The Issues of Culture and Gender in Bend It Like Beckham
Culture and gender are the two main issues of ‘Bend it like Beckham’.
In this film gender is put across by using sex and religion, but it is
much more complex than that. Race, sex, religion and beliefs should
not stop you getting a job; or achieving what you want in life. In
‘Bend it like Beckham’ all Jess wants to play football, however
because of her religious and cultural beliefs her mom says this is not
possible. In this essay I will be discussing the different cultures
and genders issues in ‘Bend it like Beckham’.
Throughout the film Indian beliefs are portrayed by Jess and her
family, this is showed by Jesses parents always wearing traditional
Indian clothing. Indian music is played throughout the film. Giving
the feeling that Jess lives within a family with strong Indian
beliefs. It is plain from the beginning and throughout the film Jess
and her sister have different ideas how young women should behave,
compared to her parent who have strong Indian beliefs. This is often
causes conflict in the form of arguments, an example of this is when
Jesses mother does not want her play football she wants her to behave
like a real Indian lady. By this is meant be a typical Indian
housewife, looking after the children and her Indian husband. In
addition to this Jess argues with her mother about her clothes, her
mother wants her to wear more traditional clothing, however Jess wants
to wear sports clothes. Jules and her mother both have different ideas
to how a young woman should act as well. Her mother thinks she should
wear make up and dress up. On the other hand Jules wants t...
... middle of paper ...
...of the invites are
wearing traditional clothing. Plus the music in the background has an
Indian style. On the other hand when Jules parents come they make them
feel welcome. In the film Jess get caught be her mother play fighting
with a group of Indian boys. When this happens the camera zooms up it
to Jess’s face to show she is shocked. Another good camera shot is
where we are first introduced to Jess with her mother in the shop. In
this scene the camera switches over from Jess and her sister over to
Jules and her mom.
The filmmaker of ‘Bend it like Beckham’ has presented issues of
culture and gender very well in the film. He has put two girls who
both like football together, but with different backgrounds of
culture. Plus the two families of the two girls disagree on playing
football if you’re a girl.
Gender relationships are a very explored issue within these texts. In a majority, anyone no matter if they are male or female who do not fit in or do not conform to stereotypes to an extent, can be cast out by that group. Whether it is, their looks, their behaviour, the way they dress, or the way they think and feel, they are judged as different. This ‘outcast’ idea is portrayed in both the films. In the two feature films, the most obvious ‘outcasts’ would be the two ‘hero figures’ the intruders into the created microcosm.
Almost all continents try to recognize and integrate more than just two specific genders. Some terms include “transgender” and “gay”. Many people classify gender with three things such as only having two sexes (male/female), only having two sexualities (gay/straight), and only having two genders (male/female). Around the globe, many have their own traditions for establishing genders. In the film, “Two Spirits”, Fred was not just a boy who wanted to be a girl, but he wanted to be both a boy and a girl. He was identified as a nadleehi in his Navajo culture. According to Western societies they have no straight connection to this tradition, while other communities are strict with either origins of sex, sexuality, or gender. Knowing about different cultures on how one view gender diversity can make one understand the gender expression
The most important events of this film all revolve around the female characters. While there are some male charac...
Believe it or not, gender scripts shape our everyday lives. The way we think, act, or even the way we interact with one another is undeniably influenced by gender roles. References toward gender are placed subliminally around us in ads, billboards, and on the television. These messages subconsciously tell us as a society what is acceptable behavior and what is not. As learned in class, gender scripts are socially constructed behaviors that society sets for all of us to follow. If someone behaves differently from the already established norms, that person is looked as weird or as an outcast from the rest of the group. The iconic film Love and Basketball allows us as viewers to see gender scripts being defied and role reversal emerged.
perspective on the concept, arguing that gender is a cultural performance. Her careful reading of
The word gender refers to a general classification of human beings into male and female with socially and culturally constructed characteristics, behaviors, attributes and roles preconceived and labelled as appropriate for each class. The society and culture today have placed human beings in a box which to a large extent dictates how we act in the world.
Smith, Jeff, and Chloe Beighley. "Normalizing Male Dominance: Gender Representation in 2012 Films." Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy. N.p., 12 Feb. 2013. Web. 1 Apr. 2014.
The intersectionality of race, class and gender play an important role in the way we address the causes of crime and the way we respond to such crimes. To avoid marginalizing the most vulnerable of our populations, those with a low socioeconomic status, primarily of the minority races, we must account for the social designations when designing policy and dealing with the crime problem. Aside from race, as described thoroughly by Michelle Alexander in The New Jim Crow, gender and low socioeconomic status are to be considered.
Also, the film revealed women empowerment and how superior they can be compared to men. While demonstrating sexual objectification, empowerment, there was also sexual exploitation of the women, shown through the film. Throughout this essay, gender based issues that were associated with the film character will be demonstrated while connecting to the real world and popular culture.
In the United States, it is most commonly taught that there are two genders: male and female. However, the 2005 documentary Middle Sexes challenges that idea by looking into the cultures of other countries throughout the world. While a large portion of the United States population thinks that non-cisgender and queer people are unnatural or freaks, that opinion is not global. Many people who follow Christianity in the United States find it morally offensive to be anything but straight and cis, while many other religions and cultures embrace non-binary and queer people as the doing of their god. Middle Sexes looks into the differences between the North American social standards for gender and how they are clash with other cultures’ beliefs. The
Disney’s 1998 film, Mulan, attempts to tell the heroic tale of a Chinese woman fighting for her family and country while defying gender roles, but looking into details such as song lyrics enforcing both male and female gender stereotypes, and bland visualization of characters, one can see that this film in fact enforces gender role inequality.
...gender norms are perceived by others. With more time, and more careful analysis of the movie, I believe my results could have been more accurate through better operationalization methods of the variables. However, the patterns I found did a good job in answering the question I was interested in.
The film “Bend it like Beckham ” by Gurinder Chadha shows concepts of how people are treated differently based on their race and identity. The representation of these concepts shows and influenced by how they change an individual's life of the environment. The main character, Jessminder lives in an Indian household, struggles between her and cultural barriers. The film shows how Jess shapes herself because of her environmental surroundings. The themes that are presented throughout the film are; Sexism, cultural barriers and friendship. Through the use of visual techniques such as camera angles/shots, this shows the emotion of the protagonist. Therefore the decisions that the main character chooses are shaped by her environmental surroundings.
When one hears the word “gender” it is typically assumed to be referring to the biological sex of that individual. However, gender is not a static concept in our world anymore. The traditional spheres of what is masculinity and femininity have become increasingly muddled as our society progresses socially and becomes more accepting. Along with this, however, social processes continue to take place to enforce what we believe a man and a woman should be, in an attempt to force people to fit into what we see as being a man and a woman.
The movie, Fifty Shades of Grey, portrayals its dominant ideology sexuality through the story between two main characters: a female literature student named Anastasia Steele, and a young male billionaire Christian Grey. In this movie, it indicates strong traditional heterosexuality, and it reflects the gender roles about submission and dominance, which leads to gender inequality through misinformation. Although entertaining and refreshing, this movie brings more negative impacts more than positive ones.