Bend it like Beckham Analysis

By: Afifah Husnadia Binti Abdull Khalil

The film, Bend it like Beckham, follows two eighteen year old girls that dream of
becoming professional soccer players. The movie not only focuses on soccer but
also on the role gender plays in the lives of the characters, how cultural differences
impact each person throughout the film, and how race is still an important issue
within each society.

Jess Bhamra lives in West London with her traditional Punjabi Sikh Indian family
and dreams of playing soccer professionally but her mother does not allow her
from playing it because she is a girl. Although her parents don’t allow her to play
soccer, she sneakingly does so in the park with her friend Tony, who is a closeted
gay, and his friends. One day while playing out in the park, she is spotted by a girl
named Jules who invites her to join the local club team. Jules comes from an
English family and plays on a club girls’ soccer team. Like Jess, Jules’ mother
does not like the idea of her daughter playing a sport and wants her daughter to be
more feminine. Upon being asked to try out for the team, Jess is overjoyed but her
parents do not find the idea of their daughter playing soccer to be pleasant
especially if she has to show her legs in public. The coach of the girls’ soccer team
is a bit skeptical about a new girl joining the team but soon realizes that Jess is
talented. Even though playing soccer goes against her family traditions, Jess is
determined to play on the team even if she has to do it behind her parents’ backs.

Her situation worsens when she must choose between attending her sister’s’
wedding or going to the final soccer match where she will get the chance of being
seen by a college scout. Jess’ parents find out that she has been playing behind
their backs and forbid her from going back to the team. At her sister Pinky’s’
wedding, Jess’ convinces her father to let her go to the game to play and he
eventually gives in. When she arrives, her team is tied and she makes a free kick
that allows for them to win the game. After the match, Jess and Jules are offered a
full ride scholarship to play soccer at Santa Clara University. Because Jess is
reluctant to tell her parents about the scholarship, her friend Tony, decides to lie to
them and tell them that he is engaged to Jess as long as she is able to go to any
college she pleases and play soccer. But in the end, Jess builds up the courage to
tell her family the truth and her family accepts her wishes and allows her to go
abroad to play soccer.

Indian culture has many rules and expectations that can be hard to achieve. Culture
plays a major role in the lives of the Bhamra and Paxton families. Culture can be
defined as “a way of life created by humans” (Conley,81). The Bhamra family live
in West London in a neighborhood called Hounslow that is known for being a
community filled with Indian culture. Although Jess’ parents moved to England
many years ago, they have never fully integrated and choose to stick to their
religion and traditions in hopes of preserving their culture. Besides Jess’ soccer
team, both sisters do not appear to have any friends outside their own cultural
circle. This may be due to the fear that the Bhamra parents have that Western
culture might negatively influence their daughter’s behaviors and lives, possibly
ruining their chances of growing up to be modest young women. For example,
Pinky must have a traditional Indian wedding with an Indian husband. Mrs.
Bhamra constantly is seen nagging her youngest daughter Jess about finding a
husband, “I was married at your age! You don’t even want to learn to cook dhal!”
(Bend it like Beckham) Indian women used to get married at a very young age just
like most cultures did in the past, but in modern society women are waiting until
they are a bit older to settle down and get married. Indian women must be
conservative and modest while showing little skin (Indian Culture). According to
Mrs. Bhamra, “she shouldn’t be running around with all these men showing her
bare legs to 70,000 people! She’s bringing shame on the family.” Jess’ mother
believes in maintaining a good reputation and the Indian culture doesn’t view
highly of women who play sports. Most Indian girls aren’t allowed to play soccer
because it goes against many of their traditions, like their uniform shows a lot of
bare skin, “I nearly scored from 25 yards today. I could have carried on playing all
night. It’s not fair that boys never have to come home and help. If I get an arranged
marriage, would I get someone who’d let me play football whenever I wanted?
(Bend it like Beckham)” This goes to show that Indian girls are supposed to be
lady-like and not be wasting their times running around with a ball. Boys, on the
other hand, get more freedom to do whatever they wanted and can dress however
they want to, but girls have more rules and restrictions placed on them. Jess’
family hopes that she will leave her dream of becoming a soccer player and follow
in her sister’s’ path in learning how to be a good Sikh woman and eventually
finding a good Sikh Indian man to marry. In the Sikh culture and religion, when
someone is to be married, they are joining their two families instead of just
individuals (Sikh Weddings). The Paxton’s are a traditional English family
however they do share some common ground with the Bhamra family. Both Mrs.
Paxton and Mrs. Bhamra share a similar view on how their daughters should
behave and be spending less time playing sports and more time trying to find a
husband.

The film also address the issue of homosexuality through the character Tony. Tony
is one of Jess’ best friends but has a secret. Tony reveals that he is gay, which in
response to this Jess says, “but, you’re Indian!” According to the Indian Journal of
Psychiatry, “Prejudice against different lifestyles is part of many cultures,
incorporated into most religions, and is a source of conflict in Indian society”
(Psychiatry). The Sikh culture believes in five vices and lust is one of them. Most
Sikhs view homosexuality as proof of lust (SikhReligion). Tony feels that he is
unable to open up to his parents or members of his community in fear of being
shamed or punished. Western culture is more widely accepting towards
controversial issues yet people are still quick to make assumptions as reflected by
Jules’ mother who thought that she and Jess had a romantic relationship going on
because they always hung around one another and played soccer.

Society has placed certain ideals on appropriate behavior in regards to gender

roles. In the film, gender roles play an important part in the lives of the characters.
Society’s expectations and rules are very different for men and women. Gender
roles are defined as “the culturally defined behaviors deemed appropriate for a man
or a woman” (Gender Roles). Because of such roles, one learns what is deemed as
masculine or feminine behavior. Indian women are supposed to be good cooks and
housewives. Mrs. Bhamra exemplifies the optimal Indian woman because is she
always shown throughout the film preparing food and serving others. Pinky, Jess’
sister, is also a good example of the ideal Sikh woman because she is very
feminine and believes in maintaining the traditional Sikh ideology. Jess is much
different than her mother and sister, she has no interest in learning how to cook or
being “feminine,” all she cares about is soccer and nothing more. Her behavior is
deviant because she is acting outside of the normal gender roles and ruining her
chances of being integrated into the Indian community. When Jess’ mother finds
out that she has joined a girls’ soccer team, she is outraged because soccer is seen
as a male sport and that should not change. Mrs. Bhamra mentions that, “What
family will want a daughter-in-law who can run around kicking a ball all day but
cannot make an Indian dish” (Bend it like Beckham)? She believes that the role of
women is to stay home, cook, and to look after the kids and does not think that her
daughter’s dreams are appropriate. Margaret Andersen notes that, “the cultural
basis of gender is apparent especially when we look at different cultural contexts”
(The Social Construction of Gender, 250). This cultural basis of gender is relevant
in both Indian and Western cultures. Mrs. Bhamra wants her daughter to focus less
on soccer and more on learning to become an appropriate Sikh woman and she
does so by giving Jess cooking lessons. Jess views the cooking lessons as a way for
her mother to control her and push her into to becoming more womanly.

Jules is much like her friend Jess: sporty and passionate about soccer. Mrs.
Paxton, Jules mother, is struggling to understand her daughter who is much more
interested in soccer than going shopping and boys like regular girls. Both mothers
share a detachment from their daughters. The Paxton’s portray the regular family
living in the Hounslow neighborhood yet there is a certain role Mrs. Paxton
expects her daughter to conform to. It is shown that she has a tremendous fear that
playing soccer might have affected her daughter’s sexuality. She overhears an
argument between Jules and Jess and thinks they are having a lovers quarrel. In
this scene, Mrs. Paxton is quick to make an assumption of her daughter having
missed the beginning and end of the conversation. Mrs. Paxton later on confronts
her daughter about the situation and Jules replies with, “Mother, just because I
wear trackies and play a sport does not make me a lesbian” (Bend it like Beckham).
Mrs. Paxton is continuously trying to change her daughter into what she seems
appropriate behavior for a lady. She tries and pushes Jules to try things she
associates with girls like boys and makeup. In a scene, Jules is seen playing soccer
in the backyard with her father, when her mother comes in and says, “Alan, when
are you gonna realize you have a daughter with breasts, not a son? No boy is gonna
want to go out with a girl who’s got bigger muscles than him” (Bend it like
Beckham)!

Racism occurs everywhere even in our modern world today. Racism is the belief
that members of separate races possess different and unequal traits (Ymay, 327). In
different instances throughout the film, there is a racist theme that is shown. Mr.
Bhamra is against his daughter playing on a club soccer team because he fears that
she will be hurt just as he was when he was young. In a discussion between him
and Jess’ coach, Mr., Bhamra talks about his reason for not allowing his daughter
to play soccer. He recalls that, “Young man, when I was a teenager in Nairobi, I
was the best fast bowler in our school. Our team even won the East African Cup.
But when I came to this country, nothing. I was not allowed to play in any of the
teams, and the bloody Goras in their clubhouses made fun of my turban and sent
me off packing” (Bend it Like Beckham)! It is evident that he has dealt with many
racist experiences in regards to past sporting career. This has influenced his view
on Jess playing sports as he is hesitant and fearful about her being treated
differently like he was. This in turn causes Jess to feel like she has hide her love of
playing soccer in fear of hurting her father. As the film progresses, Jess encounters
some racism while playing during a soccer match. During a game, an opponent
pushes and tries to fight Jess while mentioning something offensive to her which in
return causes her to fight back. She is given a red card and sent off the field. She is
confronted by her coach who tells her that she overacted over the push but she
responds, “That’s not all. She called me a Paki. But I guess that’s something you
wouldn’t understand” (Bend it like Beckham). This evidently affected Jess and
leaves her distraught and angry. The movie highlights the impact racism can have
on an individual and their attitudes of feeling accepted into society.

Bend it like Beckham is a film that embodies a collection of themes. Culture,

Gender roles, and racism play an important role in the film and in the lives of the
characters. Each theme is connected to one another because without culture a
person would not be able to distinguish what are appropriate roles for men and
women. Culture plays into implied stereotyping because a person is not born being
hateful towards other, it is through their environment and culture where they are
able to learn about such things. In the film, each character encounters a different
form of discrimination and each individual is able to overcome those challenges