Bend it like Beckham; Food Symbol
Bend It Like Beckham Essay
Bend It Like Beckham is a movie directed by Gurinder Chadha. It revolves around Jesminder, a teenage Indian girl who's passion is for playing soccer. This film explores many important themes such as racism, sexuality, stereotypes, breaking gender barriers and culture. The theme that I will be focusing on is culture. The main symbol for 'culture' is food.
Food is a recurrent theme of the film that is constantly repeated in scenes but only subtly. It has surprisingly important significance to do with both the Paxton and Bhamra families.. Women are typically in the kitchen both Western and Indian culture. The character Mrs Bhamra is an excellent example of this practice. She is almost always seen cooking, eating or just being around Indian food. She is constantly trying to teach Jess how to cook, but when Jess shows no desire to learn how to cook, Jess is removing herself from the traditional ways of a Sikh woman. Sikh women are traditionally housewives, and by Jess refusing to learn to cook goes against the ways of Sikh culture. In contrast to Mrs. Bahamra, Jess is going against the ways her parents have taught her, becoming less integrated in Indian culture and bringing shame to the family. She is bringing shame to the family, because her family believes no man will want a woman who can't cook. This worries Mrs. Bhamra because she wants nothing more than her daughters to be married off.
An important scene expressing Jess' opinion towards cooking is, when she is learning how to cook a full Indian dinner. While her mother stands at the stove, Jess defiantly bounces a capsicum from knee to knee. Despite being forced to learn how to cook, Jess still obsessed with soccer and will even incorporate it in the kitchen! It is a metaphor for how Jess feels learning to cook is just another way for her parents to control her future. Another example of a key scene demonstrating Mrs. Bhamra's opinion of Jess, is when she finds out she has joined
Bend It Like Beckham is a movie directed by Gurinder Chadha. It revolves around Jesminder, a teenage Indian girl who's passion is for playing soccer. This film explores many important themes such as racism, sexuality, stereotypes, breaking gender barriers and culture. The theme that I will be focusing on is culture. The main symbol for 'culture' is food.
Food is a recurrent theme of the film that is constantly repeated in scenes but only subtly. It has surprisingly important significance to do with both the Paxton and Bhamra families.. Women are typically in the kitchen both Western and Indian culture. The character Mrs Bhamra is an excellent example of this practice. She is almost always seen cooking, eating or just being around Indian food. She is constantly trying to teach Jess how to cook, but when Jess shows no desire to learn how to cook, Jess is removing herself from the traditional ways of a Sikh woman. Sikh women are traditionally housewives, and by Jess refusing to learn to cook goes against the ways of Sikh culture. In contrast to Mrs. Bahamra, Jess is going against the ways her parents have taught her, becoming less integrated in Indian culture and bringing shame to the family. She is bringing shame to the family, because her family believes no man will want a woman who can't cook. This worries Mrs. Bhamra because she wants nothing more than her daughters to be married off.
An important scene expressing Jess' opinion towards cooking is, when she is learning how to cook a full Indian dinner. While her mother stands at the stove, Jess defiantly bounces a capsicum from knee to knee. Despite being forced to learn how to cook, Jess still obsessed with soccer and will even incorporate it in the kitchen! It is a metaphor for how Jess feels learning to cook is just another way for her parents to control her future. Another example of a key scene demonstrating Mrs. Bhamra's opinion of Jess, is when she finds out she has joined