Bend It Like Beckham

Theme of Hybridity and Gender Issues in Bend It Like Beckham Bend It Like Beckham, is a film directed and co-written by Gurinder Chadha, who is herself a Punjabi and Sikh like the main character, Jesminder 'Jess' Kaur Bhamra portrayed by Parminder Nagra. The film deals with the identity issues of 18 year-old Jess, who wants to be a professional football player against the wishes of her very traditional Indian family. The meaning of the word “hybrid”, according to the Oxford Dictionary is; a thing made by combining of two different elements. According to this, hybrid identity means mixed race people. Usually migrants, like colonized Indians in England, develop a hybrid identity. Lots of people dealing with “hybridity” can’t decide
Our protagonist is the Indian Jessminder Bhamra. She is a very good football player but her parents don’t approve of her playing football let alone wearing football shorts. Jules Paxton is the English best friend. She is a tomboy, with short hair and baggy clothes. She plays football in a girls team. The team’s coach is Joe, he is an Irish man who used to play football but had to stop due to an injury. Then we have Tony, Jess’ Indian best friend. Everyone in their family think they will end up together but later we find out he is actually gay, which is way worse than playing football for Indian families. The parents are definitely polar opposites. The Bhamra Family is a very a traditional Indian family. The father works at Heathrow Airport, when the mother mainly cooks and teaches her daughters how to cook traditional Indian foods. The Paxton Family however is a very mainstream English family. Especially the mother is a very traditional English
There are certain qualities attributed to females and males in a patriarchal society. And almost every character challenges it in different kind of ways. First example to this is when Jess is talking to her posters and starts complaining. She wonders “If she had an arranged marriage, would her husband let her play football and he comes home and does the cleaning and cooking?” In this thought of Jess, we see both gender stereotypes and Indian stereotypes. She is thinking about an arranged marriage, a husband that her family found suitable for her. Then she thinks if that husband would let, and Indian girl, play football which is a game accepted by many as manly and he does the chores and cooking, the things that are accepted by many as the duty of woman. With this remark she puts both ideas into perspective, and lets the viewers take a look at the situation from this gender point of