The movie “ Bend it like Beckham” has won the heart of audience around the world. It is about eighteen years old girl who wishes to play footbal against the wishes of her traditional parents. Achieving goal is also a theme of the movie when she learns how to stand up for herself and starts to make her own decisions, following her dreams rather than her parents’s. At the beginning of the movie, playing football is just her dream. After meeting another teenage girl – Jules while having a kick around in the park, Jess discovers there is a local girl’s football team.
She decides to join the team. Playing football professional becomes her goal. Regardless of parents’s oppose, she keeps chasing her goal. Moreover, she tries to be a good girl for her parents but she can not stop sneaking out to play football. She lies to them sometimes that she is sick which is just for the purpose of playing on the pitch. It reminds me of the story “Everyone talked loudly in Chinatown”. Lin who is fallen in love with a popular white guy named Todd does not receive acceptance from her parents as her crush is not Chinese.
Readers somehow recognize that she has the ambition for chasing her interest when she dares to stand up against parent’s oppose by slapping back her father after getting caught kissing Todd. The similarity between the movie and short story is that both of girls Jess and Lin are willing to chase their goals regardless of strictly traditional values of origin. However, Jess finally wins her dreams when she is accepted by her parents. She heads for USA which gives her a chance to play soccer professionally.
On the other hand, there is no obvious answer in the story when readers do not really know whether Lin gives up on it or following parent’s rules in the end. In addition, it recalls me those last days when my mother and I had a debate for my future career. My mother at first wanted me to be a doctor as she always considered it as the best job in the world. In contrast, I never thought of it even once; I got tired of hearing her repeated advice. I realized that I should have told her in serious way to show her my ambition for another job.
I never imagined that she agreed with me after hearing my threaten of skipping meals all day. Jess and I share the same feeling when we both receive oppose from parents at first. It is hard for them to accept things they do not want to happen to their daughters; we choose to stand up for ourselves to turn it out to be possible. After watching such an outstanding movie like that, I realize that giving up never wins because winner never gives up. More importantly, I should be more passionate and ambitious to never regret making those choices.
