Emily Smail

Bend It Like Beckham 2002

 

This is a popular social realist film is directed by Gurinder Chadha. The protaganist is a young girl named Jessminder (Jess for short) and she is born and raised in an Indian family. Her mother aspires for her to marry and be a traditional Indian wife and bear children. However, Jess loves watching and playing football, much to her parents disapointment. The film charts Jess's journey in secretly playing football and trying to please her parents at the same time. 

 

 

Aristotle (335BC) Put foward the idea that films should have a beggining, middle and end. After watching and observing this film I have concluded that Bend It Like Beckham follows the Aristotle. 

 

The exposition in the film is the first insight to Jess's life. In the few first scenes we observe what Jess's role in the family is, to help her parents out and take an immediate interest in her sisters enagagment. However this is complicated by the rising action, where Jess recieves an invitation to play for a girls football team just after she agrees with her parents that football is for little children and men only. Jess sucsessfully plays for the girls team as well as pleasing her parents with learning how to cook traditional dishes and acting more like a traditional Indian girl should. However the turning act is when Jess's parents find out she travled to Germany with her football team to compete in a tournanment. All hope seems lost for Jess's football career as her parents forbid her from leaving the house to play football. However, when Jess's dad sneaks out to watch his daughter play in a game she sneaks out to play, he realises just how good she is. As a result of this her father gives her permission to leave her sisters wedding party early, in order to play once more. The falling action results in Jess confronting her parents about how she has been offered a scholaship in American to play football. At once her mother says no but her father has the final say on things and agrees to let Jess persue her football career in America. The denuement is all her family accept the situation as they care more of Jess's happiness than traditional family expectations. The denuement compromises events between falling actions and the actual event. This creates normality and relives tension and anxiety for the audience as all conflicts are resolved.