Bend It Like Beckham Culture

Gurinder Chadha directs the 2002 film Bend It Like Beckham. Chadha presents culture through her cinematography to enhance the fact that Jess is caught between her passion for soccer and the traditionalism of her culture and the predicaments she faces trying to get her traditional Indian parents to accept her life long dream to become a professional soccer player. Jess, being trapped between her desire for soccer and the traditionalism of her Indian culture is shown through many techniques throughout the film such as symbolism, camera angles and this is also expressed through the lighting

Symbolism plays a major role in the film Bend it Like Beckham as; as soon as the opening scene begins we can see that Jess’ bedroom in which her walls are covered with posters of the famous soccer player David Beckham, this is her sanctuary away from the traditionalism of her culture. Her bedroom represents what she wants in life. In the very first scene you see Mrs Bhamra open Jess’ door, as she opens as she opens the door the poster of David Beckham, which represents Jess’ dreams being pushed away by her traditional mother who walks in wearing a conventional Indian sari and begins to talk about the wedding which she clearly finds more important than soccer. It is evident that just from the opening scene we can tell that not only her culture is dismissing her dreams but also her parents are trying to push her dreams of playing soccer away by trying to push her into a more Indian and a more traditional future. Symbolism is also explored through the airport scene shown at the end of the film, where Beckham walks through the airport while Jess is kissing Joe, the fact that Jess didn’t even look up to see Beckham shows that Beckham is now a part of Jess’ past and Joe is her future. The camera movement in this scene highlights the importance of Jess’s actions as she picks Joe over Beckham, someone who she once looked up to resembling a god to her. Cinematography is expressed in many ways throughout Bend it like Beckham it is …show more content…
In the opening scene there was an image of Beckham hugging Jess showing that he is valuing her talent, which helps emphasise Jess’s dream of playing soccer professionally, as they hugged the camera angle was level, which showed professionalism and also showed the equality between the two players. As they walked off the field the camera angle is shown from above which indicates that there will be barriers to overcome as Jess is stuck between the traditional Indian lifestyle her parents expect her to live compared to the more non-conventional lifestyle she desires to live. While in the airport scene the camera angle shows Beckham at a higher level with all the media following which illustrates his importance the camera angle then goes down and focuses on Jess who is talking to Joe which indicates that Beckham is no longer significant to her anymore. When Jess looks up at Beckham in the airport scene using a different camera angle technique shown from behind and below this shows the viewers that this moment is all about Jess and no longer about Beckham this symbolises that Beckham is now apart of her past as he walks out of the