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Bend It Like Beckham: Representation Of Gender Stereotypes

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Representation Of Gender Stereotypes Essay

(Core Text: She’s The Man, Related Text: Bend It Like Beckham)

Gender refers to what it means to be male or female in daily life. Gender is different to sex, which is the term used to describe biological differences between males and females. Throughout history, the roles of males and females have changed. A stereotype is an oversimplified and conventional idea or image, used to label or define people or objects. We often have a preconcieved idea of people and think of them in terms of categories, rather than considering their individual differences. Society validates gender roles and stereotypes, encouring and pressuring us to fit into the dominant future. A good example of stereotyping …show more content…

This forces audiences to question their assumptions about gender and sport and let go of sexist beliefs about the capabilities of men and women in sport. Another example is the scene at the Debuntante ball and parodies traditions feminine attributes through Viola’s exaggerated contrasting actions; ‘’Remember, chew like you have a secret’’. This challenges the audience assumptions about appropriate gendered behaviour for women. Another good example is when Duke and ‘Sebastian’ are in the room practicing how to get Duke to talk to a girl and a spider comes along and ‘Sebastian’ yells out ‘’You’re the guy, get it!’’ to Duke. This shows how automatically girls are the ones who makes the boys do that kind of stuff because spiders are too icky to girls. Even though, Duke doesn’t know ‘Sebastian’ is a girl, he realises that theres is something wrong with him.

Everyone and anyone should be able to behave and act in the manner in which they feel comfortable, no one’s opinion other than their own individuals should matter to them. The film Bend It Like Beckham (2002), directed by Gurinder Chadha, is a British comedy drama. The main characters Jesminder (Parminder Nagra) and Jules (Keira Knightley) both challenge gender stereotypes. This film reflects the idea that females are expected to conform

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