Analysis of Bend It Like Beckham in Terms of Intercultural Communication

Movie Description

Bend it Like Beckham follows the story of Jess Bhamra as she is growing up while trying to find a balance between the society she lives and her family. The movie is set in the United Kingdom during the early 21st century when David Beckham was a futball star. Jess Bhamra has always idolized David Beckham, which shows with all the posters draped along her bedroom walls. Growing up, Jess always found time to play futball with the neighborhood boys in the park. One day while playing in the park, she caught the eye of Jules, a woman's club soccer player. In just a few short minutes Jules was astonished by Jess' skills and convinced her to come to try out for her team. Jess showed up to tryouts without any proper equipment, but easily impressed the team and earned her spot on the team lying to the coach that her parents approved of her joining. Jess continues lying to her parents and hiding away to practices and games quickly racking up the points for her team.

Jess and Jules quickly put their team on a winning streak earning them a spot in the finals where a scout from the United States will be there watching both girls to give them a chance at playing overseas. Jess is at crossroads since the final falls on the same day as her older sister’s wedding. During the reception, Jess’ father approaches telling her to go play in the second half of the game so that he has the opportunity to see both his girls happy the same day. Jess takes her opportunity and led by Jules and Jess the team takes the championship, which is not the biggest prize of the night. Jess and Jules both are given the opportunity to play in the United States which through some convincing Jess’ family eventually agrees to. Jess ends the movie with not only her futball dreams at arm’s reach, but she also has the man of her dreams.

Relevance to Intercultural Communication

Bend it Like Beckham mixes two cultures, the Indian culture with the British culture. Jess Bhamra and her family are a part of the Indian culture living in the United Kingdom. At the beginning of the movie, it seems as if the two cultures are strictly divided and interreact only through necessity and in a reserved manner. When Jules invites Jess to try out for the team, they deny this social normality, and the cultures soon unite. Together both girls are just seeking a way to make their dreams come true in a place where it is not encouraged for women to play futball. Although the British culture is not in support of women playing futball, but in the Indian culture that this idea is practically taboo. As Jess continues to fight her cultural restrictions and family bonds, she builds relationships with her teammates who enthusiastically learn about Jess' culture. As the team fights for wins and fights for acceptance, these cultural differences seem to dissipate among the players.

Literature Review

To this day it is still a mystery to humanity as to how the world works, yet individuals have their own opinions and ideas. These assumptions are common among a culture developing unification through the deep structure of culture. The deep structure of culture is developed through family, state, and religious institutions. The family institution develops the structured gender roles of a culture. While growing up, girls and boys have distinct differences that are developed through culture and family rather than biological differences (Samovar, Porter, McDaniel, & Roy, 2017). From the earliest aspects of one’s life, they are given a specific path and expectation concerned with their biological gender that they are to follow to be molded into what is viewed as a successful individual in any given culture.

Gender roles are prominent in Indian culture and are a building block of culture from birth. In traditional India, women were viewed as severely inferior to the males although this idea is changing as globalization has begun to influence society in India. This idea in India comes thanks to the history of isolation in India paired with strict and consistent religious beliefs. India is a collectivist culture evident from their old proverb, “An individual could no more be separated from the family than a finger from the hand” (Samovar et al., 2017). In the role of Indian women, the group that their focuses and sacrifices are being made for is their families. Women are held to and expected to maintain their wifely duties while maintaining the happiness of her husband and without the ownership of any assets in her own name. Housework, caring for the children, preparing all meals, and performing all religious duties are just some of the long list of these wifely duties. While women are conducting these duties, it is expected for them to ignore their self-interests and needs in order to focus on the fulfillment of the home.

Just as the deep structure of culture aims to explain how the world works, the world view of a culture is used to develop assumptions made about the nature of reality. When life seems to be confusing and unexplainable, our worldview is what is used to explain these random events that seem illogical in our lives and society. A worldview can be portrayed through three different spectrums; atheism, spirituality, and religion. Religion is what provides the worldview for over a billion people across the world. Religion helps bring this view by intertwining itself with perception and behavior. Hinduism is an example of the many religions practiced and celebrated around the world. Hinduism is unique compared to the other common religions due to its collaborative attributes meaning they do not believe in one supreme being, but rather a variety and plethora of beings for various aspects of life. Additionally, Hinduism does not align itself with a single founder, a single religious symbol, a single doctrine, or even a single holy center, rather Hinduism is celebrated using a variety of each of these religious spectrums.

In Hinduism, there is no separation between religion and culture instead these two factors align to become a follower’s complete way of life. Hinduism proposes the ideas of dharma, karma, and reincarnation that are important and structure the ways in which Hindus conduct themselves. Dharma is a set of laws that apprise Hindus on how they are to conduct themselves, explains their duties to other people, and how they should act during the four stages on life (Samovar et al., 2017). Karma states that for every action, there is an effect as a result. In Hinduism, this means that if you live by your dharma you will find success and have positive reactions. Reincarnation is tied to Karma since rebirth occurs in order for one to right their previous wrongs in order to reach salvation. Additionally, the caste system is under Hindu law and rendered secure by the claim of divine relation by the previous Aryan priests. Hinduism is a religion, but it presents a complete way of life as well as structure its follower’s worldview.

Deep Structure of Culture Analysis

Throughout the entire Bend it Like Beckham movie, you can see a distinction between the opportunities for men and women in both the Indian and British cultures. The families are the leading controls throughout the film distinguishing these roles and differences. In both the British and the Indian culture, it becomes clear that there are negative emotions about women playing sports. In British culture, this is predominantly portrayed through the character of Jules' mother. It is quite evident that Jules' mother is resistant to her daughter playing futball thinking that this makes her masculine and ruins her chance at finding an adequate husband. Jules' mother is not the only person in the British society with these feelings as Jules admits that she had to fight Joe to form a team for the women to play for since they have no sports options in society. Woman playing sports in Britain is not viewed as an opportunity or to learn lessons and excel, rather it is viewed as something that only lesbians would take part in making these girls outcasts and degenerates in society.

Jules' mother's hatred for her daughter playing futball does not even compare to the level of revulsion that the Bhamra for their daughter to be playing futball. Playing sports strictly opposes the role a woman is structured to play in the Indian culture. Jess’ mother presents a long list of ways in which Jess has broken Indian culture and how she is bringing dishonor to her family. Indian women are not supposed to pursue their pleasures in life, rather their role is strictly to support and make sacrifices for the family. As an Indian woman, the movie shows that the main goal is to become an eligible wife at an early age, as Mrs. Bhamra likes to remind Jess about seeing as how she was married to Mr. Bhamra before she reached Jess’ age. At one point during the film, Mrs. Bhamra becomes distressed exclaiming to her daughter that no family will want a daughter-in-law who can kick a soccer ball yet does not even know how to make traditional Indian recipes. Both mothers in Bend it Like Beckham are repulsed at their daughters for playing futball and taking part in what is viewed as a masculine activity.

The Worldview Analysis

From the moment we are born, we are raised by our family’s worldview and this is what we know and believe about reality. The worldview that your family follows is the only worldview and understanding of the world that you have as a child until you grow up and encounter other cultures out in the world. Jess Bhamra has this experience when she is asked to join the soccer team and has the opportunity to spend regular time with girls who are not following the strict and traditional Hinduism religion that Jess has grown up under. A major factor in Jess' religion that is misunderstood is the concept of marriage. From the caste system, it is expected that Indian women will marry someone of equal or higher status resulting in arranged marriages becoming a common practice (Maistry, 2009). Pinky, Jess’ sister is getting married during the film and it is what Jess refers to as a love match meaning that is not arranged. This idea perplexes Jess’ teammates and she has to explain to them that although her husband is not arranged, at this time, she is still expected to marry an Indian boy because that is her culture’s expectations. The idea of status through marriage also comes up when Mrs. Bhamra is concerned about Jess bring able to find a suitable husband. These expectations come as a result of the caste system and the superiority idea enclosed in her religion, which is what causes Mrs. Bhamra to be so focused on sculpting her perfect daughter in order to make her eligible to move her family to a higher caste.

During the movie, Mrs. Bhamra wails out wondering what she did in her past life to have such deceiving daughters. This follows her finding out about Jess' futball playing and lies about having a job and Pinky's help at keeping her secret undercover. This simple sentence exposes her belief in reincarnation as she prays to Babaji for forgiveness. Babaji is one of the many saints and Gods in the Hinduism religion and his image is framed among the Bhamra family’s mantel exposing his importance from first entering their home. Babaji also is seen as an important religious figure as the Bhamra family prays in front of him before opening Jess’ exam scores upon receiving them in the mail. Pinky’s wedding is very important to the Bhamra family since this is moving her into the second stage, the householder’s stage of life. Overall, Mrs. Bhamra has the best interest at heart for her daughters and wants them to reach salvation by living their lives according to their dharma.

Conclusion

Bend it Like Beckham shows the unity of two cultures joining together for a common goal, both Jess and Jules pursuing their passion and working towards the opportunity to play futball in America. Jess Bhamra has always lived in the United Kingdom, but her family and neighborhood still adhere to the traditional Indian culture. Throughout the film, there is evidence to show both the gender roles and worldview of the Indian culture shown through the Bhamra family. As Jess Bhamra continues to rebel against her family the more you learn about the expectations placed upon her by her family and culture. Due to her religion, Jess Bhamra is expected to live her life in order to please the Gods and reach salvation.

Although, intercultural communication is evident throughout the entire movie. Without further research into the movie and about the Indian culture it was confusing as to why Jess was forbidden to play futball and why her parents were so persistent about her getting married specifically to an Indian man. After further investigating one is able to connect these actions back to Indian culture and connect the film to Intercultural Communications.

References

• Abdel-Shehid, G., & Kalman-Lamb, N. (2015). Multiculturalism, Gender and Bend it Like Beckham. Social Inclusion,3(3), 142. doi:10.17645/si.v3i3.135
• Algeo, K. (2007). Teaching Cultural Geography with Bend It Like Beckham. Journal of Geography,106(3), 133-143. doi:10.1080/00221340701632781
• Batra, R., & Reio, T. G. (2016). Gender Inequality Issues in India. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 18(1), 88.
• Bhangaokar, R., & Kapadia, S. (2009). At the interface of ‘Dharma’ and ‘Karma’: Interpreting moral discourse in India. Psychological Studies,54(2), 96-108. doi:10.1007/s12646-009-0018-1
• Maistry, A. (2009). The Multicultural Traveller: Representations of Indian Female Identity in Gurinder Chadha’s Bend It Like Beckham and Bride and Prejudice. (Doctoral Dissertation).
• Michaels, A., & Harshav, B. (2006). Hinduism: Past and present. New Delhi: Orient Longman.
• Rings, Guido. (2011). Questions of Identity: Cultural Encounters in Gurinder Chadha's Bend It Like Beckham. Journal of Popular Film and Television, vol. 39, no. 3, 2011, pp. 114–123., doi:10.1080/01956051.2010.541954.
• Samovar, L. A., Porter, R. E., McDaniel, E. R., & Roy, C. S. (2017). Communication between cultures. Boston: Cengage Learning.