Movie Questions Essay

Movie Questions

1. Did the main character, Jess, fight against her tradition or her culture?
To ensure that I give the most thoughtful, substantial answer possible, the meanings that encompass both words need to be taken into consideration. For the context of this question, culture could be defined as the arts and customs of a particular society or country. Tradition, on the other hand, is defined as the long-established procedure of handing down beliefs and customs from one generation to another.   Culture is also reflective of the mental and material progression of a society, so while it may be tradition for Christians to exchange gifts on Christmas, culture might dictate what is selected as a gift. Electronics such as Ipods are considered good gifts in contemporary times, whereas 1950’s American culture were satisfied with plastic toys like hula hoops because those were new and innovative at that time.
Jess, while Indian by heritage, was born and raised in England and therefore is culturally in sync with her English peers, as evident when she goes clubbing with her teammates in Germany and wears what would be considered a revealing top by traditional Indian standards. She does not fight her Indian-British culture but rather embraces it, making her desire to play soccer as well as her admiration for David Beckham to not be all that outlandish. I ultimately believe that it is her family’s tradition that she fights against. She goes to great lengths to avoid fulfilling the wishes of her parents, which limit her to the traditional roles of an Indian woman. Jess’ reluctance to follow tradition is made apparent in one scene where her mother tries to teach her how to cook but she kicks the ingredients around like a soccer ball whenever her back is turned. The scene in the locker room where she explains Indian marriages to her teammates, by saying “why sleep with boys you don’t want to marry?”, alludes to the fact that she stands up for her culture even if she...