Film Paper - Bend it like Beckham and Escape to Victory
Introduction
Ideology, according to Giannetti
(1972), "is usually defined as a body of ideas reflecting the social needs
and aspirations of an individual, group, class, or culture. The term is
generally associated with politics and party platforms, but it can also mean a
given set of values that are implicit in any human enterprise -- including
filmmaking." This means that when ideology is presented in the film, it
must have a definite meaning whether to a person or a group, through
interconnection of culture or belief. It provides a vision to the film, even if
the said vision is based on assumptions. In a sense, the ideological belief is
based on the criterion on belief on something even if it does conform to that
of the society.
Street (2003) noted that several
filmmakers have tried to examine ideologies by presenting them in their films,
but only few tried to examine it deeply, on a perspective of balance and not
just bias toward their leaning. When ideology is presented in the film, there
should an opposition to it that is clear for the ideology to take traction
against the conformity of the society or the culture. According to Mast (n.d.),
"there are few cultural products more influential in contemporary American
life than movies." This means that movies play an important role in the
advances of ideologies. In fact, it has a direct role in the understanding of
the world we live in (Mast, n.d.). It provides an explanation of the chaos
happening in the world, thus creating a resonance in the mind of the person.
Because films are good stimulators, ideologies raised and presented in films
are easily taken by those who watched the film. In fact, this is the reason
propagandist would use the film to promote their ideas.
In this paper, I will be looking at
the ideologies presented by Bend It Like Beckham (2002) and Escape to Victory
(1981). These two films tried to examine class and gender ideologies through
presentation in the film. While the other film tried to present an ideology,
another tried to discredit an ideology as used.
Synopsis
Bend
It Like Beckham (2002) is comic film with sports as its main subject that tries
to link Indian and British culture (Steiner &
Schaczke, n.d.).
The film title is taken from the name of David Beckham, the popular British
footballer who is known for ability to bend the ball. But the title of the film
does not necessarily relate to the bending of the ball or the ability to do so.
Rather, it is about the two main characters’ plight to bend the rules to fit
the demands of their parents and to keep on playing the ball.
The
two main protagonists are female teenagers who got interested in football. It
started out when Juliet, who is also called Jules, saw Jasminder, also called
Jess, playing football in the park. In the process, Jules invited Jess to join
their football practice with the local girl team. While Jess was eager to be
part of the football team, her parents are not persuaded that girls should be
playing football and that Jess should be showing of her bare legs in public,
which would be against their religious ideals as Muslims.
Without
her parents knowing, Jess continued to practice and joined the team. However,
when the times came that they should play in an important game for that summer,
she had to choose between attending her sister’s wedding which fell at the same
day as that of the summer football game. On the other hand, Jules is also
facing serious opposition from her parents who are afraid that Jess is already
attracted to girls because she usually hangs out with them.
Another
important film that also tackles football as its primary subject is Escape to
Victory (1981). The film was set in World War II prison camp. Allied prisoners
of war were interned in the camp that played an exhibition football against a
German football team (Rotten Tomatoes, 2014). However, they realized that they
were just used to become part of the propaganda stunt that the German had to
paint their POWs in good condition. In the process, they tried to plot an
escape out of the German prison camp and seek help from the French military
brigade in Paris to help the entire team escape the prison camp.
However,
during their attempt to escape, they recaptured and sent to solitary
confinement. To be able to get out of the solitary cell, they had to dramatize
that no on other goalkeeper can play in team as the one was intentionally
broken to allow Hatch out of the solitary cell. During the game, the Germans
were clearly biased to the German team, but they were able to make a draw. In
the last phase of the game, a penalty kick was allowed and it scored the team,
but was disallowed by the German referee. The action promoted the crowd to
shout: “victory”. In the middle of the chaos as the crowd went ballistic for
the cheating being made by the referee, the team escaped.
Bend It Like Beckham – Gender Ideology
Primarily, Bend It like Beckham
(2002) provides an overview or small peep into the Indian and British cultures,
as exhibited by the extraordinary settings that the two main characters are
into. While Jess was born and raised in England and is already part of the
integrated Western community and understanding, her parents still cling to
their religion and tradition that they had back in India. Following their
traditions and belief, girls should not be showing their legs to the public as
it would mean disgrace.
Maluleke (2012) noted that there are
belief systems and traditions that do not allow girls or women to take on roles
of men. This is definitely true with the parents of Jess. While they had stayed
in Britain for quite a time, they still held on to the traditions and beliefs
that they had regarding gender roles. This is based on the understanding that
women should be women and men should be men. In the Eastern part of the globe,
showing skin in public is a disgrace. In fact, Muslims, the religion of Jess in
the story, had to cover their whole body and wear a veil to avoid being exposed
to the public.
The apparent opposition of Jess
parents to her football interest is specifically drawn from the understanding
of their belief system and tradition. Even when they are away from the native
land, they still hold on to the culture and they want they preserve that
culture. In a sense, the parents of Jess are afraid that if they completely
integrate or assimilate with the Western culture, they may forget or just
ignore their culture, beliefs and traditions in their native land.
On the other hand, with the cause of
Jules, her father was supportive of her playing football, but her mother is
not. Her mother noted that football is a male sport and should remain the same.
Blackstone (2003) noted that the acceptance of the society toward the switching
of roles or the adoption of gender roles is difficult. It was hard for the
mother of Jules to accept that fact that her daughter is playing football
because she was accustomed to seeing only men playing the game. However, for
the father of Jules, it is even awesome to see her daughter playing football
because it speaks volume of his being a dad. In a sense, the perception of her
parents toward the sport is driven by their understanding of gender roles.
Now leaving the gender ideology
issue, let us take into the orientation of the parents. Jess’s parents were
oriented with their traditional culture regarding gender roles. On the other
hand, Jules’s mother grew up in an era when women took women roles and men took
on men roles. Because of the differences on the era that Jules and her mother
lived, their understanding or perception regarding gender roles are also
different.
Escape to Victory – Class Ideology in Action
Escape to Victory (1981) is a film
of the World War II. It was during the period that several millions died
because of the problematic understanding and view of class or race. In a sense,
the film is a story of class and how racial discrimination affects the way
people view other people. Foremost, to Hitler and the Nazi the only race that
should dominate the world is the German race. Hitler pictured and posed the
German race as the best race in the world, of having the best racial DNA and so
on. According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (2014), the
ideology of race that Hitler and the Nazi adopted is based on the understand
the each race has distinctive features, which dictated their mental thinking,
their creativity and ability, intelligence and physical strength. This
definition of the German race is greatly shown in the film. Because the German
team was losing the game, the German referees had to circumvent their decisions
in favor of the German team. It would have been embarrassing for the Germans to
lose in the game as they were pictured as the best in the world.
According to Holborn (1964), the
German propaganda is based on the idea that Germans can provide the best to the
world. In fact, the team, in the first part of the film, became part of the
propaganda stunt that the Germans had to paint a good condition of the
prisoners of war. This was propaganda to show that Germans are better managers
of the world. This is still in complete adherence to the racial ideology of the
Nazi. In fact, Holborn (1964) noted that the ideology had to become a political
one because racial or class issues are political in scale.
However, as in terms of orientation
and beliefs, the Nazis were just doing what they believed was right based on
their orientation and belief. This is also the same with gender roles and
sensitivity. Whatever the person is accustomed to or is acquainted to with, he
will surely defend it. While there are those who believed on the mistake of the
ideology, they are living in the German soil which was dominated by the Nazis,
thus they are obliged or forced to follow the ideology of the Nazi. (In
comparison with that of the first film wherein the character of Jess is being
forced to follow the traditional beliefs of the religion they have, but she is
living in a country that believes in the individualism of a person, thus it is
easier to fight back.) This is shown by the way the Germans reacted to the
obvious cheating and bias of the referees. They shouted “victory” in support of
the POWs team. However, they cannot do more than that because they are living
in the domination of the Nazis in Germany.
Conclusion
Films are always used as media or
channel of ideology. It would be impossible for the filmmaker to just ignore
the holding of ideology in the film. There is always the demand of having an
ideology thrown in the film to make it more substantial in a sense. According
to Wojik-Andrews (2002), "the ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch
the ruling ideas...specifically in relation to the representation of class and
gender in children's films." Simply, even in children’s films, there is a
representation of class and gender. It would be impossible to separate the film
from the society that it tries to become an audience or it tries to comment on.
According to Street (2003), several
films have tried to indulge on the question of class, but only few offered complex
analysis of its essence or "of class and gender from different stylistic
and ideological perspectives (p.40)." Bend It Like Beckham (2002) tried to
examine the deep cultural differences and how they shaped the gender roles of
people. However, it also tried to integrate the meaning of assimilation with
another culture. It would be impossible to separate a person from the society
which he or she lived. This is a striking element being added to the complexity
of the film. In the same manner, the film also tried to examine how two people
of different era or time can have different perception on things or issues even
if they live in the same culture. It tries to question the generalization of
cultural orientation through the perspective of era. This means that cultural
orientation changes through period of time.
Nonetheless, the question of class
tackled by the film Escape to Victory (1981) tries to provide an overview on
how class or racial ideology is built. While there are people who may not
believe on the ideology, because of the size and vastness of the scope of the
ideology, it seems that everyone are in acquiesce to accepted ideology.
However, in the film Escape to Victory (1981), it tries to provide a clear
overview on how other people within the geographical limit of class ideology
may have different view.
References
Gianetti, L.
(1972). Understanding Movies. Pearson.
Holborn, J.
(1964). Origins and Political Character of Nazi Ideology. Political Science Quarterly
Vol. 79, No. 4 (Dec., 1964), pp. 542-554
Mast, G. (n.d.).
How to Watch Movies Intelligently Retrieved from
Maluleke, MJ.
(2012). Culture, Tradition, Custom, Law and Gender Equality [2012]
Potchefstroom Electronic
Law Journal
Rotten Tomatoes.
(2014). Escape to Victory. Retrieved
from
USHMM. (2014). The Holocaust. Retrieved from
