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Bend It Like Beckham Movie Analysis

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Bend It Like Beckham is a film that revolves loosely around soccer, but incorporates many life lessons and situations common in this day and age. The two main characters, Jess and Jules, both are women living in a culture where society and their loved ones expect them to act a certain way. Jesminder Bhamra, nicknamed Jess, has a great love for playing soccer, but because of her traditional Punjabi Indian family believing women have roles to cook, clean, and get married, she is not allowed to play. Jess meets Juliette Paxton, nicknamed Jules, who also struggles with her mother’s expectations of believing women should dress femininely, attract boys, and not play sports. Jules encourages Jess to join the soccer team she is on, and Jess accepts but must keep it a secret from her family and the rest of the Indian community. The situation with her family grows even more complicated because of her sister’s upcoming wedding, and the incredible pressure that the Bhamra’s are under because of it. Despite cultural differences, Jess and Jules both find themselves in positions where their mother’s don’t approve of their dedication to soccer, and grow a strong intercultural friendship and bond because of it. They also both have a strong relationship with their coach, Joe, who also went against what his father thought was right and decided to coach the women’s team. This film applies to this course because cultural identity, ecological fallacies, cultural traditions, conformity and

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