The opening scenes of the film show Jess fantasising about playing with her idol David Beckham for Manchester United. This represents the fact that Jess is looking up to an English modern day icon and shows her love of an English sport as a young Asian. She lives up in a suburban semi-detached house in Hounslow, just like thousands of other Asian families. Later, Jess goes shopping in Southall with her sister Pinky. The street shown is full of Asians and is sandwiched by many Asian shops and businesses. This shows Southall as a very Asian district of London due to the arrival of a multitude of cultures in the city. Jess has a male friend in Tony who is also Asian and shares a similar passion for David Beckham. This shows that the older generation’s views affect both boys and girls. This also shows cultural togetherness and reflects the changing nature of Asian role models.
Pinky is more relaxed than her sister and is madly in love with her fiancé. Pinky’s fiancé is also Indian and his parents are friends of the family. Unfortunately they accuse Jess of kissing an English boy and cautiously call off the wedding; this shows the older view about relationships with English boys. This is also shown when Jess is describing to her team mates who she is most likely to end up marrying. She tells the story of the whole film in 10 seconds. ‘Indian girls aren’t supposed to play football’. She also says that she will be marrying an Indian, not an English, Hindu or Muslim man. Her mothers will is still strong over her, but her real passion football is immune and Jess will strive to almost any length to play, even if it means leaving her sisters wedding. Jess comes to the aid of the Harriers and arrives for a match where an American scout is watching. Jess comes off the bench and scores with an unstoppable freekick to win the match 2-1. The director is clever by showing her relatives dressed in traditional Sikh dresses in the defensive wall, in Jess’ mind. This shows Jess’ torn feeling between her Indian and English identity. Also the scene shows a customary Indian celebration, and Sikh wedding against an English one, and goal celebration, through fading and quick straight cuts.
The clothes worn by the family at the wedding are typically Indian, while Jess feels awkward wearing shorts as her mother would strongly disapprove during the match. Again, this is another example of the older generation trying to keep style and tradition as they are. The music is mostly modern western style, with small pieces of Asian music thrown in to show Jess’ varied emotions.
At the end of the film when Jess and Jules leave for America you realise that both families are very similar in that they want the best for their daughters, this reflects the filmmaker’s opinion that both cultures should be united in that sense. Also the audience realises that both girls could be going onto bigger things.
East is East tells the story of a young Asian family living in Salford, Manchester in the early 1970’s. George the father is a devout Muslim and often overlooks his seven children’s happiness when making decisions. His wife, Ella is much more of an ally of the children. She has no Asian or Muslim background and helps George run the chip shop which they own.
George's ultimate goal is to arrange marriages for his teenaged sons within the accepted tradition of the Muslim faith. But culture is often a force that parents try in vain to withstand and these children, raised in a vibrant foreign land are not prepared to take George’s proposals lying down.
The beginning of East is East shows a Christian parade through the streets of Salford and the seven children are marching with their local English community. This shows the representation of togetherness in the community despite cultural divisions. When Ella hears that George is watching the parade around the corner of the street, she leads the kids down a side alley to avoid his gaze. He would not be able to accept the fact that his children felt part of another religion. It is not just about religion though, for the children to drop their religion would be like dropping their culture in George’s eyes. But that’s exactly what the children want to do. Ella’s best friend is Rose. Her roots lie in Salford, and she has ginger hair like Ella. She provides a useful outlet for Ella to talk to and gossip in privacy away from her family of Asians. In one of the final pieces of action in the film, George lets out his rage on Ella after finding his sons’ wedding gowns ripped up and distributed. He assaults Ella in the fish and chip shop, punching her constantly until she bleeds. This tells us that George is violent and has massive influence over the attitude over the other characters.
The mise en scene in East is East reflects the 1970’s style of living and shows typical suburban surroundings and the life the family live. The film ends with a shot showing the whole neighbourhood getting along fine with each other, revealing the togetherness of the new society that the filmmakers want to leave us with.
While Bend it like Beckham has its storyline revolving around football and Jess’ ‘bending of the rules’ East is East has its storyline much more based around Family loyalties and the position the family is in. It shows more of the children’s resistance of George and their will to overpower him. There is an enormous similarity though; the older generation want things to remain as they are while the younger generation want things to change. While George is more aggressive and violent, Jess’ mother is strong willed and easily disappointed. Bend it like Beckham has characters which represent certain attitudes to do with multiculturalism like the relationship between older and younger generations. It deals with a Sikh family in London while East is East has a Pakistani Muslim family who live in Manchester. East is East deals with more issues like arranged marriages, circumcision, going to Bradford where the Asian population is much higher.
Both films leave a positive and negative impression on audiences about multicultural Britain. They show that overall foreigners are welcome in the country and at the same time are allowed to recreate their own culture within their new environment. The films also portray the typical conduct of Asian families from generation to generation. The representation of multiculturalism in both films is powerful and unique.
