Major Themes in Bend It Like Beckham

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.

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

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

To begin with, Bend It Like Beckham is a film about an Indian girl named Jess who lives in London with her family who is very strict about the way culture shapes how they live. She is an amazing soccer player and is asked to join a great team by Jules, a girl who sees her playing at the park. Unfortunately, Jess has to hide this team from her parents for her mother strongly disapproves of the shorts that expose her legs, especially her large burn scar on her thigh. Moreover, she mainly does not want Jess playing soccer because it is masculine and unattractive in her eyes, and she should be focusing on attending a university. Jess’s mother states that Jess needs to learn how to cook delicious Indian food in order to attract a husband, rather than worrying about sports. Due to this presence of folk culture in her home, Jess decides to lie to

a lot of the main characters, such as Leah, realize that one culture cannot define the

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.

Moreover, Native Indians have been assimilated into the white society in a way that they lose their faith in their ethnicity through being willing to mix with whites and enduring the racial discrimination. For example, Junior has a white girlfriend called Lynn, who chose to abort a baby because she was not ready to marry an Indian (Alexie 224). Without a doubt, the two races had ideological and historical conflicts that manifested in their relations. Also, Checkers are eager to be a white girl by saying that “I just looked at that blond hair and blue eyes and knew I wanted to look like that.” Even though Indians experience physical violence, unfair treatment, and prejudice, they endure these experiences. Consequently, the Native Indian lose their confidence and faith in their ethnicity and fully fallen for the white culture and values.

Hank’s physician assistant Divya Katdare, is of Indian decent, who’s parents to do not approve of her working in the medical field. Instead, her family sticks to the traditional Indian cultural roles of arranged marriage, which eventually falls apart and becomes shunned by her parents for a time for not obeying their wishes. In this instance, we can see the cultural values of the United States beginning to shine through. Freedom to choose and marry whomever a person wants is a cultural norm and something that is prided upon by Americans. As a culture, we tend to look down on cultural traditions where individuals are forced into arranged marriages. This also goes along with stereotypical views of Indian culture. If their children do not obey the parents, they suffer from being shunned by their

The coach of the team, a young, straight white man is ashamed to be the coach of a girl’s team. He had to stop playing football due to an injury, and he wanted to do something with football. He ended up

denied the company of her own parents after moving to America, her children independence, their need to stay away from her, is something she will never comprehend" (Lahiri,166). The act of cultral contrast amongst parents and offspring of the Diaspora people group can't be ceased by both of them since they both are born and raised in various cultures and in social orders.

Indian-Americans ranging from ages 16-24 that are first generation Americans undergo the stages of minority identity development. They are commonly placed in environments which force them to question their own identity. As they communicate with peers, they question themselves and their personal beliefs and customs. Occasionally, they view the majority culture as better than their own and may develop negative feelings of their Indian household upbringing. One may feel the need to internalize the values of the dominant culture of the community and change to fit the status quo. This is especially difficult for Indian-Americans because so many things that they are taught within the home are not normal for the majority culture therefore presenting a major division and causing an uproar in the home. Parents tend to view “normal” majority culture attributes as

The film lookes at the prejudices between the families but did not touch on how interacial couples also have deal with societies biases against them. Being a interacial couple may come along with its shares of difficulties, diffrences between the indiviuals, famial prejudice, and societies prejudice.

Gurinder Chadha is a British filmmaker who wrote, directed and produced the movie Bend it Like Beckham (G. Rings). The movie was premiered in the United States in 2003 and it had won praise from both critics and moviegoers for its accurate representations of the Asian culture (G. Rings) and initiating the topic for investigating a cross cultural study. Bend it like Beckham shows the socializing of the Punjabi Sikh families and the British English societies. It also stages the battle of a young teenage to breakdown the stereotypes placed

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

I selected to do a cultural analysis on the movie “Bend It Like Beckham”. To give a rundown on the plot of the movie, there is a girl named Jess Bhamra, who is an Indian living in England. She is a very talented soccer player, but her parents will not permit her to play. One day, she meets a girl named Jules Paxton, who persuades Jess to play soccer. Throughout her time on the team, Jess has to make sure that her parents do not discover that she is playing professional soccer and that she has a growing crush for her coach, (Chadha, "Bend it like Beckham").