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Acceptable Difference: An Analysis Of Sexuality And Nationality Offered In Bend It Like Beckham

Film analysis published in an undergraduate film journal.

Date : 28/10/2015

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Xaviera

Uploaded by : Xaviera
Uploaded on : 28/10/2015
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Acceptable Difference: An analysis of sexuality and nationality offered in Bend It Like Beckham

Gurinder Chadha`s feature Bend it Like Beckham (2002) meditates on and reimagines what constitutes a contemporary British identity by way of the divergent and diverse generational, ethnic, migratory and gendered representations, which populate the text that offer a dynamic and fluid set of visuals and narratives of Britishness. While these representations call into question the stability of British identity, it is in the text's muted approach to sexuality wherein its potentially dynamic discursive arrives at an ambivalent end. The pronounced silence and dismissal of representations of non-normative sexuality operate as a source of anxiety throughout Bend it Like Beckham. Through its strategic exclusion of embodied and substantive non-white queer bodies, the text offers a reflection on the limitations of inclusion and difference in the conceptualisation of Britishness. Prior to analysis it is necessary to qualify the utilisation of the terms British and Indian British identity. British identity is employed to reflect an ambiguous and amorphous cultural heterogeneity; Indian British identity encompasses the diversity of a specific contingent of the British populace. Additionally the essay will utilise queer to refer a sexual identity that is not heteronormative. In order to contextualise Bend it Like Beckham's ability to challenge prototypical representations of Britishness, while continuing to subscribe to conventional understandings of queer British identity, it is necessary to situate the film culture that the text emanates from and film cultures that is in conversation with. Bend it Like Beckham derives from a loose film movement prevalent in the 1980s and onwards, typified by the influx of marginalised filmmakers and/or narratives that attempt to capture the multi-cultural and sociopolitical conditions of Thatcher and post-Thatcher era Britain. A period, by and large, defined by the expansion of identity politics; the transition from a fully state sanctioned welfare system to the adoption of more neoliberal social policies; mass unemployment; and as a cultural moment marked by the escalation of white supremacy politics alongside an influx of immigrant communities into the United Kingdom. Filmmakers and creative talent from this period include individuals such as John Akomfrah, Isaac Julien and Hanif Kureishi. In addition to commenting on material sociopolitical conditions, films from this movement are also in conversation with the Heritage film movement, which similarly responds to its sociopolitical context albeit with an entirely disparate visual economy and through, arguably, conservative and fixed ideological underpinnings. Stuart Hall succinctly identifies that Heritage films aim to produce a narrative of British national identity as one that is supposedly "culturally homogenous and unified" (5). Hall's observation is apt considering that Heritage films tend to equate British identity with white bodies; these films highlight the importance of preservation; and the grandeur and dominance that England has historically held (Higson 92). Bend it Like Beckham stands in opposition to Heritage film's theoretical position, by offering divergent and varied visuals and narratives that attempt to challenge the stability of British identity as a monolithic and static concept ("New Ethnicities" 448). This is evident in the text's treatment of David Beckham. By appropriating the symbol of Beckham, Jess is able negotiate her own football fantasies and thereby construct new meanings and connotations for Beckham as a symbol. The text frames Jess' appreciation of a popular white male football star to suggest affinity as opposed to the possible suggestion that Jess has a delusional sense of self in her appreciation of an individual who - besides national identity - holds otherwise polar opposite identity markers. Additionally, while Beckham is evoked as a widely recognised representation of Britishness, it is generative to consider how the text frames Jess' father, who works at Heathrow International Airport. Similar to Beckham, Mr. Bhamra - who is brown, clad in a turban, and middle aged - is also representative of Britain. As an employee of the airport, a highly guarded space, Mr. Bhamra's visage becomes one of the many faces that represent Britain to those that enter into it. This is not to suggest that the text asserts that an Indian British citizen and a white British citizen have access to similar privileges or are equally recognised as British. However the text poses the idea that representations of Britishness are varied by juxtaposing the popular alongside the mundane, a representation that is rarely on display within film. The criticality and challenges inherent in the representation of people of colour is elaborated In "New Ethnicities" and "Whose Heritage?". In these essays Hall argues that mere representation of people of colour is not sufficient as these portrayals tend to highlight exceedingly "positive" depictions or are constructed based on shallow stereotypes. In effect, simplistic depictions perform their own injustice in their ability to minimise the complexity and contradictions of non-white experiences by feeding schematic notions of difference ("New Ethnicities", 444). Therefore it is not only in Bend it Like Beckham's mere presentation of a brown bodies, rather it is in the text's ability to illustrate the nuances and divisions that operate within Jess' immediate family and the larger British Indian community that surrounds her. Chadha explores the complexity of British Indian identity by tackling the disparate ways in which femininity is practiced within Jess's British Indian community, depicted by Pinky (Jess' sister) and Jess' mother. In both representations of "femininity" the text situates femininity as a performance that is informed by disparate cultural influences and generational positioning. Pinky craves a traditional Indian wedding and family life. However she also expresses values and behaviours that are removed from stereotypical Indian mores; she is sexually active and engages in behaviours that stand in opposition with her parents' values. Jess' mother similarly embodies stereotypical components of Indian British femininity; she is adamant that Jess learn to cook Indian cuisine and dress modestly. It is revealing that her portrayal shares commonalities with Jules' white mother who appears, at least superficially, to be her polar opposite. Both women attempt and fail to police their daughters' gender presentations. In this context, the simultaneously divergent, familiar and shared representations of femininity, offered through Pinky and Mrs. Bharma, cannot be neatly categorised by equating values as solely reflective of one source of influence. Components such as age and perceptions of gender are critical to their characters' performances and are shown to offer new ways of representing Indian British femininity. Drawing from Hall, it is evident that Bend it Like Beckham offers interruptions to characteristic representations of Britishness and Indian British identity by offering variance in what it means to be Indian British. That said, these divergent representations of national identity do not entirely challenge primordial conceptualisations of identity; instead, by offering variance, the text establishes new parameters of what constitutes British and Indian British identity, which is established by how the text negotiates a queer anxiety. Jess - dissimilar to the other females within her family - adopts a gendered identity that is less traditionally feminine, thereby offering another representation of the multiplicity of Indian British female identity. She has ambitions of playing football, and she, for the majority of the text, does not show obvious romantic or sexual interest in anyone. Jules (who is white) adopts a similar gendered presentation; however her mother is suspicious of Jules' sexuality throughout the entirety of the text. Jules' mother believing she has confirmed her suspicion, albeit through a misunderstanding, responds with devastation and hesitant tolerance. In Jules' case, a lesbian identity although undesirable is nonetheless recognised as legitimate. Jess' sexuality, on the other hand, never receives any serious speculation from her family. Even when she is publicly and mistakenly outed by Jules' mother, no one in Jess' family entertains the thought. The text makes a great effort to draw on the similarities between Jess and Jules; however it is only Jules who can possibly be perceived under a framework of sexual difference. Jess' possible queerness is an impossibility that is undoubtedly associated with her Indian identity. That being said, the only genuine representation of queer sexuality is Tony, Jess' best friend, who is Indian British as well. It is in Tony's representation as a self-identified non-heterosexual and Jess' inevitable heterosexuality wherein a dialectic on the intersection of queer and ethnic difference operates as a site of disjuncture to the national imaginary. In fact, Jess even verbalises the impossibility of being both queer and Indian when - after Tony reveals that he is sexually attracted to men - her response is an immediate "You can't, you're Indian" thereby both reproducing and troubling a narrative of British Indian identity (Bend it Like Beckham). The impossibility of queer Indian British identity is highlighted during the confessional scene; Chadha offers contrasting portrayals of how Jess and Tony are able to express themselves to their community. In the sequence, Tony announces that he and Jess will marry, to ensure that she will have the opportunity to go to the United States, where she has received a scholarship to play football. Jess reveals the ruse and confesses her aspirations and plans to play football to her parents - and the larger community of friends and family that happen to occupy the living room at that moment; to utilise a overdrawn metaphor Jess "comes out" as a football player. Prior to this sequence, the arguable climax of the text, Jess receives support from her peers (Jules and Tony) and her sister; moreover she is told, again and again, that she must value her sense of independence and personal freedom by being honest with herself and by extension her parents (while Pinky provides support she does not suggest that communicating with their parents would be beneficial). Chadha interweaves the importance of concepts such as independence, freedom and "honesty" by identifying that these qualities are crucial to Jess' ability to define herself and experience happiness. Bend it Like Beckham's emphasis on the ideological role of independence, freedom and honesty can be tackled by drawing on the significance of the ideoscape, which Arjun Appadurai examines in his seminal text "Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy". Appadurai identifies the 'ideoscape' as a fluid theoretical construct to analyse how the state incorporates concepts - largely associated with the Enlightenment - and "(has) organized (its) political cultures around different key words" (36). Appadurai argues that within different sociopolitical and cultural contexts, ideas such as "freedom" take on disparate meanings, thereby revealing the fragility and constructed nature of such terms (36). In effect, these concepts perform a critical role in establishing a defined, albeit performed and fragile, set of ideologies through which nations can establish a sense of identity (Appadurai, 36). Utilising this framework, it becomes generative to consider how Jess is encouraged and supported by her community to reveal that notions of freedom, honesty and independence go beyond simply reflecting the interpersonal dynamics and coming-of-age qualities of the narrative but have larger political implications. Given the ideological underpinnings of what motivates Jess' confession and its broader implications, it is critical to interrogate how the sequence frames Tony by contrast. While Jess performs as an active agent in accessing her happiness by priotising her sense of freedom and independence, Tony is portrayed as silent and passive. Unlike Jess, Tony does not speak "honestly"; moreover by proposing the sham marriage, he demonstrates dependence on Jess as their engagement would function as a form of security for him. This is not to suggest that "closeted" queer identity is a less legitimate form of queer identity or that by engaging in heteronormative actions Tony has thereby relinquished his sexual identity. Instead Tony's identity is only rendered illegitimate given how the text articulates the criticality of notions such as freedom and independence, as these concepts inadvertently speak to what constitutes Britishness. Jess has been instilled with the values propagated by those she interacts with outside her domestic space. When she is finally able to honour and perform these values through the confessional sequence, she is rewarded by being accepted by those around her. Furthermore she is able to envision a future, albeit in the United States, that she has created for herself. Tony on the other hand is represented as dependent and disingenuous by comparison. Jess is able to reveal her "secret" and the sequence highlights her sense of freedom and independence. Tony stands in stark contrast, as his presentation of identity is one that the text does not interpret within the framework of Britishness. While the text does offer divergent portrayals of identity that do challenge stable and homogenous notions of Britishness, Tony and Jess' respective performance underscore the realms of acceptable representation. Jess is able to perform a presentation of Indian British femininity that cannot be reduced to a stereotype or represented under the simplistic binary of positive and negative. In effect Jess "bends" expectations: she displays an atypical gendered representation of Indian British femaleness and further challenges representations of static notions of national identity by pursuing her ambitions outside of Britain in the United States. Tony, on the other hand, cannot perform queer identity in manner that prioritises ideologies surrounding independence, individuality and freedom, as they are defined within the text. Consequently he represents a point of disjuncture to the national imaginary and reveals the formulated and exclusionary construction of Indian Britishness. Although the text does not have an evident focus on sexuality, upon analysis it plays a critical role in articulating how British Indians can be recognised within the national imaginary. By interrogating how Jules, Jess and Tony's respective identities are tackled, Bend it like Beckham offers a nuanced approach to how inclusion into the national imaginary is always complicated by the intersections of ethnic, gender and sexual identity.

Bibliography Appadurai, Arjun. "Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Economy ." Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization. Minneapolis, Minn.: University of Minnesota Press, 1996. 27-47. Print.

Bend it like Beckham. Dir. Gurinder Chadha. Perf. Parminder Nagra, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Keira Knightley. 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, 2002. Film.

Hall, Stuart. "New Ethnicities ." Stuart Hall: Critical Dialogues in Cultural Studies. London: Routledge, 1996. 441-449. Print.

Hall, Stuart 1999-2000. Whose Heritage? Un-settling `The Heritage`, Re-imagining the Post- Nation." Third Text 49 (Winter):3-13

Higson, Andrew. "Representing a National Past: Nostalgia and Pastiche in the Heritage Film." Fires were Started: British Cinema and Thatcherism. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1993. 109-129. Print.

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