CAPS #2 -- Bend it Like Beckham

           The film I watched for this blog was “Bend It Like Beckham.” I have never seen this movie, but I remember wanting to see it when it first came out. I knew it was about soccer, but that was pretty much it. When I started the movie though, right away I could tell there were going to be some good examples of culture. It was somewhat hard for me to take a step back and not just watch the movie, but actually analyze what was happening and find three intercultural communication patterns. But, the three I will be talking about are ethnicity, gender and sexuality. Those were the three big patterns I saw throughout the film. 

           Ethnicity was present from the very start of the film. Jess is Indian, and you can tell that her parents are very strict in traditional Indian ways. Jess has somewhat broken free of that mold and doesn’t want to be stuck in that bubble. Her mom makes it very known that she doesn’t like Jess playing soccer, especially with men. She also doesn’t like Jess “showing her legs” on with such a large audience watching the games. At one point in the film, Jess’ friend is picking her up and her mom sees this happening. Her mom says that she doesn’t like his “hands all over” Jess. After Jess’ mom found out that the coach was a male, she really was upset. She told Jess that she didn’t want her “running around half naked in front of men.” When Joe asked Jess why her parents were so against her playing she said, “Indian girls aren’t supposed to play fùtbol.” So, while she knows her parents are against it, and want a more traditional Indian lifestyle for her, Jess has a big love for fùtbol and it’s what makes her happy. All throughout the movie, she struggles to do what makes her family happy all while trying to make sure she’s happy too. 

           Another big pattern I saw was gender. When Jess was lying in bed towards the beginning of the movie, she was talking to her David Beckham poster and said, “It’s not fair the boys never have to come home and help.” That quote shows how there is a big difference in how the two different genders are treated and expected to act. Another part of the gender pattern was the female fùtbol league. This shows that the genders are somewhat equal and that people believe women have a right to play the game too. At one point in the movie, Jules and her dad are outside practicing and her mom comes out and says to the dad, “When are you going to realize you have a daughter with breasts, not a son!” She also says, “No boy is going to want to go out with a girl with bigger muscles than him.” To me, it seemed like Jules’ mom felt that sports are a boys thing only and that women shouldn’t play them. When Jess and her father are talking, he told her, “You must start behaving like a proper woman.” Her dad was never too fond of her playing fùtbol, but up until that point, he never really discussed his opposition. Jess’ mom was the one vocalizing her feelings, but this was the point where he stepped up and made his feelings known. 

           The last pattern I am going to talk about is sexuality. It was clear that Jess was starting to form feelings for her coach, Joe. It was also clear from the picture Jules had in her room, that she had feelings for Joe as well. Towards the middle of the movie, you could see that Joe was starting to have feelings for Jess. Jess had a really close friend named Tony who we found out was gay towards the later part of the film. Jess was really accepting of it, although her first sentence after he told her was, “But, you’re Indian.” She was definitely surprised by his news but she never turned her back on him. Jules’ mom thought that Jules liked women because she overheard the wrong part of a conversation between Jules and Jess. She also saw them hanging out a lot and holding hands during one of their games. When she was talking with Jules’ dad, it was apparent that she was just afraid of what other people would say and how they would treat her daughter if she really was a lesbian. When Jules and her mom went to Jess’ place for Jess’ sister’s wedding, Jules’ mom saw that Jess had on her shoes that Jules lent her. She said to Jess, “Get your lesbian feet out of my shoes!” I thought this was way out of line and that even though she was afraid of how people would see her daughter, it wasn’t the right time or place for her outburst. She needed to have a conversation about it with her daughter before accusing her. 

           In the end, Jess’ family became accepting of her love for the game and let her go to America to play. This was a big step for them and even Jess said that the game was taking her away from everything her parents knew. She was ready to give fùtbol up for her parents to be happy, but they finally came around and saw how important it was for her.

           Interpretive research is understanding and describing human behavior (Martin and Nakayam, 2012). People can learn about different cultures in a variety of ways. They can learn about it in school, by listening to music of different cultures, spending time with people from other cultures, reading books, etc. But, this approach fails to address that the “researchers are often outsiders to the communities under investigation, which means they may not represent accurately the communication patterns of the members of the community” (Martin and Nakayama, 2012). If you don’t have the face-to-face contact with people from other cultures, and are just observing them, you won’t get the full picture. You can witness what is happening, but sometimes you can’t know the reasons behind what is happening.

References

Martin, J. N., & Nakayama, T. K. (2012). Intercultural communication in contexts (6th ed). Boston, MA: McGraw Hill. 

"Bend it Like Beckham Trailer - Youtube" Youtube. N.p., 5 Nov. 2008. Web 9 Feb. 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsmbObwStSQ>.