I was about 13 years old when Bend it Like Beckham came out. I did not go see the movie then. I had heard it was a movie about girl soccer players, which was of not much interest to me. However, I was pleasantly surprised the other night when I watched the movie. It is about so much more that a girl’s soccer team.
The two leads in the movie are both teenage girls living outside of London. Jess is obsessed with David Beckham, plays soccer in the park with her male friends, and her heritage is Indian. Jules plays on a girl’s soccer team, dreams of playing soccer in America, and lives the typical English life. The girls meet when Jules sees Jess playing soccer in the park and invites her to try out for her team. At this point in the story it seems as if the two girls only have their love of soccer in common.
However, considering that they come from two dissimilar cultures and religions, I was astonished to realize that these 2 teenage girls really had a lot in common, especially their home life. Both mothers first concern seemed to be that their daughters had a boyfriend and or be married. In Jess’s home her older sister, Pinky, was about to be engaged and married and the whole household evolved around those events. Jess’s mother encourages her to find a boy just like her older sister. When the movie begins, Jules mother is dragging her through a lingerie store to find bras to enhance her figure to attract a boyfriend. Both girls act disgusted and uninterested in their mothers prodding.
Jules and Jess are both are embarrassed by the things they mothers say. It’s the typical clash between mothers and teenage daughters. When Jess goes over to Jules house for the first time, Jules’s mother is surprised to see that her daughter’s friend is of Indian heritage. Jules mother is polite to Jess, but she makes references to Jess’s heritage, giving her back-handed compliments. Jules is so embarrassed by her mother’s behavior towards Jess. Jess is embarrassed by her mother at the fitting for Pinky’s wedding dresses. When her measurements are being taking Jess’s mother makes fun of how flat she is in front of Pinky and the seamstress. Neither one of the mother’s seems to know not to cross certain boundaries where their daughter’s are concerned.
Both of the girl’s families were shocked when they thought they had discovered, wrongly, that they each had a daughter who was a lesbian. That information in turn lead to a broken engagement for Pinky, which depressed the whole family. Even that erroneous information was too much for the English mother. At first, Jules mother accepted that fact that her daughter might be a lesbian, but when she saw the girls hugging she went crazy. At Pinky’s wedding, Jules mother created quite a scene in front of the bridal couple and guests. She verbally attacked Jess and Jules had to drag her mother back to the car.----- check on this. So in reality no matter how liberal we assume the English are, the families in the end both have the same reaction.
Each girl had a touching moment with a parent, who changed their way of thinking just to make their daughters happy. Jules came home one day to find her mother learning about the game of soccer. so she could be more of a part of her daughter’s life. She finally realized this would include her more in her daughter’s life which would really make Jules happy. Jess’s father also changed to make his daughter happy. He allowed Jess to leave right in the middle of Pinky’s wedding reception to play in an important game. Jess’s dad realized that just because he had a bad experience playing soccer in England he should not use that to curtail Jess’s dreams.
In viewing this movie I realized how really similar the two cultures were when it came to their families. Jules comes from a Western, liberal background and Jess from an Asian, conservative background. Parents from both cultures embarrass and push their daughters into lifestyles the parents think are best. However, when it came to the happiness of their teenage girls, each had a parent that changed their own ways to accommodate the interest of their daughter. Maybe cultures are not so really after all when it comes down to the basics. They love their children and wants not only what’s best for their children, but in the end they want their children to be happy.
