Bend It Like Beckham and 10 things I Hate about You - comparison - Essay Example

That being said the themes of the two movies are a lot more similar despite their obvious differences. Both films include theme of stereotyping and labeling, a depiction of personal values, conformity, accepting differences, domesticity vs. freedom, parents vs. children, self definition and change (Lawson, 2003). These themes are highlighted and portrayed through the central characters of these films. The character of Jasminder Bhamra, the British-born daughter of orthodox Sikh parents, who is perceived by others to be very much like any other Indian girl; polite, family oriented and spiritual.

It is presumed that she will fall into her parent’s plans of completing school, learn to prepare a full traditional Punjabi dinner, and then marry a proper Indian boy. However appearances can be deceptive as Jess has other plans for her life. She loves David Beckham. Her room was a partial shrine dedicated to the Manchester United star. Her love for Beckham was not due to his good looks but she herself happened to be a footballer, and she admired his athletic skills in particular. “Nobody can bend it like Beckham,” she often beamed, referring to his extraordinary ability to get the ball to the goal and wishing one day her dream of scoring for Manchester United alongside him could come true.

She takes every opportunity she can to play, away from her parents scrutinizing gaze who highly disapproved of her soccer playing and her mother often described her idol as ‘this skinhead boy.’ This brings us around to the fact that the only thing keeping Jess from fulfilling her ambition was her heritage (Fuchs, 2003). Katerina Stratford from ’10 things I hate about you’ is the central character of the movie whose character is analogous with that of Jess. She also does not fall into the typical category of a high school girl.

Based in the American city of Seattle, in Padua High School the society which Kat Stratford is a part of is created in this high school and it “mimics and exaggerates aspects of a main stream, late 20th century, American high school” (Nebo literature, web). Conformity is an issue that is a lot more prevalent in ‘10 things I hate about you’ than in ‘Bend it like Beckham’. As a character Michael from ‘10 things I hate about you’ uses the terms ‘basic beautiful people, coffee kids, white Rastas, cowboys, future MBA’s, yuppie breed’ to class the various students at Padua (Nebo literature, web).

Kat Stratford did not fall into any of these categories she was strong, independent, and feministic and rejects boys who did not have any relevance to her feministic style. She had a sense of style and was attractive but did not show it to the outside world simply because it did not fit in with her behavior and how she was perceived. Her dream was to get through high school and go to a university far away from her home, something her father disapproved of. Personal values are what both the main characters in these two movies have in common.

Jess bound by her heritage and yet hopeful and struggling to fulfill her dream while at the same time striving to not incur her parent’s disapproval. Kat on the other hand dreamt at excelling at her education, standing up for what she believed in and was indifferent to high school norms. Both these women did not conform and stood out from everyone else. However