In ‘Yasmin’, Yasmin has to cook Asian food for her father and husband every day. She does not want to but she is forced to we can see this by the expression she makes when she is cooking. Jess also tries to avoid learning how to cook and when jess is doing kicks up with the food it signifies she is more interested in football than cooking this shows how both characters are forced to cook food.
Both protagonists have some similar identities in the movies. Both Jess and Yasmin liked white men (Irish and British). In ‘Bend it like Beckham’ Jess and her coach were close to kissing in a pub and in ‘Yasmin’, she loved to be near a white friend that she had feelings for but however when they went to the pub she empty her drink this signifies that she doesn’t want to break rules of her religion it also signifies that deep inside she does have a little respect for her religion. Jess asked her sister about marrying a white men and her sister answered “Why marry the white man when there are really nice Asian men.” This phrase takes make Jess love fade away as she realises that her relationship will be denied by her culture, family and community. In ‘Yasmin’ she cannot love a white man because she is already married also part of her culture and her father is against her liking white men Both women have to forget their love in the middle of the movie however Jess kissed her coach at the end of the movie showing she expected him to do that and they both will solve something out. But Yasmin had to walk the path alone as the terrorist attacks made her and john fall out. Jess doesn’t want to love the coach because she doesn’t want to hurt her parent’s heart she just wants to bend the rules a little this might be the title is ‘Bend it like Beckham’, the whole context is linked with jess bending rules throughout the film In ‘Yasmin’ to break the rules and wants to live her life her way. This shows two different identities between the two protagonists.
Both Yasmin and Jess have conflicts with the society. Yasmin tries to blend in with the Western society by becoming less Muslim and more Western. I order to blend; in she lies to her colleagues and tells them that she drinks alcohol. But her attempts go futile. After the twin towers get crashed, the attitude of her colleagues become more challenging for her to blend in. This is because her colleague’s stereo typed all Muslims by calling them terrorists. On the other hand, Jess has a conflict with her Asian society. The Western society had accepted her, but her Asian society didn’t want her to be accepted by other societies. This is signified when Jess is trying to shoot a goal in the final match, she sees women from her society in the form of the defenders who are trying to stop her succeeding. Both of these points in the movies signify that both have to fight against a society.
Yasmin and Jess share many differences as well as similarities. One of the main differences between them is their attitudes towards their religion. Yasmin is a member of a family which is a very strict Muslim family. From the story we can assume that Yasmin’s father stands at a higher position in the Mosque and Yasmin’s brother is the person who calls all the Muslim’s to prayer. This shows the involvement of the family within the local mosque. Yasmin is the only character in the family which is not at all involved within the mosque and religion. At one point of time we hear Yasmin saying “I haven’t been to the mosque since the last five years. I am as much Muslim as you are.” She tells this to John, who is a Christian. This quote signifies that she doesn’t count herself as a Muslim at all. In the prevailing time Jess doesn’t stay away from her religion. In many sequences and scenes of the movie we hear and see Jess praying to Guru Nanak. When Jess’s family find out that she won the final match she says, “I didn’t ask to be good at football, but Guru Nanak must have blessed me.” She credits her success to Guru Nanak. This shows that Jess is still linked with her religion and is not going away from her religion. This shows us that both Yasmin and Jess have different approaches towards their differences.
In some ways both protagonists are culturally different. ‘Bend it like Beckham’ shows Jess having respect for her culture however in ‘Yasmin’ we see she has less respect towards her culture. In ‘Yasmin,’ Yasmin said: “Go to your own homeland Pakis!” This signifies how she is trying to show that she has a different personality apart from the rest of her community. She is drawing a line to show it’s over between her and the extremists. When she calls the Muslim on the TV a ‘Paki’ she is disgusting her own religion and it shows how she thinks she is not one of them. Alternatively when Jess was playing football a white footballer called her a “Paki” Jess reacted very quickly to that word! Signifying that she is not a “paki” and she wanted to show what she is made of. She said “She called me a Paki; you wouldn’t know how that feels.” This signifies how Jess cares about her culture and doesn’t want to be called a “Paki!” The two protagonists may be different due to both protagonists believing in different religions.
In some ways the identities of the two protagonists are different. In ‘Bend it like Beckham’, near the end of the movie. Two scenes were flashed one after the other. The first scene consisted of Jess’s family happy in the wedding and the other scene was Jess was happy playing football without any worries. These two scenes showed us that Jess and her family are happy and Jess doesn’t need to hide her feelings about football inside due to her father agreeing to let her daughter play football. This shows Jess’s dream of playing football came true. on the other hand in ‘Yasmin’, Yasmin was rejected from being a western because of the twin towers collapsing and so her dream was destroyed and she had no choice but to go back to her culture and religion. There is a difference between the two protagonists as from the two movies we could analyse that Jess had someone to express her feelings to however Yasmin was all alone.
Both protagonists resolve their conflicts differently. Firstly Jess decides that her parents were more important than her dream and therefore she decided not to attend her important match and stay at her sister’s wedding her father saw her expressions and understood that society changes and therefore he allowed Jess to go and play her match. Because of Jess they won the game and she was allowed to go America to go play for a professional team. In ‘Bend it like Beckham’, Jess showed her parents that she had talent she says “Anyone can cook Aloo Gobi but who can bend a ball like Beckham.” This signifies that she is different In ‘Yasmin’ her Western friends left her and therefore Yasmin had no place to go and that’s why she came back to her husband and her father. She accepted her religion fully and therefore she began to read the Koran, She wore her scarf and she wore her religious clothes in front of her western friends.
Both protagonists in the two movies overall shows Asian identities constructed. Jess respected her culture however she believed she has talent in football and that she could do both. Yasmin didn’t want to be called a Muslim and that’s why she dressed in her Western clothes in public places. Both protagonists are Asian however both characters faced different problems. Jess was Asian and that’s why she couldn’t play football. Yasmin is also an Asian and that’s why she couldn’t wear her Western clothes in front of her father. In both movies both protagonist loved a white man. Both protagonists became heartbroken because they knew their family members wouldn’t expect the love. However Jess was lucky that her love wasn’t taken away from her because in ‘Yasmin’, her love walked away from her because she was a Muslim and the Western people looked down at her! The movies are based on culture and how youngsters change their believes and decides to go against their culture however inside of them they still have some feelings about their religion. In both movies there is conflict between the two protagonists and the dialogue and other signifiers show this in the movie. One protagonist resolved their conflict and the other protagonist didn’t. Maybe this is because they believe in different religions and because the Muslim people were treated inadequately because of the attack on the twin towers and maybe because one is a rom-com and the other is a drama. I think this is not fair because different people are treated differently due to their religion. Both movies show this by the signifiers.
The opening sequence of the movies, moreover explains the whole movie. The opening sequence reflects the whole movie. The diversity shown in the beginning, is shown to us comes up ahead on the text. Their individual identities are similar in the ways that their parents think; they should be brought up as a true Muslim or a true Sikh. Their dream is shown to us in the opening. In Bend it Like Beckham, Jess playing football and her mum disapproving this tells us that problems will come between the two cultures. Yasmin wearing the Western clothes removing her hijab, at the time of Adhaan tells us about her disapproving her culture and religion. The ending then changes for both. Both of them have a different ending. Yasmin has to sacrifice her dream, while Jess’s dream is fulfilled and keeps her parents happy as well. This is how the opening sequence brings the characters in front of us.
By
