Bend It Like Beckham Feminist Analysis

Karl Marx developed a theory claiming that society is in a state of conflict due to the competition for power, resources and authority. This is known as conflict theory (Dr. J class notes). It focuses and examine large scale of patterns within the society. However, the movie “Bend it Like Beckham” shows the conflict between men and women which is called feminist theory (Dr. J class notes). For example, Jess’s mother, Mrs.Bhamra, accidentally sees Jess playing football in the park with a bunch of boys and immediately has a serious discussion about it at home with her father, Mr.Bhamra. At the end of the whole lecturing, Mr.Bhamra says “It’s not nice, you must start behaving like a proper women”. This shows that playing football is only for men and not the women. Jess is not “behaving like a proper women”

“The central idea of symbolic interactionism is that symbols—things to which we attach meaning—are the key to understanding how we view the world and communicate with one and another” (Textbook -pg.13). In this, the symbols are the things we attach meaning to and different people have different meanings. This is what makes social life. For example, Jess dreams to become a football player like David Beckham. She says “I didn’t ask to be good at football, Gura Nanak must have blessed me”. But her mother thinks that jess’s dream is ridiculous and she is not playing the role of a women according to their culture. This proves that different people have different meanings towards one thing, in this case it is football. Another way that symbolic interactionism was shown in the movie is through the cultural clothing which is microsociological. Mr.Bhamra, being a Sikh, wears a turban throughout the movie. This shows how important and meaningful it is for him to use it as a symbol to define himself in the social