A Feminist Perspective on The Portrayal of Gender, Class and Race in Bend It Like Beckham and Under Western Eyes

Why do people matter? This is a question no one really thinks about. Everyone is a vital part in the world, regardless of them being a baby who just screamed for the first time or a senior taking their last breath; they are all imperative in the makings of the social world. In Bend It like Beckham, by Gurinder Chadha the two main characters Jesminder 'Jess' Kaur Bhamra and Juliette 'Jules' Paxton, go through trials of wanting to become professional football players. Also, in Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourse, by Chandra Talpade Mohanty and Why Race, Class, and Gender Still Matter, by Margret L. Andersen and Patricia Hill Collins; they discuss how race and gender play roles in peoples everyday lives.

Race, class, and gender matter to society because, even today it continues to structure society in ways that every person is a valued member and what they do in the world effects even the smallest thing. Even today there are minorities and superiorities: some have more opportunities than others. Race, class, and gender discussed in Anderson shows its importance by discussing how diverse people create the foundation for systems in the world. Despite inequality, the world seems to be moving forward in breaching the gap between wealthy and people who live on the streets.

“Fundamentally, race, class, and gender are intersecting categories of experience that affect all aspects of human life; thus, they simultaneously structure the experiences of all in the society.” (Andersen)

This quote from Andersen discusses how race, class, and gender intersect throughout life, and create peoples experiences, although different, but sometimes similar. This quote relates to the scenes in Bend when Jules is nervous about the American scout coming to their final game, and Jess can’t play because it’s the same day as her sister’s wedding and she has family obligations, let alone, her family disapproves of her playing football. The reason Jules is nervous is because since Jess started on the team, Jules and her have been ‘two-peas-in-a-pod’ and working off of each other really well. Jules is afraid that since she knows that a scout will be there, and Jess won’t, she’ll do poorly. These two areas in the texts’ are similar in that Andersen and Bend are both discussing how different people who come from different walks of life shape each other, and sometimes improve each other’s experiences. Another way they are similar is in that they both converse how different people from different backgrounds impact others’ lives, and how those people build of each other, even without realizing it sometimes.

An example from Andersen, of how most Americans think that they don’t discriminate, but they are the main culprits, “…if you ask Americans if they support non-discriminate policies, the overwhelming number will say, “Yes.” This quote relates to the scenes in Bend, when Jules and Jess are talking about playing for the American women’s football (soccer) team. There are several scene when Jess and Jules are discussing how they want to play professional football, but since they live in London, and there are no women football teams, they aren’t given the opportunity to be a part of that. This is another way that the principles of equality talked about by Andersen, are complicated. In the United States there seems to be a lot more opportunity for minorities, than anywhere else in the world, but that’s just what’s on the surface. Most immigrants who come to the United States think that they will get an equal opportunity, and that there are no discriminations. This couldn’t be further from the truth. For example, even though during the years 1954-68 the African-American Civil Rights movement, there is still a lot of racism towards African-Americans. The world has moved further towards accepting minorities, but even today, if you look at the high paying jobs, the people you’ll see in those positions are, white, rich males. Today, and most everyday forward is a small, but successful step towards greater equality for those who have had little to no opportunities.

“…experiences of women and men seriously and analyzing how race, class, and gender shape the experiences of both men and women – in different, but interrelated, ways. Likewise, the study of racial and ethnic groups begins by learning the diverse histories and experiences of these groups.” (Andersen)

This quote from Andersen is a reflection on how men and women are treated and do different things. This quote also relates to a quote from Bend:

Jess: ...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? (Chadha)

This quote from Bend is significant because Jess being the youngest daughter in the family and at ‘marrying-age’ for an Indian girl is in her mother’s eyes shameful because she’s never even had a boyfriend and she isn’t interested in learning how to cook Indian meals. In this quote Jess is expressing her jealousy over how easy it seems to be a guy. Because Jess is a female she sees boys as not having to do a lot and them being highly respected, also, because of her culture and how she was raised. These two quotes connect in how Jess doesn’t think boy have to do a lot, in an Indian family, and how in Andersen, the topic is the differences between men and women.

“The United States is a nation where people are supposed to be able to rise above their origins… the nation is founded on the principle of equality.” (Andersen) This quote is significant because the theory of Andersen and Collins is that race, class, and gender a structurally very important to everyone’s lives. For example in Bend It Like Beckham, by Gurinder Chadha, Jess’s Dad (Mr. Bhamra), when he was younger he was ‘one of the best’ fast bowlers, where he was from, but when he and his family moved to London he wasn’t allowed to play, and was shunned when he tried all because of his turban, and being Indian:

Mr. Bhamra: ...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! (Chadha)

This quote and the quote from Andersen are conflicting views. This is because, since the movie, Bend, is featured in London, Andersen is presented in a Western, United States, setting. London and the United States are very different in that politically things are viewed differently with cause’s English people to think based off of their views and not others. Although, these two places are similar in that they are developed in similar ways today, and are allies. This quote by Mr. Bhamra, contradicts the view point of Andersen within the words “United States…is founded on the principle of equality.” These contradict each other by the way of Western views. With Bend being located in London, even though they have similar view points, like in America, not all races are thought of as equal, regardless of what Americans say.

In the beginning of Bend, Jules and Jess’s parents don’t want them to play football, but for different reasons. Jules’s mom doesn’t want her to play football because she thinks it’s too manly and it’s turning her daughter into a tom-boy.

Jules's Mum: - …Alan, when are you gonna realise you have a daughter with breasts, not a son?

Jules: Mum!

Jules's Dad: - Paula, please!

Jules's mum: - No boy's gonna want to go out with a girl - who's got bigger muscles than him!

In turn, Jess’s parents don’t want her to play football because her mom thinks it’s against being an Indian girl, but her father doesn’t want her to play because, when he tried to play he was shunned and was forced to quit. He just wants Jess to not have to go through that experience of being called various slurs.

“All social groups are located in a system of power relationships wherein your social location can shape what you know – and what others know about you.” (Andersen)

This quote is discussing how, what and how you grow up around shape you into who we all will be in life, and how successful we will become. For example, in Bend, the way Jess grows up, around all Indian people, in an Indian neighborhood, and how her parents treat her, shape the way that she acts, and the way that she sees herself in life. All Jess wants to do is play football, but like the scene when Jess is complaining to Tony,

Jess: …Anything I want is just not Indian enough for 'em!... I don't wear make-up or tight clothes like them. - They just don't see all those things!

Tony: - Parents never see the good things.

This scene is showing how Jess wants to play football, but her parents don’t approve of it because it’s not “Indian enough for [them].” Another example that relates to this Andersen quote is when Jess and Pinkie are in Pinkie’s wedding car:

Pinky: Jess, don't you want all of this? This is the best day of your life, innit?

Jess: I want more than this. They've offered me and Jules a scholarship to go to America.

Pinky: But there's no way Dad will let you go and live abroad without getting married first.

This scene is showing how Indian families are very strict in how they run their lives. All Jess wants to do is take the scholarship and go to America with Jules, but in the Indian culture a woman has to be married or engaged to a man (preferably Indian) to be able to do things they want. Interestingly enough, in Bend the women who are married, seem to be the dominant forces in the family relationship and make the most decisions. Although, when a woman is un-married/engaged they can’t do a lot; they seem to have to have a man to be able to do things. This religious theory is also related to Andersons quote “…young woman who tries to explain her growing feminist perspective to her father who loves her but who also wants her to focus only on getting married.” These two perspectives interrelate in that each parent from the different articles are set on how they want their children’s lives to be and how they want it to happen.

An example of race is in the beginning of the movie when Jules and her mom (Paula) are out shopping and Pinkie and Jess are out shopping at separate stores. This act shows race because it can be seen through ‘Western-eyes’ that Jules and her mom – since they’re white – it’s typical to see, but with Pinkie and Jess, their mom is home cooking for the family and the two girls of the house are in charge of running errands for the family. Similarly in the movie the two pairs are shopping in different sections of London; Pinkie and Jess are in the Indian village, and Jules and Paula are in the Western village.

“…urgent political necessity…of forming strategic coalitions across class, race, and national boundaries.” (Mohanty) This quote is discussing how people from different areas in the world (i.e. race, and class) are seen versus how they actually are. In this section of her article she is discussing how we Westerners assume that we are the ‘primary’ and all else is ‘Others’. She discusses how we think that we are inferior to the people around us and in the rest of the world, that if someone isn’t ‘Westernized’ they aren’t right, or they are living life all wrong. For example, in Chadha’s film Bend It like Beckham, she portrays one of the leading roles, Jesminder (Jess), as a young Indian woman who loves to play football in her spare time, but is also very family oriented. Jess, being Indian, her family doesn’t approve of her wanting to play football, regardless of how much she loves it. Throughout the movie Jess fights her dream and family, trying to figure out what will be best for her, and throughput the movie she meets new people who help her shape and make decisions based on what they would do.

“…being "third world" (read: ignorant, poor, educated, tradition bound, domestic, family oriented, victimized, etc.)” (Mohanty) This quote is discussing how “third world” women are viewed by Western people. Since Mohanty was written in 1984, when Western culture wasn’t as ‘diverse’, as it is now; it puts a different lens on how the world was viewed 32 years ago. A lot happens, even within a year, where the whole world moves a step forward towards equality.

“Indian women,” (Mohanty), these two words stood out because they are highlighting a specific race, and culture behind just two words. The use of the words “Indian women [/people]” reflect how a culture is described, this type of terminology isn’t only used by Westerners, but by the rest of the world not mentioned. This descriptive series isn’t discriminatory, it is describing something for what it is.

“…"Woman" – a cultural and ideological composite Other constructed through diverse representational discourses (scientific, literary, judicial, linguistic, cinematic, etc.)–and “women” –real, material subjects of their collective histories – is one of the central questions the practice of feminist scholarship seeks to address.” (Mohanty)

This quote is discussing the difference between “woman” and “women” and how they are perceived differently by ‘Westerners’. Mohanty says that a “woman” would be described as the “Other” or the diverse one, compared to “women” who are viewed as “real” or what every country is supposed to be like. This quote connects to how, in Bend, Jess and Jules are seen as different, but equal because they become friends and play football really well together. In this case the “woman” would be considered Jess, and the “women” would be considered Jules. Jess would be considered the “woman” in this situation because she is considered a minority, by Western standards, and she is ‘diverse’. Jules would be considered the “women” in this scenario because she’s white, and considered normal to Western people.

“The assumption of women as an already constituted, coherent group with identical interest in desires, regardless of class, ethnic or racial location or contradictions, implies a notion of gender or sexual difference or even patriarchy…which can be applied universally and cross-culturally.” (Mohanty)

This quote from Mohanty is discussing how people see “women” as all the same, regardless. It also shows how, even there are a lot of distinguishing qualities, no one is really an individual because chances are the thing that you think makes you different the person next to you can say the same thing. There will always be someone who is the same as you at something, regardless of what it is. This quote connects to Bend by Jess and Jules getting the same opportunity to play for a professional women’s soccer team in America, even though they’re both from different ethnic backgrounds.

“The "status" or "position" of women is assumed to be self-evident, because women as an already constitute a group are placed within religious, economic, familial and legal structures.” (Mohanty)

This quote from Mohanty is discoursing how women are placed in certain areas, based on who they were born to, what they grew up with, and what type of life surrounds them.

Jess: It's not fair. I feel like I'm either going to let the team down or really piss them off, and I don't want to upset anyone.

Joe: Why are they so frightened to let you play?

Jess: They want to protect me.

Joe: From what?

Jess: This is taking me away from everything they know.

This quote relates to Bend in how Jess has to listen to her parents, so she can’t play football…with them knowing.

Race, class, and gender play a vast role in our everyday lives. We usually don’t see it but it effects everything we do and why we do it. The people that we are around daily, or the people that we like to spend the most time with reflect how we leave our mark on the world. No matter what anyone thinks, everyone has a purpose, there is a reason we were put on this earth and that is to help progress the world. Race, class, and gender issues are commonly brought up throughout history and many groups have been stigmatized because of these three things. Most of the people stigmatize by these inconveniences have a hard time when they come to the "Western world". Women, generally perceived as the week or gender, are also perceived as ignorant, but today it has come a long way in changing the way people think. And Hollywood movies for example, there are a lot of race, class, and gender stereotypes that everyone has to get over, to be able to move on.