When a person's personal hopes and dreams conflict with their cultural beliefs, that person may be seen as an outsider. If they chose to follow those dreams that conflict with their culture they take the chance of alienating themselves from the people they know best. "Bend It Like Beckham" gives us a peek into this situation. The movie uses the Indian culture as an example of how a person of this culture may become an outsider.
An example and main point of the movie is Jess' interest in playing soccer. In Jess' culture woman should dress and act in a certain way. Her mom doesn't approve of her wearing shorts and playing sports with boys. Jess' need to fulfill her desire to play soccer and this puts a strain on her relationship with her family, making her an outsider in her own home. Trying to force Jess into a lifestyle she doesn't want pushes her further into feeling like she doesn't belong. You can see she is uncomfortable with the traditional role she is expected to follow, while her sister is completely accepting of her role in the Indian culture. When an individual in a family is made to feel different, it will make them feel even more disconnected from their family and culture. Jess may have wanted to go play soccer in the United States to avoid feeling like she didn't fit.
In the movie Jess is not the only one to be placed in the role of an outsider. Eventually, the rest of her family gets a taste of it as well. When Pinky's future in-laws assume that Jess is involved with a British boy, they call off the wedding between their son and Pinky. They assume that Pinky and Jess' parents aren't good parents who follow the traditions of the Indian Culture. The in-laws cast judgment on the entire family and leave them to feel like outsiders. The in-laws must feel very strongly about how this will represent them, since they are willing to through away the happiness of their son to prevent association with Pinky's family. Many situations happen like this in the world. It can be a result of different cultures, different religions or different socioeconomic status. People can become outsiders if they attempt to change things that other people don't want changed.
The coach of the women's soccer team, Joe, felt like her was an outsider as well. His relationship with his father suffered because of it. He was so worried about being judged as a coach for a woman's team, he resisted communication with his father. Being a woman's coach made him feel like a failure, that if he was really good at what he did he would be coaching men's. Joe's culture may have not approved of women playing sports. Coaching them may have not been appropriate; therefore he refrained from telling his father. I believe it really made him feel alienated from his culture.
In a world where so many different ways of life occur. It is extremely difficult to avoid becoming an outsider. Their are so many temptations in the world to be different, that it would be hard to believe that every culture has people who would like to do things differently. I think that is how our society evolves and is constantly changing. It would be really boring if it didn't.
The Revision
When I think of an outsider, I think of someone who is alienated from society because they choose to live their life differently from the people around them. The movie Bend It Like Beckham reconfirms my belief of what it means to be an outsider by taking a look into a situation where two girls choose to follow a dream, rather than accept their chosen roles in their particular society. Sometimes in society chosen identity and expected identity can be very different, and when this happens we create our outsiders.
My first example and the main focus of the movie is Jess, and Indian girl, whose interest in playing soccer conflicts with her culture’s expectations of an Indian woman. The movie portrays Indian women as feminine, proper and strong believers of upholding the Indian traditions. Jess has a passion for playing soccer, an activity that was not typically played by Indian women. Because of Jess’ need to fulfill her desire to play soccer, she creates a strain on her relationship with her family, making her an outsider in her own home. The film shows us the conflict between Jess and her family members including her sister, who completely accepts her traditional role in the Indian culture. When Jess’ family compares her to her sister, Pinky, it only creates further alienation for Jess. If the expectation is to be like her big sister, Jess’ strong sense of who she is and what she wants can only alienate her even more. In the movie Jess’ actions coincide with my own definition of what it is to be an outsider, although her character is not someone I would have personally thought of as an outsider. Jess is not deliberately trying to be an outcast. She does not want to be different from her family and would love to be able to blend in and not bring attention to herself.
In the movie Jess is not the only to experience the role of an outsider. Although the members of Jess’ family are strong followers of their culture’s traditions, Jess’ actions place them into the role of outsiders as well. When Pinky’s future in-laws assume Jess is involved with a British boy, they call off the wedding between their son and Pinky and cast judgment on the entire family. They assume the Pinky and Jess’ parents are not good parents and do not teach their children to follow traditional Indian culture. The in-laws must feel very strongly about how this will represent them, since they are willing to throw away the happiness of their son to prevent association with Pinky and Jess’ family. I see situations like this in my own society. People are placed into the role of an outsider because they attempt to change long standing beliefs within a society. Changes may be what a people may need, but are too afraid to accept.
The coach of Jess’ soccer team, Joe, could be seen as an outsider as well. The beliefs that his father projected onto him, made him feel like the choices he made in life were not accepted. The fear of his father not accepting Joe as the coach of a woman’s soccer team, kept Joe from having any contact with his father. He thought that in the eyes of his father, coaching a women’s soccer team equals failure. This may be because in Joe’s culture, women playing sports was not accepted. Maybe coaching a women’s team was viewed as inappropriate. Joe was very careful in not having intimate relationships with his players. This happens in our culture as well. Women have certain sports that are not considered acceptable for them to play, for example, football. A woman who chooses to play football would be seen as an outsider or different.
We live in a world where there are many different ways of life. It is extremely difficult to have a world without any outsiders. It would seem to me that the world would be absent of social change if we did not have outsiders to create a ripple in our constant flow.
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