Bend It Like Beckham Essay

What you want in comparison to what your family expects form you is a common disagreement through most family households. In the movie ‘Bend it like Beckham’ we saw the conflict between jess and her parents on how they feel and what they want for her, how jess sees the situation and how it is resolved. Throughout Jess’s journey she is constantly pulled in what she truly wants and what here family/culture expects (internal conflict).
To start off, Jess’s dreams are more important than here culture, because they are who she is as a person. Jess does not simply want to be the traditional Indian girl that her parents want her to be, she wants more. Instead, Jess makes a bold decision that traditional Indian girls wouldn’t do, she chose to play soccer. Despite her parents, Jess’s passion was so great that she bent all the rules to do what she loves.
On the other hand, there are her parents. Jess’s father, Mr.Bhamra is worried about jess playing soccer in fear she will get hurt just like he did when he wanted to play cricket. Mr.Bhamra was treated differently because of the way he looked, in the movie he spoke of how they made fun of his turban and he wasn’t allowed to play on any of the teams. Her father is afraid she will be disappointed and end up just as he did. Jess’s mother seems to be more caught up in the soccer situation; her mother does not agree that she should play at all but, instead spend her time learning how to cook; something culture oriented. Her mother throughout the movie stresses how it is against her culture to play soccer, for example when her mother talks of her running around with her legs exposed she says, “You bring shame to society!” You can see this against here cultural beliefs.
The conflict is present due to many reasons. Jess loves playing soccer but, also respects and loves her family and culture. She is drawn to decide to keep her soccer life a secret and tries to meet her mother and father’s expectations to avoid disappointment.