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Bend it like Beckham

I have chose to write about the movie ”Bend it like Beckham,” it is a movie written and directed by Gurinder Chadha. The movie were released in 2002 and it is a social drama / a comedy. I will start this analysis with a plot summary, and then move on to the themes and problems, reflect upon the message and then I will end with the conclusion.

Bend it like Beckham is a movie about an 18-year-old girl, Jesminder, or Jess, who is obsessed with football. She even has a big poster of David Beckham over her bed. Pinky, Jess' older sister is more interested in her future wedding with an Indian man. Jess' parents want her to be more focused on cooking and finding a husband, instead of playing football.
Jess plays football in the park with her best friend, Tony, and is spotted by Jules who plays for the Hounslow Harriers. Jules give Jess an offer to play for the team, and she accepts it, even though she knows her parents will disagree. She becomes very close to the coach, Joe. Jules and Jess are both secretly in love with Joe, but they can’t do anything with it, because he is the coach. When the team was playing in Germany, Joe kissed Jess and Jules saw it. They ended up in a big fight.  Jess is forced to quit the team, because she played without permission, and her parents also discourage her relationship with Joe, only because he is not an Indian man. She really wants to play in the finale, but it is the same day as her sisters wedding.
At the wedding, her father sees that Jess is very unhappy and gives her permission to play in the final. At the final there is an American scout that are watching the team play, he is impressed with Jules and Jess´s talent and gives them the opportunity to play in the United States, on Santa Clara. When Jess returns to her sisters wedding she tells Tony (who is gay, and Jess is the only one that knows,) that she was offered the opportunity to play in the United Sates. She doesn’t know how to tell her parents so Tony asks her family if he can marry Jess, but Jess is tired of lying and tells them the truth. Her mother does not approve this, but her father supports the decision and gives her permission to go.
When Jess and Jules are at the airport and saying goodbye to their families, Joe arrives. He told Jess that he was offered a job coaching the men´s team, but didn’t accept it. Joe and Jess kisses, but were interrupted by the appearance of David Beckham. When Jess is back at Christmas, she will try to tell her parents about her relationship with Joe.
In the final scene of the movie, Jess' father is showing Joe how to play cricket and how the good relationship that has been growing between them.



In my opinion there are many different themes, friendship, family, racism and many more. Friendship is an important theme because the friendship between the main characters reflects real life. The friendship between Jules and Jess shows that there can be fights and misunderstandings. The friendship between Tony and Jess shows how childhood friends always are there for you.
Family is also an important theme in the movie and cause many conflicts. The movie shows the bounds between families, but also the problems and differences. Jules, Joe and Jess struggled with their parents' expectations. Joe taught Jess that sometimes you have to do what you want and not always what you parents wants. Jess taught Joe that it is very important to love your parents even if you disagree.
Racism is another theme and problem, because racism is everywhere in the modern world.  For instance, in a football match there was a girl who tugged Jess' shirt.
Joe:  “Look, Jess. I saw it. She fouled you. She tugged your shirt. You just overreacted, that's all.”
Jess: “That's not all. She called me a Paki. But I guess that's something you wouldn't understand.”
Joe: “Jess, I'm Irish. Of course I understand what that feels like.”
These dialogues show how racism hurt Jess and Joe.

I believe that the message in the movie is “fight for your dreams” or “don’t give up”, because she is lying to her parents, she doesn’t give up and she is fighting for her dream. She does what she believes in and defies her parents.

First I dwelt upon the plot, then I wrote about the themes, and finally I focused on the message. I would recommend this movie because it is a “girl-power” movie, it shows that girls can be good in football as well; it is a movie with a strong and important message. It provides a lesson in rebelling against tradition without ruining families and friendships. I would also recommend this movie to watch in school because it shows two types of discrimination. It doesn’t only deal with race, but gender-based tradition of an entire culture