What's love got to do with it?: (Un)bending identities and conventions in Gurinda Chadha's Bend it Like Beckham

Abstract

The connection between religion and football is not lost on film-maker Gurinder Chadha, who, in her film Bend it Like Beckham, charts the passions of a young woman called Jesminder (Jess), whose devotion to the game of football, and in particular David Beckham, and her determination not to cut herself off from her Sikh faith, culture and family, feature prominently in this cinematic depiction charting a young woman's quest to become a professional footballer. When applied to the study of identity formation, Gurinder Chadha transforms the bend-it-like-Beckham technique into a theoretical premise through which a critical examination into the complex trajectories and contesting traditions underscoring culture, race, gender and religious formation(s) can be examined on and off the football field.