Directed by Gurinder Chadha, there is so much social commentary in this movie, it is almost overwhelming. Funny in its own right, it depicts commentary on group influences, social norms, family and family decision making, and culture. Surprisingly enough, it does this through a plot that considers such touchy topics as religion, sexual orientation, female rights, and family structure.
 |
| From left to right: Jewels, Jess, and Joe |
Jesminder "Jess" Bharma (Parminder Nagra) is an Indian living in west London. Due to the rules of the house, she is not allowed to play football, her one true love, because she is a woman. And per Indian tradition, the woman's role in life is to marry young, keep the house, raise the children, and cook. How different from the modern Western life.
It all changes when Jess meets Jewels (Keira Knightley), an English born girl of the same age, who also loves soccer and plays with the local all-girl team Hounslow Harriers. Jewels invites Jess to try out for the team, and the very impressed coach Joe (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) puts her on immediately. The movie is full of up and downs, highs and lows (including the classic love-triangle), but in the end, everyone is able to break out of their own pressures and work things out.
Throughout the film, Jess is conflicted between her desire to play football and keep her family happy. In the end, her family lets their strict rules relax and lets her play. This provides interesting commentary on the power social pressures can have over us. Jess' parents in essence do a complete 180 from the start of the movie to the end.
 |
| Jess and Tony |
The movie also has a surprisingly strong homosexuality commentary. Jess' best friend Tony, also and Indian, confesses he is gay in the middle of the movie, to Jess wide support. She encourages him to cast away the pressure to be heterosexual, and embrace his orientation. Also, Jewel's parents (after overhearing a conversation and misinterpreting it)think that Jess and Jewel are romantically involved. Jewel's mother goes through a mourning process (she always wanted the "cheerleader daughter" and was never comfortable with Jewel's love of football), but in the end embraces her daughter being gay, even though she finds out in the very end she is not.
 |
| Jess' family during her older sister's, Pinky, wedding |
Not to mention the commentary on the culture differences as shown through the conflict between the Indian culture and the British westernism. Jess' father was a great criquet player, but stopped playing upon being made fun of because of his turban. Director Chadha is putting a cruel spotlight on the cross-cultural biases our cultures unfortunately exhibit far too often. He shows us how it should be by showing her father and Joe (two people of very different backgrounds who had their own share of conflict during the movie) playing criquet together in the end. And although the plot is not carried this far, we can reasonably assume the Jess and Joe's relationship is carried through the years...something Jess' family was not okay with during the beginning.
So, how does this relate to marketing and consumer behavior?
Director Chadha shows us the power social and family pressures can have on decision making. The Bharma does a complete 180 from the beginning to the ending. Jess continually pushes the limit on what her family is comfortable with. In the end, they find a balance between her love of her Indian roots and of football. Even though he was uncomfortable at first, her father saw a lot of himself in Jess, and wanted her to have a different future than he had.
It also shows us how norms can change across generations. While Jess' parents may have been uncomfortable with too much interaction with the Brits, Jess sees little problem with it and in the end convinces her parents.
Well done, Mr. Chadha.
No comments:
Post a Comment