Racism And Gender Stereotypes In Bend It Like Beckham

Bend it like Beckham is a movie that portrays the obstacles that minorities are presented with if they to wish to pursue professional sports. The movie begins with introducing a Sikh girl who has a passion for football, she is also portrayed to be extremely talented despite not given any sort of professional training. The film is shot in a suburb; the families show in the film belong to the middle class. Also, the city is multi cultural, there are many instances where south Asian stores, temples and families are shown. Therefore, it can be concluded that the movie focused on the progressive aspect of England. The prominent issues raised in the movie include, gender imbalance and marginalization of minorities in professional sports. Throughout …show more content…
To begin with, both the main female characters have limited support from their families to play football professionally. Jules, the Caucasian female football player is constantly forced by her mother to purchase possessions that will make her appear feminine. For instance, her mother takes her shopping to purchase bras, while Jules intends to buy sports bras for her games, her mother constantly pressurizes her to purchase push up bras in an attempt to make her appear more feminine. The movie places immense focus on standards society has for women. The basis of the ideal woman was heavily based on the stereotype, examples include; dressing up in feminine cloths, being boy crazy, cooking, and they were also viewed as subordinates to men. Furthermore, the stereotypes were present in both Jules and Jess’s family despite their different beliefs and cultures. Jules’s mother also assumes that Jules is a lesbian only because she plays football, and has no interest in the stereotypical activities associated with women. To elaborate, it is a common stereotype that if a woman plays a sport, she is indulging in ‘masculine’ behaviour, and is likely to be homosexual. Racism is also prominent in the movie. An example of this would be when a team player of the opposing team insults Jess during the games by calling her a ‘paki’, which is considered a derogatory term. Jess was asked to sit out for the game because she lashed out, this showcases that racism was prevalent because no action was taken against the other team player. These examples are evidence that there were instances of racism and gender stereotypes within the