In Bend it like Beckham we also see stereotypes that people have to overcome in order to be happy. The main stereotypes and obstacles are faced by Jess and Jules, as they don’t do as their parents think they should. Jules’ mum wants her to buy feminine clothes and get a boyfriend, as she says that boys don’t like sporty girls. Which she shows when she says, “There’s as a reason why sporty spice is the only one without a boyfriend”, she doesn’t accept that Jules likes football and is happy, she wants Jules to be like ‘normal’ girls, which Jules but she just likes football. Jess also faces opposition playing football from her parents. She gets told that girls, and especially Indian girls, don’t play football. She is supposed to live up to her family expectations, which are, study hard, become a lawyer, learn to cook, and be a good family girl. When Jess says she doesn’t want to do this and goes against these expectations, her parents dislike that and they believe that she is disrespectful and that playing football is affecting her mind, just because she says she is only interested in football. Indian girls are stereotyped as always doing as their parents say all the time, so jess going against them is a shock. Jess’ parents also dislike her going around in shorts and she is showing too much skin, which is seen, as disrespectful and they feel she wont meet the right sort of Indian boy to marry. So when Jess shows a liking for Joe who is not an Indian of the same belief it is seen as sinful as she goes against what her parents want which Indian girls are stereotyped as never doing. The two girls also get stereotyped as being lesbians by their parents and society because they play football, which apparently only lesbian girls do. Jules also gets seen as lesbian because she has her hair short, which normal girls shouldn’t have, they should have long hair. So she gets stereotypes as being a lesbian because she has short hair. Another stereotype that we see in the film is that Indian boys aren’t gay. We see this because Jess’ friend Tony admits to Jess he is gay but can tell anyone, as it would be disrespectful for the family. This is shown as Jess goes’ “but… but your Indian”, showing that even she is shocked that he is gay. In the film you can tell that Indian family expectations are very high and are very rarely broken as this is disrespectful to the family, which is never acceptable.
In both films characters other than the main ones also get stereotyped, but not in such an obvious way. For example the men in the park are shown as not very sensitive and do not understand women’s feelings. This is highlighted in Bend it like Beckham where the only sensitive guy is Tony, and he’s gay. This shows that young men are inconsiderable which is not true and it could be seen as insulting to young men. Also in Bend it like Beckham Jess’ sister Binky stereotypes her sister as weird and not normal as she sneaks of to play football, not to meet boys like she does. This is shown at the start where her sister was thinking that because she was sneaking off she must be seeing a boy. She also thinks its weird that Jess isn’t really into boys like her so she feels she is weird because she is not like her. In Billy Elliot, Billy’s brother Tony stereotypes Billy as gay and calls him a ‘puff’ for dancing and he says, “no brother of mine is doing flipping ballet”, showing again that Geordies have a tough image and Tony feels Billy doing ballet could ruin his image in society.
In the two films the main characters like sports that aren’t expected for their gender. They all do a sport, which is dominant for the opposite gender, and they are seen as not normal because they go against these expectations. It is not fair to put these expectations on people, as it is their life they should be able to do what they want not what everyone else around them wants them to do. Most people try to persuade them to stop or change because they are worried about their own image to society. They don’t care about the other person and what they want to do jus themselves.
In the two films culture plays a huge part in the two stereotypes and it can make the problem harder like it does for Jess and Jules in Bend it like Beckham and Billy in Billy Elliot. In Billy Elliot, Billy is a northern, working class male, who have a tough, hard nut image and are supposed to only work in mines and when one of them rebels this pattern it is harder for him as he is seen as different to everyone else, and he is pressured into being ‘normal’. In Bend it like Beckham Jess finds it harder to do football that Jules because Jules’ family is English who’s main sport is football and she has the backing from her dad, and he lets Jules decide what she wants to do, but Jess is from an Indian family who are not big into football and she is supposed to do as her parents say. She is expected to become a lawyer, learn to cook, and be a good Indian girl, so when she opposes this she has a harder time as she is seen as not respecting her elders, which never happens in an Indian family.
I believe that showing these two as films is better than reading them as a book. This is because you get items such as music that you can get in a film that helps show the opposition they have to face and it helps show emotion more in faces etc. In Billy Elliot we know that Billy and Tony both like music by marc Bolon and that is ironic because he is sort of like Billy. We see this at the end where we see Billy wears make-up for the shows like Marc wears and they both do feminine things (ballet and singing). Also the music is used to intensify the scene. For example when strikers and police clash, hard, rock music is used to show the angry emotion. Billy’s emotions are shown when he dances through the music as it is a fast angry song when Billy dances till he drops when he is angry with his father. In Bend it like Beckham we hear music when the girls are playing football like Tom Jones’ ‘She’s a Lady’ which highlights that they are still girls even though they do what is generally a mans sport. We also hear Indian music when Jess’ family celebrate showing their religion. We see both sides of music when Jess does both things and they mix showing how Jess’ culture is mixing. Music is used in both films to highlight emotions and emphasise points which cant happen in books.
We also see scene cutting at the end of the football match and the wedding celebration in Bend it like Beckham. This again shows how Jess is mixed culture, and also with the mines striking and Billy doing ballet in Billy Elliot. Both of these cuts are showing what they should be doing with their culture but what they actually want to and are doing, showing how they are different from the normal trend in their cultures. Both films also use close up and long shots to show emotion and scenery that help to highlight the emotion again.
Both films help to challenge stereotypes and prejudice. They shoe how the people in the film are not what are expected of those stereotypes they are ‘normal’. They both show that you can achieve what you want even if everyone seems to be against you and sex, race doesn’t matter. The films make you realise that stereotyping is wrong and in the films views are changed and after viewing them mine are as well.
My views have only changed slightly a is know that girls play football and had stereotypes but I didn’t know that Indian girls play football as I thought that they wouldn’t as their parents would not allow it. Also I used to think that barely any working class boys do ballet a sit is mainly an upper class sport for boys but know I realise that anyone can do it if they want.
