Extended response and Bend it Like Beckham
What do you do when have to write an extended response????????????
There are a number of steps that YOU MUST do BEFORE you start to write an extended
response.
Extended response question.:
In what ways do the characters Jess and Jules face gender and or
cultural expectations from their families?
Refer closely to the text and YOU MUST include filmic techniques
Step One : Read the question twice
Step Two : Circle the key words
Step Three: Put the key words into a list
Step Four: Select and put into bullet points the information from the text that you want to use
to answer the question. Remember you will have to refer to the techniques along the way.
Step 5: Identify the text type you are asked to write in and make sure you use the conventions
of that form.
ALL THIS PLANNING SHOULD TAKE 2-5 MINUTES. IF YOU DO NOT DO THIS
THEN YOU WILL NOT HAVE AS MUCH CONTROL IN YOUR WRITING.
Do step 1 to 5
1.
2.
3.
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_______________________________________4. Evidence
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_________Step 5
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Essay Writing – An essay is simply a formal answer to a question.
 Refer to a quote explicitly if asked to respond to a quote.
 Do not use first person.
 You need to let the evidence speak for you not just give your opinion.
 The language must be formal.
 No contractions eg Don’t -write do not. Slang, no text messaging, no
numbers.
It looks a certain way and must include the following:
Structure
Introduction:
Re state the question and then outline how you are going to answer the
question. You do not provide quotes in the introduction although you might
mention the characters you are going to use to answer the question.
Body of the essay.
Every new point needs a new paragraph. IT must open with a topic sentence.
Here you need Filmic techniques and quotes AND you need to link and refer
to the question.
The evidence and your thesis or case must be text based.
Conclusion: You restate the question and how you outlined the answer. You
are not to bring any new evidence into a conclusion
Introduction: Rephrase the question and outline what you think the answer
is. It is okay to actually use the wording of the question.
Eg Chandra does explore cultural and expectation in her film Bend it Like
Beckham. This is seen especially through her characters Jess and Jules…
Body:
Point One -Thesis statement- This needs to be a topic sentence outlining
your response to the answer.
e.g
The opening sequence of the film Bend it Like Beckham (Chandra
2002) establishes straight away the cultural expectation that the
Bhama Indian family have of their daughter
In the remainder of paragraph, provide evidence from the film to support
your point of view. Final sentence refers back to the question or leads to
your next point.
Despite Jess dreaming of playing with Beckham she knows that her
mother will not approve. The medium close up shot of her mother in
traditional Indian costumes show her disapproval and she exclaims
“..
Probably the easiest way to do this it to discuss Jess and her family in a
number of scenes and give supporting quotes and filmic techniques to
validate your answer.
Once you have discussed this particular aspect of the characterisation you
need to end your paragraph with a sentence referring back to question or
lead to a new point
Eg. Chandra does explore the limits that Indian culture places on the
character of Jess
Point Two: Thesis statement- Begin with another topic sentence outlining
your response to the answer.
e.g. Gender expectations are also explored in the film primarily through the
character of Jess…
Write the remainder of paragraph providing evidence from the text to
support your point of view.
In the “bra scene” the long shot of the bras followed by a close up
we see Jess distaste as her mother insists on a push up bra for her
daughter we see that Jules does not want this gender expectation for
herself as she prefers the “sports bras”
Final sentence in this paragraph must refer back to the question or lead to
your next point.
Point Three: Thesis statement- Begin with a third topic sentence outlining
your response to the answer. Write the remainder of paragraph providing
evidence from the text to support your point of view. Final sentence refers
back to the question and would only lead to your next point if you were
writing another paragraph.
See above for examples
Conclusion: Re state the question and how you have outlined your answer
Planning page
Introduction:
Body:
Point One –
Example 1
Example 2
Example 3
Point Two:
Example 1
Example 2
Example 3
Point Three:
Example 1
Example 2
Example 3
Conclusion:
Characters from Chandra’s 2002 “Bend It Like Beckham” all come under serious pressure
from gender and cultural expectations from their families. Character “Jess” faces cultural
expectations from her family, which are of the Sikh religion, and character “Jules” faces
gender issues through her effeminate mother. Both characters face gender stereotypes. Scenes
that were purposely designed to reflect these issues, such as a bra shop conflict, or the
trouble, which ensues after Jess has been caught by her mother playing football. Throughout
the movie these issue’s are constantly being bought to light, and showing to society what
pressure can be put on women.
A very good example of gender expectations and pressure is when the character “Jules” and
her mother go out bra shopping. A close up shot of the mothers handbag, shows a inflatable
bra pump, this tells the audience that her mother is a supporter of the view that women should
be pretty and feminine. Her costuming also shows this, with her being dressed in a pink
flowery dress, an outfit which is commonly associated with the female gender. However
Jules costuming shows that she is the opposite, with her being dressed in track suit pants and
a grey shirt. Close up shots of Jules clearly show she is tired of her mother and is not
accepting her mothers views on how women should look. Jules goes off to find the sports
bra’s and her mother voices her disgust, “not the sports bras, they are so plain”. This shows
that not only does Jules mother want Jules to look like the female stereotype; she openly
judges Jules decision to go against the stereotype. If this is what Jules mother thinks of Jules,
then it can be assumed that most of the world would also have this view. This can be deduced
by a wide shot of the store and in the background is a special deal “FREE brief or thong when
you buy this bra”, this add is targeted towards women thus making them accept the
stereotype. This pressure of having to look feminine would be hard for Jules to deal with
especially when it is coming from a parental figure like her mother.
Conversely, On the other side of the film you have the pressures from her very cultural
parents that character Jess had to deal with. Jess’s goal is made clear throughout the film, to
become a professional soccer player, however her attempts are constantly being thwarted by
her parents in particular her mother. Her mother holds the Sikh religion very close to her
heart culture. This can be shown by her costuming, she is never out of her traditional
clothing. Due to this she has a very firm idea of what she wants Jess to becomes and
disapproves of anything that would remotely bring shame to her family. One if the scene’s
that show this is where Jess is caught playing soccer with boys in her shorts. A wide shot
shows how horrified Jess’s mother is. Whilst she is lecturing Jess, you learn what sort of
pressure that Jess is under. Her mother believes that women should be able to cook and
maintain a house. This is shown by her multiple references to food “I was married at your
age! You won’t even learn to cook dhal”, “Now exams are over you’ll learb full Punjabi
dinner meat and vegetarian”, and “What family would want a daughter in law who can run
around and kick a football all day but can’t make round chapattis.”. This dialogue not only
proves Jess’s mum is against sport, but that the her entire culture is also against it. No family
would want a girl who can play sport, this is the kind of pressure that Jess is under and also
exposes the double standard between boys and girls as there are no statements saying that
boys can’t. This is the pressure on Jess which stems from her culture.
Throughout this film the two girls constantly are being pressured into behaving what the
parents, the Sikh religion, and the world consider women to be like. In all conflicts between
the girls and the parents, low angle shots are always used to film the parents giving them
clear domination over the girls. The parents can be blamed but they got their views from
somewhere, for Jess’s family, they got their views from their religion. Jules family got their
views from the world, especially Jules mother, this is shown in certain dialogue “come on
sweetheart, all the other girls have got one” This was talking about bra’s but its shows how
influenced the mother really is. Her parents are the main sources of pressure but this pressure
can be traced back to the world’s view of women especially in sport. An example is when
Jess is invited to play with the boys, for the first few sessions wide shot’s show the boy’s
laughing at Jess expecting her to at a low performance level. Another example is when the
boys are at the soccer game and are commenting on the girls breasts, and one boy says “why
can’t you just look at them as footballers”, the group then laugh there heads off at the
ridiculous proposal so while the main pressure source to behave like women does come from
there parents, you must ask where did their parents get that view.
The parents from both families pressure and punish their daughters in an attempt to get their
daughters to behave like the stereotyped women of being feminine and having the ability to
cook and keep the house in order. However what makes this film good, is that Jess and Jules
in a way are sporting feminists constantly under pressure but see their way through these
ordeals to achieve there dream. However this does not happen all the time and many women
are pressured into fitting the stereotype, thus becoming another brick in the world.