B.J. [B]: Greetings and salutations and welcome to This Ends at Prom.
Harmony [H]: A coming of age podcast highlighting cinema about or about marketed towards
teen girls.
B: I'm one of your hosts, BJ Colangelo and I'm joined by my wife
H: Harmony Colangelo, a trans woman who grew up watching none of these movies.
B: Is today's movie a queen B
H: Or are we killing the teen dream?
B: Get in loser, we're analyzing the movies people make fun of us for loving.
[Intro song plays, "TItle" by the Sonder Bombs]
B: Welcome back, prom party. If you're like, wow BJ, real 911 operator voice of you today, it's
because I had a major pain flare up at 3 in the morning last night. I got no sleep. So my voice is
showing it.
H: It's fine, some people like it when you're sultry sounding.
B: Yeah, the person who probably likes it most is friend of the show Devan Taylor. So I guess,
you're welcome Devan. What's interesting is when we had Devon on the show we talked about
Angus, Thongs, and Perfect Snogging. Today we're talking about another British film. Look at
how that comes -- life just being poetic and full circle. Friends, today we are talking about a
movie that I'm sure a lot of people are going to be excited about. When we announced it on
Patreon, people were extremely excited. We're talking today about Bend it Like Beckham. But
friends, we're not alone today. Our guest is assisant professor of women, gender and queer
studies and the podcast host of Whatever I'll Watch It, Alexia Arani. Hi.
Alexia [A]: Hi!
B: Welcome to the show. We're so excited to have you. So Bend it like Beckahm, why this movie
for you?
A: Oh my gosh. So I was obsessed with this movie when it came out on DVD in the US. I had a
huge crush on Kiera Knightley, which I will unpack later. I revisited it maybe about six months
ago and felt like a lot of my feelings had shifted. While I still liked the movie and was shocked at
how gay it was, there's a lot to unpack in the movie. I feel like there's so many different ways
you can interpret the different thems around modernity, nationalism, multiculturalism, queerness,
so I just felt like there would be so much for us to talk about.
B: I agree completely. This is a movie that, for me, I watched a lot growing up because a lot of
my friends were the goth kids and the jock girls. That was my group of my people. A lot of them
were on AYSO soccer teams and eventually played into high school so this was a very seminal
movie for a lot of them. Obviously being a preteen white person in America I was not able to
fully unpack a lot of the themes in Bend it like Beckham until I was much older and upon this
most recent rewatch there was so many things jumping out at me and I was like oh I finally have
the language to explain what this means. So I agree with you completely. I wanted to save
Harmony for last because her exposure to this movie is wild to me [laughs]
H: Yeah, here's the thing, Alexia when you brought the list of movies I was like oh I'd love to talk
about any of these. I went oh sick, Bend it like Beckham, it's a soccer movie right? It's summer,
we haven't done a sports movie in a while. That will be really cool. And I asked BJ, is this a Like
Mike situation? It's a David Beckham version of that? And she goes, nooo not at all. We put it on
and I realized I knew nothing about this movie. I didn't know it was British. I didn't know a damn
thing other than a vague idea of, the poster has two girls, and that's all I remember. I had this
idea in my head like it's another soccer movie, like maybe She's the Man, but not with gender
stuff. This has way more going on than that.
B: [laughs] There's plenty to dissect in She's the Man, which we will eventually do, it is on the
list. People have been asking. But what was so fascinating when we were watching it and it
became apparent this is centered around a British Indian second generation child, you were like
I had no idea this was part of this story. I was like yeah, that's a huge part of this. We ended up
looking at the posters and the poster in the UK release is just a decapitated--that sounds
terrible--the head is out of frame [laughs] it's a headless body in a sari holding soccer shoes
behind the back. I was like, that is really striking, I understand what this poster is saying. Then
you look at the posters in the US and it's very much, Kiera Knightley-focused [laughs] which is
really telling to me. There's a couple versions where Kiera Knightley's face is photoshopped so
she's not cheering, she's looking at the camera and smiling while Jess is cheering. I was like oh
I don't like that [laughs] that is definitely prioritizing the secondary lead in this movie because...
America. But you know, we will get into that. So Alexia, if you had to explain what this movie is
about to someone who's never seen it, what is going on in this movie?
A: As you mentioned, Jess Bharma is our protagonist. She's a second generation Punjabi Indian
living in London with her family. She's obsessed with David Beckham, she's a super talented
soccer player, and she eventually gets recruited to play for the girls team by Jules, who is
played by Kiera Knightley. We basically explore how both Jess and Jules follow their passion for
soccer despite pressure from their family to be more feminine, to focus on getting a husband.
Despite teh fact that this is such a gay movie, there's this random romance thrown in with thier
male soccer coach becuase this was 2002 and they wanted it to make money.
B: Yup. [laughs] And our soccer coach, Joe, is played by Jonathan Reece Meyers and there are
so many shots of him in this movie where they were like, he has huge lips and a brooding face,
we just really need to focus on that. It's alarming how often it happens [laughs]
A: I feel like he's constantly doing the Zoolander face.
B: Yes! And part of it, it's just his face. You look at him and you're like that's why they cast you in
that Elvis mini-series, which he was fantastic in. But you look at it, and you see what they were
doing here with him.
H: He's very pouty, he's very pretty, this is why he is my favorite David Bowie knock off.
A: That man is also a gateway to lesbianism.
B: You're not wrong though. He has all those pretty features, for sure. Well before we dive too
much deeper, here's our morning announcements.
B: Welcome to the morning announcements. As a reminder, you can support the show on
Patreon. Patreon.com/thisendsatprom. Over on our patreon we offer things like our schedule
ahead of time, wonderful playlists curated by Harmony, Sadie Hawkins dance episodes focused
on teen boy movies, and we're currently focusing on our TV homecoming series through Pen15.
We offer a free bonus episode every month for our subscribers at only $1. If now is not the right
time to support financially, we totally understand. All we ask is if you love the show, you send us
to a friend, you give us a 5 star review wherever you get podcasts, and you tag us on social
media, #thisendsatprom or @thisendsatprom.
B: Alrighty, so Harmony set the stage for us. What was coming out or existing around the time of
Bend it Like Beckham?
H: This one is difficult to nail down because it's international so looking at what was released in
America around this time kind of skews it. I did notice a weird trend that I didn't really think about
which is that in the late 90s and 2000s we became very interested in importing British films,
probably for reasons like, very masculine driven ones like Trainspotting or any Guy Rtichie film,
the cost of them was really lo wso the profit was really good margins. But also Hugh Grant made
a billion dollars in rom coms and on one of the posters for this it favorably compares it to
Bridgets Jones Diary.
A: [laughs] What?!
H: Yeah! It's like the funniest British comedy since Bridget Jones Diary! I'm like uhhh, okay. I
know nothing about this movie except BJ goes, it's bad. I don't want to watch it. I had to ask her,
Bridget Jones isn't a teen film but everyone I know always watched it with their mom, is it
because Hugh Grant was there? And she said yeah, that's it. So I think we had a novel interest
in British culture especially coming off the backs of Spice Girls and girl power. And leading into
the 2000s it's this weird period between 9/11 and mean girls where most of the teen fare was
very safe. It was not super confrontational, you had some outliers that were more edgy like
Party Monster or Pumpkin or 13 but like, those were basically indie releases that didn't make
money. The closest things you had to a teen film during this period was like, A Walk To
Remember or Lizzie McGuire or the Princess Diaries, Freaky Friday, maybe Blue Crush. Things
that are either Disney or feel like Disney. I think it's this tumultuous time in American history
that's making us look abroad, like how we love to set films in the 90s and earlier so then we
don't have to account for cell phones in our writing. It's like setting a teen film post-911 without
going, let's not account for the everything going on in this country. Let's go somewhere else.
LIzzie Mcguier is going to Rome, why not?
B: I think that's a really good point. I think that's also what makes this film so important. While I
would not describe this film as safe by any stretch of the imagination, I do think it was
accessible. But it was willing to have tougher conversations than a lot of hte other movies that
came out during this time period. I don't want to say that's why it was successful, because that's
not true, there were a lot of reasons why this film was successful, but I think that's why this
movie is still looked back upon so fondly because it was willing to be like, hey let's have
uncomfortable conversations though everything around us feels uncomfortable given the state
of the world at this point. But I think we needed that. We needed that outlet and we weren't
getting it as teenagers.
H: Yeah this is a movie that is much more worthy of praise because it has plenty going on as
opposed to Amanda Bynes going for a friendly romp in What a Girl Wants. It's got stuff but this
has way more stuff.
B: I would agree. Alexia, how about you, any theories?
A: It's interesting hearing y'all talk about this because I hadn't really thought about the 9/11
context that much. But this is a movie that really celebrates multiculturalism during a time when
there was a lot of rampant xenophobia, especially towards a Sikh family, like the father wears a
turban and talks about experiencing racism because of that. I hear what you're saying that it
explores some tough themes but I also feel like it does play it kind of safe in terms of having the
traditional brown family that needs to lean into the independence of their daughter and letting
her play these sports and at the end of the day it's like, look joe this white guy can play cricket
with them and everyone can be happy and live in the same place together and bond over
sports. SO I feel like it was creating this imaginary of how we wanted ethnic and racial relations
to be during a time when it was not that.
B: Totally, I agree with that completely. There's a couple moments specifically that kind of prove
that theory. Probably the best example is after somebody uses a slur towards Jess at a game
and she's really upset about it and she's trying to explain to Joe, you don't understand this, and
his response was, ``I'm irish, I get it [laughs].
A: I was screaming.
B: It's like okay buddy, maybe to some extent you understand but no. You are still white [laughs].
THat's not the same weight at all, my dude.
A: Since we're already talking about this, I feel like I'm always shouting out Sara Ahmed who's
one ofm y favorite feminist thoerists. She's written a lot about this film, a lot of it quite critical. I
don't necessarily agree with all of it but part of the things she writes about is racism in this film is
really depicted in this film as something brown people need to let go of, like holding onto their
hurt feelings is the thing holding them back. We see that in that exchange you're talking about
where Joe is basically like, I'm Irish, we all get picked on, you just have to keep playing. It's
really the same transformation we see in the father as well where in the beginning he doesn't
want her to play soccer because he experienced racism in spots and then realized he's holding
her back and he needs to let go of his fear of racism to let her continue in her life.
B: I'm glad you brought that point up because I do agree with that sentiment and I like what you
said earlier about how this movie operates as a fantasy about what we wanted race relations to
be like because I feel like at their core, 90% of teen movies are fantasies. They are painting a
world that we do not live in, whether it's something like Mean Girls and Heathers where thoes
sorts of cliques obviously exist bu tnot that extent, this is some cartoon villainy happening here,
but then you also have that in the positive with love stories that are completely unrealistic or
situationslike this where like, these race relations are all so, in my opinion, and of course I can
fuck off into the sun if I'm wrong becuase I'm white, but it also feels as if a lot of hte racism
depicted in this movie is depicted from an indivdiual level. There are some people who are
going to be shitty to you, not there is a sytemic oppressive state hat exists for people who are
non-white.
A: Yeah I agree completely.
[Clip from the film plays, Jess's dad says: Those bloody English cricket players threw me out of
their club like a dog. I never complained. On the contrary, I vowed that I would never play again.
Who suffered? Me. But I don't want Jesse to suffer. I don't want her to make the same mistakes
that her father made before. Accepting life, accepting situations. I want her to fight. ANd I want
her to win. Becuas eI have seen her play and she is brilliant. I don't think anybody has the right
to stop her.]
B: [laughs] There's so much to talk about. But let's first focus on our character of Jess and sort
of who she is, what she represents. How do you feel about Jess as a character ,Alexia?
A: My first instinct is I do really like Jess. One of the things, as people have revisited this film
that's striking, is that not much happened with this actress after this film. And I know for myself,
as I mentioned watching this as a kid, I had a huge crush on Kiera Knightley. Going back and
watching it as an adult, I have a huge crush on Jess.
B: Okay, interesting.
A: So I definitely think there's something there about my own journey around decolonizing
attraction and learning about the way white supremacy shaped what I was taught was beautiful
in the early 2000s. So watching this time I'm really struck by Jess's character. I mean, I can
have my critique of the ways her culture is perhaps portrayed as holding her back but I don't
want to get too hung up on that because I feel like we also see a similar storyline with Jules with
her white English culture. Overall, I think her story arc is very relatable to viewers for many
different reasons. I know for the onviosu one this is clearly a metaphor for queerness. I think any
queer kid can really relate to what Jess is going through. And I love that she is really torn. She
really does love her family and wants to respect them and values her culture but at the same
time she does need to be true to herself. So I think that's a story that pretty much anyone can
relate to, depending on their own experiences.
B: I definitely agree and my feelings on Jess as well, she for the most part is our guide into the
world. We're seeing a lot of things through her lens and her perspective, which of course any
time we have that with a character, immediately that's an unreliable narrator. THa't snot meant
to be an insult, it's just like our perspectives when we're teenagers, this is why we get, oh my
god my mom is ruining my life! Which isn't necessarily true in the grand scheme of things. It
might be how you feel in that moment. When she's practicing how to do David Beckham's kick
she has that visual of her family being in the way of her goal, like literally in the way of her goal.
So that is a very relatable feeling as a teenager, thinking it's your family, your environment in a
lot of whit eteen movies. It's presented as your location, your small town is holding you back. I
think it's very interesting in this it's presented as your culture or your family. Interesting, you
know, pressing save in my brain on that one. And I love that you mentioned having a crush on
Kiera Knightley when you were younger and then Jess as you'er older. I have been ride or die
for Pinkie since day one [laughs]
A: Oh my god.
H: [laughs]
B: Even as a tenegaer I was like she's fun! She would be someone I would love to hang out
with. But as an adult looking back, it's like oh no, Jess is the grounded person I would probably
actually need in my life. So that' show I feel. Harmony, how about you?
H: This whole discussion is really interesting because right before we sat down to record BJ was
reflecting with me on the kids that played soccer in her high school and how all the girls ended
up being straight. There' sthis reputation of soccer being extremely gay and I thin it's funny the
only out lesbian im y hgih school was the captain of the soccer team. So that was just an
interesting tidbit. But I have a question. So this is one of those things where I don't have the
research or history so I'm a little out of my depth in some of the details. Is this a situation, do we
know... like Camp, which we laid into June, they had to change the sexuatliy of one of the
characters because the studio demanded it. Was this supposed to be a queer film? The whole
time I’m sitting here for like the first third especially I'm just turning to BJ going, why is it so gay?
Why is everything about this so gay? She's like well, spoilers, there is a subplot with them. I'm
like okay but is it intentional? I had this realization where we're watching and BJ was saying oh
this is how I was with my best friend, we were very touchy feely. Maybe it's that in a lot of sports
movies that I"ve seen growing up, which are American, but also they were boy movies, you
don't touch your friends in boy movies. You weren't close with them. That adds this element
from my experience where this looks more queer becuase it's so much more intimate looking.
Even though it's just a bond of teammates. Do we know, was this changed?
A: Yes. Yeah, so it was definitely supposted to be gay. I mean, It's still gay but it was meant ot
be more explicitly gay. I've heard mixed things between the driection was worried about
backlash from teh queer desi commun ity in the UK and that the stuido was worried about not
making enough money.
H: Which is funny because this is the highest grossing soccer movie in history.
B: Yeah, what were you learning about it? It's the highest globally but in the states it's at third?
H: Oh yeah it's behind She's the Man and Kicking and Screaming with Will Ferrel.
A: Oh my god.
B: Oh great [laughs].
A: That's so disrespectful.
B: That cinematic classic! So something interesting I read in terms of Jess's characterization is
this idea of bending. Bend it like Beckham isn't just a reference to the actual kick which I've tried
to explain to people because Americans don't care about soccer, football, what have you. It's
basically like kicking a curveball. So not only does it reference that, it is also this idea that
people like Jess and to some extent Jules, are not breaking the rules of their family, they're
bending them. Which I have some conflicting thoughts about. But Alexia, I was curious what you
feel about that idea about rule bending vs breaking?
A: Well now I feel like I want to hear your thoughts and then I will respond.
B: So the thoughts I have, I feel like bending rules inadvertently positions the person who is
doing it into a model minority box of they're not going against the status quo, kind of both
sides-ing a little bit, which I'm not a fan of. I wish teen characters had a strong autonomy, but at
the same time, I grew up in a very close-knit, Italian family and there is a sense of familial
obligation that is really difficult to explain to people that are not from cultures where family is so
important. So I also understand the rule bending and I feel very seen by the rule behind
because I really got good at it, just constantly being a velociraptor testing the fences on things.
So I get that as well. So that's why I'm conflicted. In my adult brain I'm like break the rules. At
the same time I'm' like, oooh but you also have all of these conflicting feelings about familial
obligation and also culture and wanting to maintain culture when the world is trying to erase
your culture and why it is important to maintain that and it just gets so messy.
A: Yeah. I'm in a weird positionality with this movie because I do have Indian family. My
grandfather immigrated to the US from India, but he kind of took the opposite route of Jess's
family where he very much was interested in assimilation, giving up his religious practices,
language, so I've really grown up without a strong connection or sense of my cultural
background. Researching for this movie, I saw a lot of things written about queer desis about
how affirming it felt for them to see a family that looked like their own and a character that
looked like them. Even though I am Indian, that's not something I can relate to because my
upbringing was very different. I just wanted to acknowledge that as well that Jess is a really
important character fo ra lot of people in the queer desi community. But about the bend it, i'm
thinking more about queerness again. And I'm stuck on Sara Ahmed for some reason [laughs]
she has a book Queer Phenomenology where she talks about straightness as a literal direction.
So straights move straight up the relationship escalator, get the kids all of that. Queerness is like
this bendy, curvy line that takes you to unexpected directions. So I'm actually thinking about the
bendiness about queerness in this movie and the ways that we have to jsut kind of stuff
ourselves around the corners of heterosexualtiy and waht's expected from us.
B: I think that's really interesting. This is just me maybe fantasy booking, but I think Jules - again
she says she is not a lesbian, she says that she is straight, she shows that she has affections
for Joe. But I feel like if we were going to revisit Jules ten years later after she's left her
hometown and gone to college in the states, I feel like somebody would be like, have you heard
about comphet? And she would break that down a little bit. That's again where it gets
complicated becuase on the one hand I love there's a character who does fall under that very
specific tomboy trope that I know plenty of poeple have mixed feelings about, as they should,
with any trope, but the fact that there is this character who doesn't subscribe to the very specific
and rigid femme gender roles that are often put upon people who are assigned female at birth, I
think that' sgreat, but at the saem time in my heart of hearts I'm also like, but what if you just
don't fully understand attraction and how that can function becuase its the early 2000s and we
arent having these conversations yet. So I'm curious how Jules would end up in the future.
A: As far as I'm concerned, Jules is canonicaly bisexual and Jess is a lesbian who likes the
attention of a white guy.
H: [laughs]
B: Ooh, I love this read actually. I subscribe to this read, I think that's great. That romance with
Joe. First off, the power dynamics are not great. He's their coach, not awesome. But Jess is so
much more alive when she's with Jules than when she's with Joe. Joe's just kind of there.
A: She has no chemistry with him.
B: None! He's kind of a hunk, you would think this would be someone you would be very excited
about but she's just.. it's not there. But you get her on screen with Jules and they both are
glowing.
A: There's no connection and they establish so many times throughout the movie that she's not
into dudes. Like there's multiple times where she's like, me, a man? or the girls watching them
play soccer like oh that guy's cute and she looks confused like, what that guy is cute? She's so
established as gay and then all of the sudden wer'e supposed to think she's interested in JOe, I
don't buy it.
H: [laughs]
B: I agree.
A: You know what it might be.. have y'all ever had that queer experience of you have a crush on
a woman and to get closer to her you're like oh I have a crush on the guy that she has a crush
on or that she's dating?
H: I've not had that specifically but I've definitely been on okcupid and it's like we're a fun loving
couple, just looking for some whatever, and I'm like, the girls' cute. I will tolerate the guy.
B: I definitely during high school would be very flirty with a guy who I knew had a crush on a girl
who I had crush on because it was this weird proxy for me where I was like now I get to be third
wheel when I really just want to be really close to this person [laughs]
A: Yeah there's that moment where Jess goes to Jules's room for the first time and she sees the
picture of Jules and Joe. She seems really bummed out about it. And I don't believe for a
second she's bummed because she likes Joe. I feel like she's hurt because she likes Jules. So
there's this weird, cross mixing of desire where I think proxy is definitely what's going on.
H: Oh yeah. The fact that the whole B plot to this movie is just mistaken relationship
conundrums that the parents keep ending up with these kids--well they're like 18--but that one
scene where they're like post-kissing Joe and Jules and Jess are fighting in Jules's room and
everything about it, they added like two line of dialogue for there to be this miscommunication so
mom could get a punchline out of it, because she assumes the worst because he lives in a
sheltered little life. Nothing about it, clearly that's the joke, that we were supposed to assume
one thing, but everything about it, he's an afterthought in this dialogue.
[clip from the film: Jules' mom, sobbing: Julia I saw you with my own eyes! Kissing after your
match. I'm not stupid you know. And anyway look at the clothes you wear. Jules: Mother! Just
becuase I wear trackies and play sport does not make me a lesbian! Me and Jess were fighting
because we both fancied our coach. Joe. As in male, Joe. Our coach, Joe. Man. Joe!]
B: Yeah the conflict between the two of them may be like oh, we had a crush on the same guy!
But listening to them argue I feel like I'm listening to a couple. It's just.. how it is. I guess to some
extent my best friend and I, any time we had any sort of disagreement, that was way worse than
any break up I've ever gone through, because that is my person, when you're growing up. And it
seems like Jess doesn't have a huge community of people she considers friends. She has the
guys she plays soccer with, she obviously has.. how does he identify?
H: We know he likes Beckham, a lot.
A: I'd say gay.
B: I don't know if they outight say it, but eh's gay. And their family is obviously like oh you have
known eachother forever, you should be together! They obviously know why that can't happen
and it's not fully put on front street. Because again, we had to censor a lot of things in the 2000s.
So subtext is champion here. But she doesn't really have this massive community of friends at
least to our knowledge. So when she does have Jules that becomes the thing sto fixate on, this
is your person. They get each other on a level that a lot of people don't because they are
competitive athletes. That's a very specific world. We talked a bit about in our Stick It episode
where I talked specifically about being a competitive baton twirler for almost twenty years and
how those relationships were so important to me because none of my friends understood what
any of it was and it was hard to have to constantly express the importance of that part of my life
to people who were not in it.
H: Yeah and I don't understand the intricacies of how this particular sport works because I was
like 4 years old but I think these two are also like the best players on the team and they have
this relationship on the field where one of them sets up the shot for the other and that's how they
get all of their points and they pretty much lead everything. THere's this closeness in that sense
that's like so powerful that you get good news after a game and then you kiss your friend on the
lips [laughs] which apparently BJ does that with her friends, I've never done that with my friends.
B: I mean not now that I'm an adult! But in high school oh my god yeah, that was just me. Is that
weird? Am I a weird person for that? I said it to Harmony last night very matter of fact and she
looked at me like, that's not a thing I've ever seen.
H: Again it's the closeness between boys and girls and I grew up in a completely different world
than you where you can't even sleepi n the same bed as ag uy on a road trip becuase it's gay.
B: Okay that's a great point. Alexia, how were you growing up with intimacy with your friends?
A: This is funny because I was bringing up thinking I was crushing on the guy when really I had
a cruson the girl. One of the [laughs] main examples of that, this girl who I befriended because I
had a crush on her boyfriend. But I used to literally spend the weekends spooning her watching
the L Word.
B: [laughs] the straightest thing I've ever heard.
A: And I didn't realize that was gay until decades later.
B: That makes me think so much of Fortune Teamster's stand up special where she talks about
how she just applied lotion to people when they needed it. Olh do you need me to lotion your
back? I can do that. And nwo as an openly queer adult she look sback liek what a weirdo I was.
Becuase when you have this queerness inside you and it's manifesting in ways you don't
understand, you know, sometimes you spoon people and watch the l word [laughs]
A: It was weird because I identifeid as bisexual from like, the age of 12. But for some reason I
didn't make that connection with the friends in my life I had crushes on, I made that connection
with Kiera Knightley and Angelina Jolie.
H: Well maybe that's the whole thing of teenage fantasies. The idea that a teen movie is a
fantasy it's not reality, oh well that's the dream of who you could get with as opposed to like --
I've always compartmentalized the people in my life so I've never really considered friends
anything more than friends. So I don't know is that how it was for you or again, am I the person
who's just over here like I don't do things with friends?
A: That's definitely not me anymore [laughs] but I think back in the day that's a good read.
B: I was very touchy feely with all of my friends. One, I was a baton twirler so you spend a lot of
time with people just in close proximity to each other. There's also a lot of comfortability that you
have with each other's bodies, and not in a seuxal way, but in a I'm going to be running a baton
around your body while you throw something in the air and are spinning around, you have to
trust that I'm not going to knock you over. Or I'm going to be doing a flying leap above your
head. You need to trust that I'm not going to kick you in the face. So that adds a level of intimacy
and also the fact that I was a theater kid. That also requires a lot of intimacy and a lot of trust.
So becuas eof that the friendships I made were all so extremely itnimate like cuddling at cast
parties in a non-sexual way or like ey i'm having a bad day i'm coming over and eating pizza and
were just gonna lay with each other in the middle of aliving rom and watch all of the sasons of
sex and the city that we got from Blockbuster.
A: Sounds amazing.
B: That was my upbringing so everything was really close. Tht continued honestly until I stopped
doing theater. Because those were the people I Was with. I was always really physically close
and intimate with them. It's weird. I think it's weird for people to understand which is why we get
the miscommunication relationship plots because I also think people struggle understanding that
there are some relationships that are non-romantic that are intimate. So that's why you see
someone being excited and touching and that is read as like, oh they're kissing! Or I saw that
kiss, and that means relationship and love when sometimes that's not the case. So there's also
a read that could be made in terms of like, almost asexuality in this movie where you can talk
about intimacy totally separate from sexualtiy and that's really interesting. I mean obviously
that's not what the text is telling us, it's a read that can be made. This movie has so much going
on [laughs]
A: I know, something too, this is kind of going back a little bit. I can't remember who it was, I
think maybe Harmony brought up that we don't see Jess hav ea lot of friendships, like female
friendships until Jules. I kind of want to unpack that a little bit becuase soemthing I was noticing
in my rewatch was that, this obnviously is supposed to be a feminist film. It's like women
breaking out of gender roles. But I felt like there was kind of a femmephobia that was upheld
throughout the film.
B: Yes!
A: Justice for Pinkie. Or like, the dads are the ones shown as the ones being really supportive,
they're the ones who lean into modernity, they're okay with cultural change, and the mothers are
confined to tradition, and they're really superficial and worried about reputation. Jules and Jess
seem to feel like they are better than other girls, like Pinkie and her friends, because they want
something more, not just something different.
B: Yeah there's that line during PInkie's wedding where they're in the car and she's like don't'
you want this? and she's like, no I want more than that. I want to play soccer. I want to go to the
states. THere is some weird femme phobia stuff going on in here. It's weird because we see
PInkie's friends and they have the quote unquote shallow conversations about like well now I
can't wear my contacts if she's going to and there's such a staunch visual difference between
Pinkie and her friends and Jess who's in a sleeveless hoodie and has her hair in a ponytail. It's
clearly the not like most girls look of the early 2000s. So we have all of that, and then at the
same time, there is this constant stress of you have to look good for boys. You have to not be so
muscular. You need to be wearing more makeup. It's so interesting how themovie is at the same
time both so crtiical of these women who fall into these roles but at het same time is constnatly
hitting you with the messaging of like no but you have to be femme. Again it's interesting. Upon
rewatch as an adult and recognized as a kid that I probably took in the messaging of you don't
have to just be this way, there's more to life than just being a wife kind of a thing, and yeah that's
a good message to have but at the same time, how do I navigate that with oh but I have to look
a certain way? I have to do certain things? This is the pressure I'm hearing and having affirmed
by all of culture 24/7. How do you step out of that as a teenager? I think the answer is that's
complicated and causes a lot of us a lot of anxiety about our own appearance and place in the
rld and gender performance [laughs]
A: Yeah I feel like the film equates freedom with masculinity.
B: Ooh. I like that. I like that a lot.
A: It would have been nice to see a bit more from some of the other soccer players who are
maybe more femme. Or just have a different relationship to their gender than Jess and Jules do.
H: Yeah but I feel like.. this movie is already almost two hours long and I would love to have
elements like that explored, but I think the story that it's specifically targeting is the trickle down
influence of parents. Because we have that with all of our three main characters in this love
triangle. Joe has his dad who's like oh no, your mom is a walk in the park, she's laughs. She's a
great time compared to my dad. And then my brain goes to the worst things that dad can do like
ah, he's a drunk and he hits ya and he does all the things that my dad did. But the cruel irony is
that with both Jules and Jess's moms I see bad elements of my mother in there as well. So I
had this weird relationship where I'm like oh I like these moms, they're trying, but also they have
the sloppy, unpleasant parts of my mom so I don't enjoy them.
A: Yeah I mean I feel like they devoted that screen time to the fathers, giving their time to shine
and explaining why they acted the way they did and why they wanted to be better versus maybe
the mothers having a chance to talk about how things were for them in their generation. These
are all survival skills. As far as they're concerned, they're trying to help their daughter survive
but it's not really given the empathy in the way it's portrayed it's just like, ah these traditional
women are just holding us back.
H: Mhm. And don't get me wrong, I'm a sucker for a heartfelt dad speech and Jess's dad has a
really nice one. But it is unbalanced.
B: I agree completely and piggy-backing what Harmony said, we love a good dad speech and
that is its own trope and it's one of those moments where we are seeing a character reckoning
with their own trauma through the lens of their children and I wish that we were able to see the
mothers do the same. I mean there are tip-toe moments where you think maybe we're oging to
finally unpack that but then it doesn't end up happening, which is so strange for am ovie that has
forever been positioned as a feminist classic. I think you're right, it does position masculinity as
freedom and also that masculinity is "the only way to subvert these gender roles." It's a very
binary way of thinking, whereas there are moemnts when you see Jules, who is presented to be
the tomboy character, who really doesn't like things girly and that's why mom has to hot glue
bows on shoes, but when we see her in other elements, she has such a sporty femme,
chapstick lesbian look to her. I don't read her as butch. But she isn't femme. She falls
somewhere in the middle. That on its own is subverting gender and that I don't think is given as
much weight as like, literally leaving a wedding and taking off all the traditional outfit and
presentation to then put on shorts. That I think is the stark contrast that we are trying to paint
here when they are both subverting these roles in their own way, but it's very clear that one of
them is seen as more powerful than the other.
A: So now I'm wondering what y'all think of... this movie does kind of have a makeover scene.
B: It does, weirdly [laughs]
H: Which one, the one where they go clubbing?
A: Yeah, they go clubbing and Jess comes out and she looks amazing.
H: She looks so good.
B: She looks so hot [laughs]
A: She looks incredible.
H: that dress is such a good fit, and that's borrowed? Oh jeez.
A: It's surprising too because she actually seems very comfortable in her skin in that outfit.
B: She does.
H: I think it's probably because she's dressing up for her rather than being forced to dress up by
her mom.
B: I think that's definitely part of it and I also think that the outfit that they give her specifically, it
feels like an extension of who she is. One, it's black so it's not like hot pink, which I think is not
really her thing. It is in an unconventional fabric, it looks like a pleather or a wet look that is
different than sequins or something that Pinkie would wear. When we even see Jules she has
that very specific halter top from the early 2000s that this backless and has the droop in the
front, that was a very popular look at the time. That with the pants makes it kind of edgy and fun.
But she does look very comfortablea nd the lip that htey give her is a very deep shade, it's not
trying to be hot pink or red or something typically associatedw ith femme colors. So the
makeover scene, to me, it just feels like somebody pushing her towards maybe where she sees
herself but is not sure how to express. But then at the same time, it is borrowed, so she doesn't
really have a full say. There's no scene where she's like yup this is it, this the outfit, that's the
one, it's just like, we gave you this. So again it makes it complicated, this whole movie is so
complicated to unpack! [laughs]
A: Hearing you talk too, I'm like oh my god it's goth femme. And that's so gay. So of course she
likes it.
B: Yes! Early goth femme.
A: I'm wondering too if part of her presentation is really trying to fly under the radar, like she
doesn't want to be noticed by guys.
H: Yeah I could see that.
B: Oh definitely because I mean they are going into a dark club and she's wearing the darkest
colors, her hair is down, so now we essentially have this beautiful black cloud around her face to
keep her hidden. Ooh, I think you may be onto something there.
A: Okay y'all are welcome to edit this out but I wrote a note that I thought was funny so I just
want to share it with y'all. So this is one of my iphone notes as I was watching: "They go
clubbing, Jess has a pleather little top and skirt, looks so hot. Joe is clearly checking her out.
Jules tries to seduce him dancing in a sparkly napkin and fails because obviously Jess is
wearing a backless pleather top."
B: Yeah. I mean [laughs] I don't know what it says about me, lies I do, but I would absolutely be
more drawn to the person in pleather than the person in sequins. And that's just my brand of
queer.
H: You are extremely biased though [laughs]
B: I know.
A: Me too.
B: And something else too, is Jess drinks a lot at this club. Like a lot. I don't know about y'all but
when I was in high school and college, if I was struggling with my gay feelings in a public space,
I sometimes drank a lot too to make it a little quieter, or to make me not care.
H: Umm, I don't have that personally but we already established earlier in the movie she drank a
coke when these two went to a pub together. So this is something that is arguably new in this
environment for her.
A: Do they show her drinking in that scene?
B: I think she has a glass of champagne. That's the only time we see it, but as she's acting it's
clear that she has been drinking a lot or just one and done type of thing because she doesn't
drink often [laughs]
H: Yeah I mean, it might be one of those situations where you can't show her drinking in order to
get the rating that you want because it is still trying to market to teens.
B: Yeah and the drinking ages are different between the UK and the US. So yeah that's a good
point, that might just be for ratings and censorship. But she does feel like she's letting loose a
little bit. I can't tell if she's letting loose because she's like yay I'm excited that I'm out on the
town or if its the combination of oh god, struggling queerness, or just the anxidty of I'm lying to
my parents, or a perfect storm of all ofit.
H: I vote for that one.
A: That scene is so hard to watch where Jules is trying to get Joe to go dance and then he just
wants to dance with Jess. And I'm like, I get it, but it's so hard to watch.
B: I get secondhand embarrassment when I see stuff like that [laughs] because it's like oh no
you're trying really hard and this is not happening for you and I'm just watching you flail in the
corner. It.. ugh, it's hard.
H: I mean I do love that whole scene BJ is like, this is embarrassing.. but also I really like this
song [laughs]
B: Okay, let's talk about that! They sneak so much of Mel C. in this soundtrack [laughs]
A: Sporty Spice!
B: Like there's even the joke that Jules's mom makes about why Sporty Spice doesn't have a
man, which is, first off, rude. She carried the spice girls because she is the lead on all of that,
but I love that they just sneak in Mel C music in all of this like yeah we love you Sporty Spice,
here's I turn to you in this club scene. I love this, give me more.
B: Okay but speaking of the dancing scene and Joe, Joe is not the ideal mate in my opinion, so
Alexia, what are some feelings you have about Joe?
A: Yeah I mean part of what makes that dance scene so uncomfortable is that Joe kind of has
predator eyes [laughs] the way he watches her walk out, the way he's trying to get her on the
floor, it's just very clear what his desire and intentions are. Like you said there's so many things,
we can talk about the age gap, she's probably 18, how old do y'all think Joe is?
H: Somewhere in his 20s. I wouldn't say earlier than 25.
A: Okay well regardless of the age gap, he's her coach. Obviously Jess's best friend and closest
teammate has a huge crush on him, which he's well aware of. But for me, the biggest red flag I
see is that he shares he had this really shitty father and I think, I agree Harmony, it's hinted that
he was perhaps abusive. But then it's like he replicates this same dynamic as the coach of the
team with the girls where he's really harsh with them and yells with them and later he's like oh
this is how my dad was with me. I don't know, I just feel red flags from him, I don't trust him.
B: He also shows up at people's houses. I understand we don't have text messaging as
common as we once did back then, but the frequency with which he shows up at Jess's house
is weird to me. I know some of it is like he's having the conversation with the parents because
he wants to get her on the team. I get that, phones exist. You could call. Maybe not show up
unannounced, maybe plan hey I'd like to come over and talk to you. Again, it's complicated
because then, what if they say no? One, respect the boundary but then we don't have a movie if
that happens [laughs]
H: Well yeah. Men, particularly of this era, they believe strongly in gestures, particularly grand
gestures. He could have made a phone call but it's more impressive he shows up, and that
matters more. I think that's probably what was going through his head.
B: Yeah I think it's just misplaced. It's not the way that you handle this. Joe rubs me the wrong
way in a lot of ways. I'm very much pro-Jess going to college in America and figuring herself out
and he can stay in the UK and coach soccer. I also think it's very weird that at the end he
announces they offered me the job to coach men. I said no I'd rather coach women and maybe
one day I can hire you to be on my team. It's like, you are planning years down the line for the
ways in which you are going to make sure this person stays in your life and that is very weird to
me [laughs]
A: Yeah I almost forgot too that his first scene is so bad. He's such a dick to Jess. And it's so
obvious it's because of her race, what hse looks like. And then he spends the rest of the movie
just whitesplaining racism to everyone like telling her dad like oh, it's not like that anymore, it's
not bad, and then telling Jess oh I'm irish, I know what it 's like. It's like dude, you were judging
and discriminating against her too when you first met her.
B: There is a really weird cyclical abuse pattern that we see kind of with him. Not even just the
issues with his dad but he's so shitty to her but then will be like oh I'm so sorry about your leg, I
also have scars. Nobody is going to care about it, you're going to be great out there. And I
understand in that moment it's like okay I'm relating to you, showing that people have scars,
validating that must have been really awful to feel, but you're super talented, go out there and
kick ass. I understand this is a coach's platitude speech. And it seems like there's a lot of that.
Where he will do something really shitty and then almost immediately after he does something
really meaningful, which to me has big dad hits you and then buys you a toy to apologize
energy.
H: I also feel like, as far as him.. maybe it's the writing...but everything he reveals about himself
is in a self-centered way where it's like hey, I'm relating to you by telling you that we're really
similar. Look how much we get along and have this same thing in common because I have a
busted knee which is exactly like your burn
B: [laughs] Right!
H: And all his relations are through himself.
B: Right. That also gets into a complicated territory because at least in the last 3-4 years we've
been having a lot of conversations about the way that people who are neurodivergent relate to
people and a lot of times it is through lived experiences because this is a way of showing
empathy and that makes the character complicated. Do we assume that his ways of relating to
her are in bad faith or is there something else at play? We don't know. The text does not tell us,
we can only speculate. Which is half the fun of analyzing movies, that's what you get to do, find
these scenes and interpret them in a hundred different ways. I don't know, art is cool. I like film
theory, it's fun.
A: So going back to that scene that y'all brought up where they're talking about the burn and
he's like oh I have a scar, it's thes same. He actually says to her, he's like once you go out there,
nobody is going to care. I feel like that stuck out to me because what he was saying was that
when people see your talent they're not going to care about your burn. And later guys are
making fun of her for the burn and she's like well I can still kick your ass and she starts to play
soccer. So I'm wondering what that says about.. I feel like it's implying if she wasn't a soccer
player, people would care. Because she has this access to soccer she's not confined by the
same feminine expectations put on other women or like if she had a burn and was one of
Pinky's friends that no man would be interested in. I'm not exactly sure what I want to say here
but that line just kind of stuck out to me that it seemed like, he wasn't saying nobody is going to
care, but nobody is going to care because you're a good soccer player.
B: I think it falls into a very popular social push in the 2000s of the handicapable and the
reframing of peopel with disabilities or any sort of physical, I hate the word deformity, but if
anything is out the norm, there was a big push of 'we're just like you' assimilation which whenver
those movements happen like we saw it in the States around the time of trying to get gay
marriage legalized, a lot of those plans for assimilation are becuase people are just really
desperate to try and make sure they have accesss and rights to things and that was a huge
thing in the 2000s was like, 'we're handicapabale, we don't have a disability, we'r ejust like you,
look what we can do despite our disability.' I think this conversation kind of falls in line with that
of, who cares that you have this really traumatic experience from a child that has left you
permanently scarred, you're really good at soccer so it doesn't actually matter! Umm, it does still
matter and that situation did happen and still stucks and this is a constant reminder of that. Both
can be true.
A: BJ I'm like snapping over here. I feel like that's where my brain wanted to go but it wasn't
quite there yet, thank you so much.
B: [laughs] You are very welcome. This is a side tangent but this show is about how these
movies relate to us. I had a conversation the other day with someone who works with a
pancreatic cancer foundation, which I'm a survivor of pancreatic cancer, and I had to explain to
her how upsetting my existence is to a lot of family members of people who have lost someone
to pancreatic cancer. She was like, what, why?! I was like, because I'm a fat atheist. So my
existence debunks a lot of these mindsets that people have that make them feel better about
things like, 'oh they were the fittest, healthiest person in the world, the disease was just too
strong,' or 'they were teh most devout person in hte world and god called them home and that
had to happen,' I was like yeah, I don't fit into that nice survival narratvie and it fucks with
people. People don't like it when somebody who is chronically ill or disabled or has any sort of
visible affliction, if they don't fit into that motivational inspiration story, people hate it. Jess,
because she is good at soccer, is allowed to fit into that category of like, [in announcer voice]
this girl when she was a child, was burned on the leg, but she can still bend it like beckham.
Like that's how she falls into this equation of all of it. That's something in all honesty, did not
make that realization until we started talking about it just now and then the lightbulb went off.
A: Yeah, absolutely. It's interesting because it's like, we can interpret it along the lines of
disability as well as race and gender. You already talked a bit about the model minority and
there are all these layering ways in which she is doing that.
B: Definitely.
[Clip from movie plays. Jess: It looks awful. It's why I can't wear shorts ever. Joe: Jesus. That's
a stunner. I thought I had a bad one on my knee but yours is gorgeous. Look, don't worry about
it. Nobody's going to care once you're out there. What happened? Jess: You don't want to know.
JOe: Look. Two operations later, and it's still useless. Yours affect your game? Jess: Nah it just
looks awful. I was eight, my mom was working overtime and I was trying to cook beans on toast.
I jumped up to the grill to get toast and my trousers caught light so my sister put me in the bath
and poured cold water over me and pulled them off. Half my skin came with it.]
B: To pivot to something a little less serious but still just as important, I'd love to talk about
PInky's wedding and the situation surrounding it and everything about it. So Harmony, how was
your response to seeing this? This was your first time seeing what a Punjabi wedding looks like,
isn't it?
H: Yes. She said oh I can't just slip out and go to practice and go to the game and like, that's not
an option because this is way more complicated than you understand because apparently, this
wedding ceremony is like a week long.
A: [laughs] yeah.
H: And it was like that feeling when we did Shiva Baby and it was like oh yeah, you sit Shiva for
a week and I was like oh my goodness, that is just so much time with my family! I don't know
how to handle that! But at least in this circumstance it's really fun and colorful and everyone's
having a great time. I like this. Granted, the part of me that gets exhausted by people would
prefer it be one day. I personally would like to go to the wedding. The wedding seems great.
BJ: [laughs] Alexia, how about you?
A: So I actually did get to attend part of an Indian wedding in India when my uncle got married in
Jaipur, but I actually got a nasty migraine the day of the wedding itself so I wasn't able to see
the ceremony but because it is like a week of festivities, I got to take part. And yeah, Indians
know how to throw down. It was fun.
H: [laughs] Yeah!
BJ: Yeah that wedding looks like the most fun that anyone could ever have in their life. My
claustrophobia kicks in a little bit when you see the party at the house, I'm like ughh everyone is
touching! And of course COVID brain does that too, which is fun. But the thing that I think is so
beautiful about that scene is one, there is a subversion of the culture in terms of PInky is
genuinely happy to be married. She is so excited she gets to marry him, to the point where even
the videographer is like, stop smiling, Indian brides don't smile on their wedding day! Which is
clearly a reference to, sometimes people are not super thrilled about the person they've been
arranged to be married to, and Pinky loves her husband so she gets to experience that euphoria
of being a happy bride, which I think is really lovely and such a little tidbit that you think is a
throwaway line but there's so much being said with just that line. And she's having the time of
her life. Everyone is so celebratory. It is so fun to look at, because also, Indian weddings don't
fall into the same drab white people culture of weddings that we have all been subjected to by
the media forever. Oh my god, white people's weddings are so agonizingly boring. They're not
fun to look at [laughs] because everyone is wearing the most basic things humanly possible
whereas in a lot of traditional Indian weddings they are so vibrant and full of life and it truly is a
celebration. It's just so lovely to see, especially in the movie, I love how they will split between
Jess's game and the wedding and you see both Jess and Pinky having the time of their life, and
I think that's a really nice dichotomy, a bit binary, on the nose, but it's just nice visual storytelling.
A: So, I'm not sure I agree with the interpretation about PInky's smiling. So there's different
cultural reasons depending on region or whatever, but I think it's not so much that brides aren't
supposed to smiel becuase they're not happy with their situation, but it could be they don't want
to seem like they're fucking stoked to leave their family or in teh case of an arranged marriage, if
they're all smily it could be hinting that they've been really intimate when that's not supposed to
be the situation if they're being traditional and being pious. I feel like Pinky doesn't really give a
shit about tradition in that sense, she's been sneaking out and hooking up with her boyfriend for
al ongtinme. I think for me, I interpret her big smile as her just bucking tradition and I think that
she and Jess both do that but because PInky falls into more of a feminie presentation and is
comfortable with feminine gender roles she gets policed a lot less than Jess does.
B: Yeah I definitely can see that, for sure. I admittedly, my read on that came from research I did
on a retrospective that was done on Collider by Aeisha Pandoria and that was her read on that
scene so I was parodying what I learned from her. But I'm glad you brought that up, there's so
many different ways that this movie can be read. Which is why even though I feel like as adults
we can be critical than when we were younger, it is still such a rich text to assess. I just find that
very, very interesting. And something I didn't notice until rewatching it now, Pinky's husband is
just kind of a guy. Titu is just an average guy. He's not like this, mind-blowingly hot dude. He's
just a guy who wears button up shirts and loves her and really cares about her. It was really nice
to see a character really excited to marry somebody that wasn't drop dead end of the world
amazing because there is that really gross assumption that Jules's mom makes where she's like
I bet your parents are arranging for you to be with a doctor, because I think that is such a
stereotype that a lot of people just believe in their heads to be true. So you see his family come
over and talk with the Bharma family and when they leave I'm like he's just a guy! How nice is
this? That shouldn't be something I find really relieving but it's nice.
A: It's also nice to see an Indian man desiring an Indian woman because there's often this type
of Indian men wanting to date white women like, ah I don't want an Indian wife they're so
traditional, blah blah. I'm thinking of that movie...it's that Indian guy and there's a white girl who
goes into a coma?
H: The Big Sick.
A: Yeah, so I'm thinking about the Big Sick and how all of the Indian women in that movie were
portrayed as being just totally undesirable and backwards and like the only way this man could
be modern and free was by dating a white woman. So I was happy to see that trope not upheld
in this movie in that way.
H: I Just think it's really interesting to see this dynamic having grown up where I did. I don't want
to relate all of this through me, but it's that ugliness I saw in my mom where once I was hanging
out with friends in the city I was the white person in my group of friends and when I asked her,
how would you feel if I dated someone who was not white? And she went well, what am I
supposed to say to that?! And I go, well ideally, that it's fine. And she goes, well then it's fine!
ANd I'm like well now I don't believe you [laughs] so that's fucked up. I don't know, it's just, it's
weird to see this sort of cultural standard exist outside of just my racist white mother who would
be similar to Jules's mother but her mom at least tries. I think things just echo differently in
different cultures and I can't really speak to that with any kind of authority but I think it dredged
up some memories for me that I was not prepared for when I sat down to watch this movie.
A: Yeah and something you made me think of too, antiblackness is absolutely a thing in India,
as is Islamophobia, among people who are not Muslim. So that makes sense to me in terms of
why Jess says she couldn't date a black guy or a muslim guy. In terms of that perspective
towards a whtie guy or a gorra, like they say in the film, there is that moment after Jules's mom
makes a big scene at the wedding where the Indian aunties are sitting around they're like ugh,
white people can never let us be happy, we can never celebrate without them complaining about
something. So I imagine there might be a sense of, not the same outright discriminoatn that is
there against Black folks or muslim folks but perahps this sense of unsafety around whtie
people becuase not just racism but also Britain is literally the colonizer of India so there is a very
sepcific raical dynamic there so I imagine there' sprobably some feelings about that, that he
wouldn't fit into theri family or they wouldn't be comfortable and uphold their traditions.
H: Oh for sure. Even at a surface level, white people are annoying. Why are you crashing the
party?
B: [laughs] That's a good point to be made, and in a very strange way, it is also refreshing to see
a movie that doesn't position whiteness as the ideal. So often we'll see in movies where
somebody from a marginalized identity is almost encouraged to seek out a white partner
because they equate that with your life being better, so it's weirdly very nice to see a family
that's like white people ain't shit. We just don't see it very often [laughs]
H: Even to just extend that outward for what we do on this show, how often do we have to
acknowledge on 90% of the movies that we cover that there's only white people in it in the teen
girl genre? We don't see other things, period.
BJ: The teen girl genre is so unbelievably white. Compared to just about any other genre of film,
teen girl and the weird Christian propaganda films, they're on the same level with their diversity
in a lot of ways. So even just Bend it like Beckham existing, taking away all of our criticisms that
we have and all the conversations we had, the fact that this movie exists and that it made me so
much money is astounding. It completely bucks the trend of everything we've ever seen
historically throughout successful teen movies.
A: Yeah and I can't think of any other desi teen characters even now. Other than Mindy Kaling's
show.. Never Have I Ever.
B: You're right. The only other character I can think of is in the new Rebel Wilson movie Senior
Year. The actress is played by Avantika Vandanapu and she's been in a lot of Indian films, she
was in a DIsney channel original movie and on the series Diary of a future president, which is
kind of cute, because that's kind of her character in the Rebel WIlson movie is that she wants to
be president someday. She's Indian and that's kind of it. I'm sure someone listening right now is
screaming a movie very loudly at their phone, and I apologize that I cannot hear you [laughs]
but it's not very often and we do talk a lot on the show about the importance of representation
even when it's bad. This episode will come out after our Heathers episode where I talk about
Martha Dunstock in Heathers is not a great character but you can take her from me from my
cold, dead hands because as a fat person I need her. I think that puts a movie like Bend it like
Bekcham in such an interesting place culturally because this movie has so many things that are
mixed messaging but at the same time the importance is undeniable. So there's so much rich
content in this movie to dissect, we could talk about it forever. Bu tI like to think we've given a
pretty big look at all things bend it like beckham. I think that means Harmony, it is time. Bend it
like beckham is asking you to the prom, is it a yes, no, maybe, or are you buying her a ticket so
she can go on her own?
H: So watching this movie the first time I did not pick up on quite as many things as we
discussed in today's episode because that's the fun of the job that I get on the show, where I
don't know anything about the stuff that we're watching most of the time. So I didn't quite have
as many deep, digested thoughts as everyone else unfortunately, but I still think this is a really
fun movie that for the age group and demographic it is targeting, I think it's a great entry level
position to a lot of things that they will explore when they get older. I like to believe this episode
will be an entry point to discussing even bigger topics of this movie. So yeah i'm going to give it
a yes. I enjoyed my time with it. Also any climax that features Pavarati is big in my book
because I love him. That was a delight. That's my feelings.
B: Well beautiful. I do also want people to know there's a documentary about Bend it Like
Bekcham and its legacy, specifically in how it inspired a generation of young girls to sign up for
soccer and how there are some Indian athletes who are working today as professional soccer
players or footballers who signed up because of Bend it like beckham which I think is really
interesting. So look that up if you want more content. I haven't finished it but I was like this is a
really cool thing to assess. But Alexia, I want to thank you so much for coming on the show,
bringing this movie and so much of your insight. So many of the points you made are just
absolutely brilliant and it was really nice to have you. So if you want people to find you on the
internet [laughs] where can they find you?
A: Yeah, so I do keep my private life pretty private but I do have a podcast called Whatever, I'll
Watch It. You're welcome to follow me on instagram, it's @ whatever tv pod. I will be releasing
some new episodes soon on Broad City, which I imagine will appeal to your listeners so check it
out. Feel free to DM me. I'm pretty good at getting back to folks.
B: Amazing. Friends, you can find the show on twitter and instagram @ this ends at prom. You
find me on twitter and instagram @ BJ Colangelo.
H: And you can find me on twitter and instagram @ veloci underscore trap underscore tour.
B: And huge thank you as always to the Sonder Bombs for letting us use Title as our theme
song. Harmony, what cool band do you want people to check out that is inspired by Bend it like
beckham?
H: SO I really like this soundtrack and specifically like the more indie fare on this soundtrack. So
the band I wanted to shout out, I wanted them to be British because that seemed appropriate, I
needed them to be from the UK. So the band I want to plug is called the Tutts. I realized after
sitting down to record thise pisode that teh tutts broke up over teh course of the pandemic which
broke my heart becuase they were similar rto Taco Cat in that they wrote really good, feminist
music that is unbveliabbly catchy but it looks like the lead singer, Nadia Shived, has started
doing a solo career and has been working with Kathleen Hanna, so she's out doing things. If
you want to listen to the back catalog they have a couple albums that are really good, they also
have a phenomenal cover with Girlie of Mr. 10pm bedtime. I want to follow them as they do
other things. I really like this style of music and band and sound and I thought it was really fun.
B: Everyone definitely check them out. Maybe if there's enough listens they'll be like, oh maybe
we should get back together now that the pandemic is still going on but people are pretending
it's not [laughs] maybe we'll get new music that way.
H: I would love it. It's one of thoes things like Dasiy and the Scouts released a little bit of music
and then borke up and now everyone's like, fuck Daisy and the Scouts are really good. I would
love that for this band, they're a really solid DIY band I've been following for a long time.
B: Awesome. Well friends that takes out on Bend it like Beckham. As always, save that last
dance for us. Bye!
H: Bye!
[“Title” by the Sonder Bombs theme music plays and fades out]