

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

E.M. Forster’s classic novel “A Passage to India” tells the story of a young doctor, Dr. Aziz, and his interactions with the British citizens who are residing in India during the time of the British Raj. Throughout the novel, the reader gets many different viewpoints on the people and the culture of India during this point in history. The reader sees through the eyes of the Indian people primarily through the character of Dr. Aziz, and the perceptions of the British through the characters of Mr. Fielding, Adela Quested, and Mrs. Moore. Through the different characters, and their differing viewpoints, the reader can see that Forster was creating a work that expressed a criticism that he held of the behavior of the British towards their Indian subjects.