Bend It Like Beckham: Mise-En-Scene
...is a film about growth, culture, and rebellion in 2002 United Kingdom. Jesminder "Jess" Bhamra, played by Parminder Nagra, is a young Indian girl finding her way in her culture and the modern world. She struggles between the Sikh Punjabi beliefs that she was raised with and the life that awaits her. Jess begins with the feeling that she cannot be the woman she wants without leaving her culture behind. Juliette "Jules" Paxton, played by Keira Knightley, comes into Jess's life as a spunky, sporty, self-assured girl with a proposal. She wants Jess to play with her on a woman's soccer team, the Hounslow Harriers. Jess goes to a practice and falls in love with the girls, ambiance, and game; however, she is soon discouraged by her parents. Jess must go behind her parents back and "bend" the rules in order to do something that she loves, something that completes her. Along the way, Jess falls in love with her coach Joe, played by Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, and it does not help matters that he is Irish and her new friend Jules likes him. Culture, friends, boys, soccer, family, schoolÂ… Jess has to figure out who she exactly is. Bend it Like Beckham shows that you do not necessarily have to break the rules but bend them for changing attitudes as did David Beckham with the way conventional soccer players looked and behaved.
At first Jess is trapped and, in a way, hiding behind her culture. In the beginning, Jess's mother is dressed in traditional clothing and her father wears a turban while she wears sporty clothes with her hair pulled back. The lights that Mr. Bhamra puts on the house in the beginning signify a celebration of culture. Jess, however, is serving food at the festivities. This act compares to Jess's feelings of being a servant to her culture.
Her room is covered in David Beckham and soccer memorabilia. The only times she is playful and open is if...
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