Describe at least one important idea [overcoming obstacles] in the text. Explain how the Director used at least one of the techniques [dialogue] to show you that the idea was important. In the 2002 film Bend It Like Beckham, the director Gurinder Chadha has used the concept of overcoming obstacles as an important idea throughout the text. She as accomplished this by using dialogue to show how people triumph over drawbacks like cultural differences, sexism and racism and relationships, and she demonstrates their importance by relating these character’s struggles to real life situations.
Firstly, Gurinder Chadha has used dialogue to show the difference posed by opposing cultures. Particularly, Jessminda Bhamra, or Jess as she is most commonly known, is made to overcome the complications of wanting to both appease her traditional Sikh family, and her constant internal struggle as she tries to achieve her goal of becoming a football player, like her idol David Beckham.
Dialogue is used to show the resistance Jess has to face, as she battles against what her family’s tradition asks of her, like cooking and learning how to become the ideal Indian wife, and the opposition that Jess has to overcome in the form of her disapproving parents. Jess: ‘Anyone can cook aloo gobi, but who can bend a ball like Beckham? ’Mrs. Bhamra: ‘What family would want a daughter-in-law who can run around kicking football all day but can’t make round chapatis? ’ These quotes show the contrast between the opinion of Jess and that of her mother, Mrs. Bhamras. Whereas Mrs.
Bhamras’s mind set is that Jess will submit to her wishes and learn to cook conventional Indian food, Jess however is determined to follow her talents on the football pitch. Chadha has made this dialogue important, as she reveals the conflict that modern day teenagers often face with their own parents. It shows that even though parents only want what they believe to be the best for their children, they should sometimes trust their children’s judgement, or they can risk causing anger and resentment to grow which will slowly drive them apart as opinions are continuously being suppressed.
Gurinder Chadha has also used dialogue to show importance of sexism and racism throughout the film. These factors are important, as they relate to not only the film but the world in general. Firstly, sexism is an important factor in the film, Bend it like Beckham, as Jess is often ridiculed and undermined, purely because she is female. When Jess is first told in the park by Juliette Paxton, or Jules, that she has good potential as a soccer player, she is genuinely surprised, as she had up until that point been taken for granted.
Chadha has used sexism as theme in this book to display how much harder females have to fight in what is a largely male dominated world. Jess bitterly recounts to the poster of David Beckham poster on her bedroom wall, that; Jess: ‘They wouldn’t have a problem with any of this if I was a guy. ’ Gurinder Chadha also shows racism to be an important factor in the film. Mr. Bhamras was emotionally scarred several years previously.
When he applied for a British cricket team, he was ridiculed for his turban. This is his one of his primary reasons for wanting to prevent Jess from playing soccer; he wanted to protect his daughter from the great hurt he suffered at the hands of racism. Chadha has used dialogue to show the effect that emotional scarring has on a person, and how the insensitivity of a few people can lead to a far greater effect on the person’s emotional well being, as Mr. Bhamras vowed to never to play cricket again.
Gurinder Chadha has made this important, as she has put an underlying message in the text, saying that you should never be held back by what other people think of you; rather you should push past your boundaries and continue to strive to achieve your aspirations. Another important theme in the text Bend it like Beckham Gurinder Chadha has used dialogue to portray, is how older generations differentiate from newer ones. Jess’s parents are an arranged marriage couple, and though they are content with their relationship,tension often occurs as their ideas conflict. An example of this occurs when Mr.
Bhamras allows Jess to reach her dream of becoming a soccer player. Mrs. Bhamras is displeased at this decision, as she believes that Pinky’s wedding should have taken precedence over everything else. This differentiates from Pinky and Jess’s relationships, as they were, obviously, not arranged. This therefore means that by choosing their future husbands or boyfriends with their hearts rather with their parent minds, they are able to decide for themselves their futures. Also, as a new generation of Indian women who were raised in suburban Britain rather than Asia, they have different morals and ideals from their parents.
Though they do not wish to rebel, they both resort to sneaking off, and negotiating pathways to escape their parents control. Pinky has secret ‘meetings’ in the car with her boyfriend, whilst Jess tells her parents that she has a part time job to escape to football practice. Jess: ‘It’s just culture, that’s all’ They simply do what they have to do in order to survive in a world where expectations and desires often conflict. They have grown up negotiating between cultures on a daily basis. Not only this, but Chadha has also embraced the way the compassion in the family was portrayed.
No matter what one’s cultural differences are, family dynamics are easy to relate to because family is universal. To conclude, Gurinder Chadha has used dialogue to portray the importance of the idea of overcoming obstacles throughout the film, Bend it like Beckham, as the characters dominate factors like racism and sexism, cultural differences and relationships that had at one point held them back. They are important as Chadha displays an resemblance to real life struggles, and displays via this text that the truth is the way to achieve both ones dreams and to maintain ones family ties.
