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Feminist Movie Friday: Bend It Like Beckham · Stuff Mom Never Told You

0:05
Speaker 1: Hey, this is Anny and Samantha. I'm welcome to Stephane.
0:07
Speaker 1: Never told you protection of I Heart Radio. And today
0:19
Speaker 1: it is time for a second in the month of May,
0:23
Speaker 1: feminist movie Friday. Well, the last one is a feminist
0:26
Speaker 1: movie Wednesday. This one might be too, but I think
0:28
Speaker 1: it's a Friday feminist movie. Feminist movie Day. Yes, Yes,
0:35
Speaker 1: And this one I'm really really excited to talk about.
0:39
Speaker 1: It was a suggestion of yours and you have some
0:42
Speaker 1: really fond memories of it, right, I do. So. Obviously
0:47
Speaker 1: we had to do something for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.
0:52
Speaker 1: It needed to be done. You're welcome, um. And even
0:56
Speaker 1: though it's not in the US, this is one of
0:59
Speaker 1: the first bill I think I really watched where I
1:02
Speaker 1: was like, oh, look, an Asian character that is being
1:05
Speaker 1: seen as human and not just the sidekick or the
1:10
Speaker 1: comic relief and actually seen as the it girl, the
1:13
Speaker 1: actual girl who gets the main guy. Oh my god.
1:17
Speaker 1: And also highlights one of the big actress is since
1:21
Speaker 1: then Kira Knightley. Yes, Ben did like Beckham and when
1:26
Speaker 1: we were originally trying to find a movie, because I
1:28
Speaker 1: was like, we need to we need to do this,
1:30
Speaker 1: we already, we already did Joint Luck Club as a book,
1:33
Speaker 1: So do we need to do the film? I don't know,
1:34
Speaker 1: blah blah blah. And then I mentioned this movie and
1:37
Speaker 1: you said, oh, yeah, I've never seen it, in which
1:39
Speaker 1: I was like, Okay, yeah, that's it. We're watching this
1:42
Speaker 1: immediately because I was one of my favorite films. So
1:46
Speaker 1: this was two years after I graduated high school, three
1:49
Speaker 1: years and I just loved everything about Somewhat wholesome. Uh.
1:54
Speaker 1: It was a big movie directed by an Indian director
1:59
Speaker 1: who also had one of my favorite Bollywood films, Bride
2:03
Speaker 1: and Prejudice, and y'all, if you've never seen it, I
2:06
Speaker 1: remember watching this in college and loving every bit of it.
2:10
Speaker 1: As cheesy as it can get, but delightful as it
2:13
Speaker 1: can get because it's Bollywood, and if you don't know
2:16
Speaker 1: what Bollywood is, it's delightful. It is amazing, it is colorful,
2:20
Speaker 1: it is bright. It makes you feel nice. Yeah. Of
2:25
Speaker 1: course we're not going to talk about any of the
2:27
Speaker 1: politics of it, all of Bollywood industry, but in itself
2:30
Speaker 1: it was highly celebrated and loved, and the fact that
2:33
Speaker 1: it had some international reigns during that time, it was awesome.
2:37
Speaker 1: So bend it like Beckham is one of my favorite movies.
2:41
Speaker 1: I used to watch it all the time. As in fact,
2:44
Speaker 1: I found my DVD for this and watched it. I
2:49
Speaker 1: watched about myself in my room. I was very just delighted,
2:52
Speaker 1: almost psychology and be like if you need to borrow
2:54
Speaker 1: my davy because I loved everything about it. I loved
3:01
Speaker 1: like again, like I said, the heroine in this movie
3:04
Speaker 1: is an Indian woman who is phenomenal and gets the boy,
3:08
Speaker 1: even though we really didn't need the boy. But still
3:11
Speaker 1: for a person who had always seen rom coms and
3:15
Speaker 1: it was always the white girl and the handsome man,
3:18
Speaker 1: to see this even though she and I are not
3:21
Speaker 1: of the same ethnicity, you know, none of that. Were
3:23
Speaker 1: not from the same country, none of that. But it
3:24
Speaker 1: still felt representative because I was starved for representation. But
3:29
Speaker 1: this was close and it made me feel all the
3:32
Speaker 1: good fields. Also, I really loved soccer, so it was
3:34
Speaker 1: even better. Oh nice. Yeah, So I remember when this
3:41
Speaker 1: came out, I wanted to see it. I remember, I'm
3:45
Speaker 1: a big person. I will rely on like word of mouth.
3:52
Speaker 1: Uh so there's some movies I'm just gonna see or
3:54
Speaker 1: that I'm interested to see but a lot of times
3:56
Speaker 1: it will be like, hey, maybe, but if some people
3:58
Speaker 1: I trust are like, oh, you've got to go, then
4:01
Speaker 1: I want to go, and that this movie was one
4:04
Speaker 1: of those. And I also loved soccer, which, by the way,
4:08
Speaker 1: I'm gonna once we get into the plot, we're gonna
4:10
Speaker 1: switch to sag football. Um. But yeah, I also love soccer,
4:14
Speaker 1: and my friends did and my brothers did. And I
4:18
Speaker 1: remember that. I remember the trailer really well and watching
4:22
Speaker 1: it and be like, oh, because they weren't they weren't
4:25
Speaker 1: sexualizing the players. Uh. And they were really talented, like
4:31
Speaker 1: they were really good. Uh. So I remember watching it
4:34
Speaker 1: and wanting to see it, But at the time, I
4:38
Speaker 1: believe there was no theater. Hear me. It was a
4:44
Speaker 1: struggle to get to the movie theater. It was like
4:47
Speaker 1: a push to get my parents to do it, and
4:51
Speaker 1: for whatever reason, it has never happened. But I I'm
4:54
Speaker 1: glad to have watched it. I watched it last night
4:57
Speaker 1: and I almost texted you about the opening graphics because
5:00
Speaker 1: it's very two thousand and two. Oh yes, somewhere all
5:06
Speaker 1: the phones and the posters and everything about Yes, yes,
5:11
Speaker 1: I think I saw some butterfly clips a lot of
5:14
Speaker 1: butterfly clips. I loved it. I was like, oh yeah, yes,
5:20
Speaker 1: and I really really enjoyed it too. I thought it
5:22
Speaker 1: was I thought it held up really well, and it was.
5:27
Speaker 1: It was very it was a fun, joyous movie that
5:33
Speaker 1: it was like. It had a lot of drama, but
5:35
Speaker 1: overall things kind of worked out and that was nice.
5:38
Speaker 1: It was a happy ending, which is what I need
5:40
Speaker 1: in life right now, Okay, and need happy endings. And
5:43
Speaker 1: it was actually soon after I believe that the Spice
5:46
Speaker 1: girls broke up in this film. I want to say
5:49
Speaker 1: that's the truth. Maybe it's not. It was definitely late
5:51
Speaker 1: because hey day, it was so like you have mel
5:56
Speaker 1: a sporty Spice. You'll have you'll hear her soundtrack in there.
6:00
Speaker 1: Oh really it's her song? Yeah, yeah, that's her. I
6:05
Speaker 1: think singles debut, so sporty Spice. I think it's all right.
6:09
Speaker 1: She has some checks in there. Yeah, I got I
6:12
Speaker 1: got some fun facts. Okay, oh why can't wait? I
6:15
Speaker 1: have some fun facts too. I'll be interested if you
6:18
Speaker 1: if you know the same fun backs as me, probably
6:21
Speaker 1: probably let's get into it and see. All right, So
6:26
Speaker 1: the plot Mennet light Beckham is a two thousand two
6:30
Speaker 1: sports comedy movie, written, produced, and directed by Grinder Shata.
6:35
Speaker 1: It stars Parminder Nagra as Jess Mender, Jess car Brahma,
6:40
Speaker 1: Here Nightley as Juliet, Jules Paxson, Archie Punjabi as Pinky
6:45
Speaker 1: car Bambra, and Jonathan Rice Myers as Joe. The title
6:50
Speaker 1: refers to how football slash soccer player David Beckham was
6:55
Speaker 1: known for getting past a line of defenders on the
6:57
Speaker 1: field with a free kick that curved the ball. There's
7:00
Speaker 1: actually really fascinating science behind us, but that's a different
7:02
Speaker 1: podcast though. Shada also spoke about the bending and how
7:07
Speaker 1: it referred to how women have to move to succeed
7:10
Speaker 1: in a male dominated industry. And here's a quote. We
7:13
Speaker 1: can see the goal, but we too, like David Beckham,
7:16
Speaker 1: need to approach it in such a way where we
7:18
Speaker 1: twist and turn and bend our way into it. My
7:20
Speaker 1: film is about bending the rules to get what you
7:22
Speaker 1: want instead of breaking the rules. And funny enough to me,
7:28
Speaker 1: it was almost called move it like Mia as in
7:31
Speaker 1: Mia Ham, because studio execs, We're afraid Americans wouldn't know
7:36
Speaker 1: who David Beckham was. But Shadow was like, nope, no,
7:40
Speaker 1: we're not doing that, and actually a black player named
7:43
Speaker 1: Ian Wright was the inspiration for this whole idea. It was.
7:47
Speaker 1: This movie was a critical and financial success and it
7:50
Speaker 1: accomplished a lot of first first Western movie to be
7:53
Speaker 1: publicly shown and later broadcasted in North Korea for instance,
7:57
Speaker 1: and Shadow was the first British Asian woman to ever
8:00
Speaker 1: direct a feature film, and she wanted it to be
8:04
Speaker 1: a look at the evolving idea of Britishness in it
8:09
Speaker 1: was adapted into a West End musical as well, right,
8:13
Speaker 1: I think she actually had a hand in that as well.
8:14
Speaker 1: The director. Yeah, I love that because I remember it
8:17
Speaker 1: being such a big deal that this British Asian woman
8:21
Speaker 1: did this huge film that was internationally successful, because we
8:26
Speaker 1: know it's hard, it's hard for any director in general,
8:28
Speaker 1: but then a person of color coming through with combining
8:32
Speaker 1: Indian culture with British culture and not just being British
8:35
Speaker 1: forward is amazing. Um, And I remember that being the
8:38
Speaker 1: big chunk of success and surprise that it was a success,
8:43
Speaker 1: and I loved it. So the plot follows Jess, who
8:47
Speaker 1: is the daughter of Indian Seeks living in London and
8:50
Speaker 1: just loves football. So the beginning scene, as we see
8:53
Speaker 1: her imagining playing with Beckham is quite a fun scene.
8:57
Speaker 1: The cut the uh editing of that is quite funny
9:02
Speaker 1: and has Actually those are real broadcasters if you have
9:05
Speaker 1: watched the movie, that were for sports commentators for English
9:08
Speaker 1: football at that point in time, so to have them
9:11
Speaker 1: come on was a big deal too. Nonetheless, but she yes,
9:16
Speaker 1: she loves football, but her parents don't approve of our
9:19
Speaker 1: playing because she is a girl. However, just sometimes plays
9:23
Speaker 1: football with the boys in the park, including her friend Tony,
9:25
Speaker 1: who is very encouraging by the way that we find
9:28
Speaker 1: out later as they closeted gay man is really sweet
9:30
Speaker 1: how they accept each other. But the part of her
9:33
Speaker 1: actually playing football she kind of hides from her parents.
9:36
Speaker 1: They allow it, they kind of let it slide, but
9:38
Speaker 1: they're hoping she'll grow out of it, so she doesn't
9:40
Speaker 1: tell them, but because they're really focused on the fact
9:44
Speaker 1: that their oldest daughter, her sister Pinky, is about to
9:47
Speaker 1: get married, which is a point of pride at this point.
9:51
Speaker 1: So one day Justice skills at football draws the attention
9:54
Speaker 1: of Jewels Kara Knightley, who was a member of a
9:58
Speaker 1: local amateur women's football team called the Hounslow Harriers. They
10:02
Speaker 1: are not they were not a real team. The two
10:04
Speaker 1: have become friends and Jules convinces just to try out
10:07
Speaker 1: for the team, saying, yeah, you'll do great. I've watched
10:10
Speaker 1: you for a little bit and you were awesome. The
10:12
Speaker 1: team is led by a young Irish fellow named Joe,
10:15
Speaker 1: whose professional football aspirations were cut short due to his injuries.
10:20
Speaker 1: After she's accepted on the team, you know, he starts
10:23
Speaker 1: off with like, oh no, who was his amateur too?
10:25
Speaker 1: Okay okay. Jess pretends to get a part time job
10:30
Speaker 1: to get around her parents rule that she couldn't play
10:33
Speaker 1: after she tries to tell them she wants to play.
10:35
Speaker 1: So Joe discovers her deception and goes to her father
10:38
Speaker 1: to convince him because she got caught and so she's like, no,
10:40
Speaker 1: I can't go. He tries to go let them know, Hey,
10:43
Speaker 1: I'm cool. Everything's great, she can play, but the parents
10:46
Speaker 1: are like na bron her father telling Joe he doesn't
10:50
Speaker 1: want Jess to experience the anti Indian attitudes he encountered
10:53
Speaker 1: when he was excluded from a cricket club. And it's
10:55
Speaker 1: a really sad tale. Yeah, but not to meet the
11:00
Speaker 1: herd and with Pinky's help. Jess plays a match in
11:03
Speaker 1: Germany where the Harriers lose after Jess doesn't make a
11:05
Speaker 1: penalty kick. Later that night, they go out clubbing um
11:09
Speaker 1: and Jules walks in on Jess and Joe about to kiss,
11:13
Speaker 1: and it hurts their relationship because Jules is attracted to
11:17
Speaker 1: Joe too. At the same time, Jess's parents find out
11:22
Speaker 1: that she attended the match through an article in the paper.
11:26
Speaker 1: Once they're back home, Jess goes to Jules to try
11:28
Speaker 1: to mend their friendship, but jules mother overhears some of
11:31
Speaker 1: their conversation and leaves them to be in a lesbian relationship.
11:36
Speaker 1: Jess's father goes to one of her games without telling
11:39
Speaker 1: her and sees one of the players in the opposing
11:41
Speaker 1: team use a racial slur against her, and then he
11:43
Speaker 1: also sees how Joe comforts her after Um. This is
11:47
Speaker 1: a lot. A lot happens in this film. There's a
11:49
Speaker 1: lot of drama as in fact, I don't think we's
11:51
Speaker 1: talked about it. But Jules's mother is also very opposed
11:54
Speaker 1: to her being in football because it's too butch and manly.
11:57
Speaker 1: As she says talking about sporty Spice doesn't have a
12:02
Speaker 1: fella she's the only one that doesn't have a fella,
12:04
Speaker 1: and she says and even tries to get her to
12:07
Speaker 1: buy sexy clothing less such as lingerie, And so her
12:11
Speaker 1: nightmare is that she would not be with a man
12:14
Speaker 1: at all. Oh my god, right, and we're going to
12:16
Speaker 1: talk about that for sure. She was definitely a character.
12:18
Speaker 1: Was like, oh wow, you just set that out out,
12:22
Speaker 1: did you? Okay? And then for more drama, it turns
12:27
Speaker 1: out that Pinky's wedding is the same day as the
12:31
Speaker 1: championship match that was going to be attended by an
12:34
Speaker 1: American Talent scout. Jess is noticeably upset at the wedding,
12:40
Speaker 1: and her father finally urges her to go to the
12:42
Speaker 1: game so she can be happy for her sister's wedding day.
12:46
Speaker 1: So Jess high tails it over to the game, changing
12:49
Speaker 1: clothes and back of the car, which I was like, yo,
12:52
Speaker 1: I've been there. At first, the Harriers are behind, but
12:55
Speaker 1: they come back and win thanks to a free kick
12:58
Speaker 1: from Jess. After the game, the talent scout offers both
13:02
Speaker 1: Jess and Jewels sports scholarships for California's Santa Clara University,
13:08
Speaker 1: and so they're ecstatic of course, Um and they hug
13:11
Speaker 1: and they kiss, and jules mom sees this and she's
13:14
Speaker 1: only further convinced that they must be in a romantic relationship.
13:20
Speaker 1: She drives Jewels to meet Jess at the wedding, but
13:24
Speaker 1: then accuses Jess of being a lesbian and a hypocrite
13:27
Speaker 1: and an angry Jewels kind of steps into career things
13:30
Speaker 1: up and pulls her way and they drive away quite angrily.
13:48
Speaker 1: One of the big things in the key plots is
13:51
Speaker 1: because she was seen with jewels and they were hugging,
13:54
Speaker 1: Jess was seen with jewels. The in laws feature in
13:58
Speaker 1: laws of her sister see that backs then only assumed
14:01
Speaker 1: that that she was kissing on a boy short hair, jewels,
14:04
Speaker 1: you know, and calls off the wedding because she feels
14:08
Speaker 1: that this is a disgrace and dishonor to the family
14:10
Speaker 1: and essentially just as the cause of breaking apart a
14:14
Speaker 1: marriage which was a love match which they talked about
14:17
Speaker 1: and explain on how that Pinky chose her husband and
14:21
Speaker 1: it was a love match and not necessarily an arrangement,
14:24
Speaker 1: and so it was bad. So this is why she
14:26
Speaker 1: was like, I gotta I can't go, I can't go,
14:29
Speaker 1: I can't do this because I just bought so much
14:31
Speaker 1: hurt and dishonor to my entire family. It was bad
14:35
Speaker 1: um and talks about a lot of the cultural ideas
14:37
Speaker 1: behind it. And then her father steps up and it's like,
14:41
Speaker 1: I can't see you and have me let me help.
14:44
Speaker 1: So the wedding day goes on. Just can't find it
14:47
Speaker 1: in herself to tell her parents after she arrives back
14:50
Speaker 1: to the wedding after this victorious win about the scholarships,
14:54
Speaker 1: worried her parents won't let her go to the US.
14:57
Speaker 1: Now again, there's a lot of things that she really
15:00
Speaker 1: pushed her family into doing, and she's kind of a
15:03
Speaker 1: golden child, not that Pinky's not loved and that's seen
15:05
Speaker 1: as a golden child, but they kind of rested that
15:07
Speaker 1: she would be the successful one of the family, that
15:10
Speaker 1: Pinky would pull push on into the traditions of being
15:12
Speaker 1: married and happily bringing in children all that while Jess
15:16
Speaker 1: would go on be a doctor at one point, that's
15:18
Speaker 1: what they said. So really hinging a lot on her.
15:22
Speaker 1: But to help her out, her friend Tony, who just
15:25
Speaker 1: had already mentioned maybe they should just get married, you know,
15:28
Speaker 1: why not, tells jes as parents that they are engaged
15:31
Speaker 1: with the condition she goes to college at any school
15:34
Speaker 1: she wants, and of course everybody's elated. Oh my god, yes, absolutely,
15:38
Speaker 1: and then Jess confesses because she can't handle lying to
15:41
Speaker 1: them anymore, including the fact that her dad let her
15:45
Speaker 1: go so and then her father has to tell well,
15:48
Speaker 1: he didn't want her to be unhappy, and then also
15:50
Speaker 1: he didn't want her to go through what he had
15:52
Speaker 1: gone through. That he was the one he who lost
15:54
Speaker 1: out after giving up crickets, something that he loved so much.
15:57
Speaker 1: It didn't punish the racist people push him, and that uh,
16:02
Speaker 1: he was giving her his blessing to continue to play,
16:05
Speaker 1: and that she was brilliant, which he has made me
16:07
Speaker 1: want to say brilliant and later all the time, sorry
16:10
Speaker 1: to the English listeners for my bad accident. It really
16:13
Speaker 1: makes me want to do it though, because I love
16:15
Speaker 1: it so much, But it did make me say that
16:17
Speaker 1: a lot. But we move on, and just goes running
16:20
Speaker 1: to Joe in the middle of the football field, letting
16:23
Speaker 1: him know that yes, she's been accepted and being able
16:26
Speaker 1: to go, and it's a wonderful embrace and they almost
16:30
Speaker 1: kiss until he's and then she's like, no, I can't.
16:32
Speaker 1: I can't do this. I can't push my parents because
16:34
Speaker 1: there's no way. So they have a word, an Indian
16:37
Speaker 1: word for white people. I don't know what it is.
16:39
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna say it because I feel like it
16:41
Speaker 1: might sound offensive coming from me, So I'm not gonna um,
16:44
Speaker 1: which they are not accepting. There's that they couldn't wear
16:46
Speaker 1: white people like all theously need to be an Indian person.
16:49
Speaker 1: She's like, I've pretty pushed pretty hard against my parents.
16:51
Speaker 1: I think this is one more thing they can't do.
16:54
Speaker 1: And so he she was like, you know, we'll we'll,
16:56
Speaker 1: we'll talk about it later and decide not to do this.
17:01
Speaker 1: But you know, but it can't know. So we cut
17:07
Speaker 1: to the airport and I feel like the airport is
17:09
Speaker 1: such an always always that's true. I think it may
17:14
Speaker 1: be one of the English things or like, I don't know,
17:16
Speaker 1: I know, you'll have to tell me. Maybe it's the
17:19
Speaker 1: whole of UK, y'all let me know, because I love
17:22
Speaker 1: actually is the same way with the airport. So I
17:25
Speaker 1: don't know. Is it dramatic is it more dramatic to
17:28
Speaker 1: be fair, No, that's kind of just a whole trope,
17:31
Speaker 1: the whole airport. So that's not just the English as
17:33
Speaker 1: everyone doing the whole dramatic goodbye dramatic romance. Yes, yes, oh,
17:41
Speaker 1: I got a fan fiction going right now. It's doing
17:43
Speaker 1: it well. Cut to the airport with Tess and Jewels
17:50
Speaker 1: preparing to depart for California. Santa Clara, I'm so sorry,
17:55
Speaker 1: I'm going to play. Can I please cut that out?
18:02
Speaker 1: Both of their families are there to to tell them goodbye,
18:06
Speaker 1: and then Joe arrives. What and he tells Jess he
18:10
Speaker 1: loves her? Uh, And they decide, you know what, we're
18:13
Speaker 1: going to figure out this relationship when Jess returns. Before
18:18
Speaker 1: they leave, Jules and Jess. Uh, everybody sees David and
18:23
Speaker 1: Victoria Beckham and they believe it to be a sign.
18:28
Speaker 1: While Jess is gone, Pinky gets pregnant and their father
18:30
Speaker 1: gets back into cricket with Joe. Um. Yeah, and then
18:35
Speaker 1: I guess Jules as parents are back together. They would
18:39
Speaker 1: never part. Oh, I thought they were divorced. No where
18:44
Speaker 1: did I get that idea. Maybe their relationship was just
18:47
Speaker 1: real bad, they were just art. It was the stereotypical
18:52
Speaker 1: fathers supporting his daughter for sports and hoping to make
18:55
Speaker 1: her less interested in boys. An't hard trying to get
18:57
Speaker 1: two boys and being mad that just making her a
19:00
Speaker 1: little more masculine because she likes sports. I guess. Yeah,
19:03
Speaker 1: which again, we're going to talk about that because I
19:06
Speaker 1: think we have both have a lot to say about that.
19:08
Speaker 1: I did want to add sadly, one year after this
19:11
Speaker 1: movie came out, the Women's United Soccer Association folded um, right,
19:16
Speaker 1: which is the thing they talk about at the end,
19:18
Speaker 1: like there's just such a big thing and like they
19:22
Speaker 1: had a whole little montage clip of different women soccer
19:25
Speaker 1: players around the world and celebrating that and want to
19:27
Speaker 1: become that and seeing that as a possibility and yeah
19:30
Speaker 1: and yeah, yeah, I mean interesting is not necessarily where
19:36
Speaker 1: I want to use. But we're still talking about the
19:40
Speaker 1: women's national team here in the United States getting right
19:43
Speaker 1: equal pay and how they should get more coverage because
19:49
Speaker 1: they win more than men. There's not even more, but
19:51
Speaker 1: more than they're getting now, they should get equal all
19:55
Speaker 1: these battles that are still going on. Um, But that
19:59
Speaker 1: was is that was something that kind of gave me
20:03
Speaker 1: pause at the end, where I was like, oh, wow, yeah,
20:05
Speaker 1: we have we have made progress, but a lot more
20:08
Speaker 1: to be done to be fair like two thousand two
20:11
Speaker 1: was the beginning of a lot of change for me
20:14
Speaker 1: as an individual, growing in my beliefs and understanding and
20:17
Speaker 1: having hoped that women were more and this is kind
20:20
Speaker 1: of one more of those moments of like. Unfortunately, for
20:24
Speaker 1: everything that has happened in the past five years, it
20:27
Speaker 1: feels like a lot of step back, but during that time,
20:29
Speaker 1: it felt like a slow step forward. So for me
20:31
Speaker 1: coming into age and having a steak like not that
20:34
Speaker 1: I didn't have a stake before, but being able to
20:35
Speaker 1: have a voice in it as a twenty something year
20:37
Speaker 1: old as when I was under the roof of my
20:40
Speaker 1: parents and didn't have as much of a voice, it
20:43
Speaker 1: was definitely a point of change for me. Yeah, And
20:45
Speaker 1: I think one of the fun facts I kept running
20:50
Speaker 1: across was this is still to this day the top
20:53
Speaker 1: grossing football in terms of that. The non American used
20:59
Speaker 1: the word because I think we're the only ones to
21:01
Speaker 1: do that movie in the United States and they thought
21:04
Speaker 1: it wouldn't do well here at all because at the
21:07
Speaker 1: time we didn't really watch it, we didn't really care
21:09
Speaker 1: about it. Um but my I know I mentioned this
21:13
Speaker 1: in the past episode, but my college roommate who we
21:17
Speaker 1: actually we grew up together and we played soccer together.
21:20
Speaker 1: She had a picture of me and Ham on her
21:22
Speaker 1: wall in college. Uh, and we would watch the games
21:25
Speaker 1: together and I just remember feeling so look at how
21:30
Speaker 1: amazing they are and and for her to have that
21:35
Speaker 1: and to be to put a poster up on her
21:37
Speaker 1: wall that she would look at like, that's I remember.
21:41
Speaker 1: So I distinctly remember me and him even before the movie,
21:46
Speaker 1: as well as the fact that David Beckham's name was
21:48
Speaker 1: huge at that point and really crossed like again across
21:51
Speaker 1: the internationally if he came down to a record. Wise,
21:55
Speaker 1: I don't think he was that great in comparison to
21:58
Speaker 1: other footballers, but he was big enough that it made
22:01
Speaker 1: this impression. Me and Ham the same way. UM, and
22:05
Speaker 1: we get to see so many things and we have
22:07
Speaker 1: a wave an influx of when people are interested in
22:09
Speaker 1: when people aren't. UM typically has something to do with
22:11
Speaker 1: the World Cup whatever. But yeah, it brought out a lot.
22:16
Speaker 1: It brought in such a big theme and it's hysterical
22:18
Speaker 1: on top of that because the director had no idea,
22:21
Speaker 1: no idea how soccer and football worked and was like,
22:23
Speaker 1: you know what, but this is this metaphor is so good.
22:27
Speaker 1: It's so good, and it was. It was a very
22:28
Speaker 1: catchy for the UK at the point where she was like,
22:31
Speaker 1: let's just go ahead and do it, that she took
22:34
Speaker 1: this giant risk and it paid off. Yeah, I love
22:38
Speaker 1: that part two. I love that part two. And it's
22:41
Speaker 1: so funny because like, I've played sports, but I don't
22:45
Speaker 1: get super into them, but I find like I was
22:47
Speaker 1: super into watching this movie and like you gotta win there.
22:55
Speaker 1: There is a lot of intersectionality in this movie, and
22:58
Speaker 1: you can find several academic papers written about it, um
23:03
Speaker 1: and essays written about it, which is really interesting. But
23:06
Speaker 1: we'll go over a few key themes, and I think
23:10
Speaker 1: one of the big ones was obviously racism, particularly and
23:14
Speaker 1: because as she said, she wanted to identify like, you know,
23:17
Speaker 1: evolving Britishness and what that looked like. And this is
23:22
Speaker 1: the first immigration, first generation immigration story, So there were
23:27
Speaker 1: a lot and we've discussed uh in in past episodes
23:31
Speaker 1: like Turning Red, we talked about in Conto a little bit.
23:33
Speaker 1: We talked about oh we haven't but we saw everything
23:36
Speaker 1: everywhere all at once, um, and so we're kind of
23:39
Speaker 1: seeing this play out a lot, and it's interesting to me.
23:41
Speaker 1: You know to see it from two thousand two, but
23:44
Speaker 1: that is different in kind of for US Americans, the
23:50
Speaker 1: Britishness aspect of it, but also this is the first
23:54
Speaker 1: generation immigrant story as opposed to what we've been seeing
23:56
Speaker 1: a lot lately is kind of a third right, second,
24:00
Speaker 1: third right um story. Yeah, and this is fascinating. I
24:03
Speaker 1: think it's beyond that we go, we go into seeing
24:07
Speaker 1: discrimination in a different way for the U s. It's
24:10
Speaker 1: a whole different layer of um racism for the British
24:16
Speaker 1: narrative here, and I'm talking about in England, and I
24:19
Speaker 1: know it's wider and broader the UK, But for what
24:21
Speaker 1: the movie was, it was addressing that because I know
24:24
Speaker 1: that conversation about Indians within UH England has been really contentious. Um.
24:30
Speaker 1: I remember I was told when I went to visit
24:32
Speaker 1: US there like this is the racism, here's this And
24:35
Speaker 1: it was a little different but seemingly same lines. Because
24:38
Speaker 1: ignorance is ignorance, and racism is racism, and prejudices, prejudice
24:42
Speaker 1: and power plays come into effect into both of these
24:45
Speaker 1: and trying to become acclimated but at the same time
24:49
Speaker 1: keeping your identity was a big portion of this movie,
24:51
Speaker 1: which I did really appreciate all. Again, That's one of
24:54
Speaker 1: the things about the identity portion. It's like, Okay, being
24:57
Speaker 1: a first generation coming in, really want to be a
24:59
Speaker 1: part of this culture, loving parts of this culture, but
25:01
Speaker 1: also loving my culture and my family's culture and the
25:04
Speaker 1: generations before. How do I merge these together and respect
25:07
Speaker 1: them together? Right right, right right? And to have the
25:13
Speaker 1: moment where she the racial slur, like her father has
25:16
Speaker 1: that memory, for her to have it and to have
25:19
Speaker 1: it be weaponized against her, it's basically like, you don't
25:23
Speaker 1: belong here, and whereas that constantly you know, you're being othered.
25:27
Speaker 1: You're not British, but she is at least, you know,
25:32
Speaker 1: And that's kind of seeing that generational difference but still
25:39
Speaker 1: experiencing the same racism was it was one of the
25:45
Speaker 1: key hearts of the movie, right, and I think they
25:48
Speaker 1: handled it and talked about it really well. Again, like
25:51
Speaker 1: I said before, us viewers kind of with over our
25:55
Speaker 1: heads because we we we have discrimination against obviously uh
25:59
Speaker 1: and rations in general, but those were very specific to
26:05
Speaker 1: like the terms and such was very specific to the
26:08
Speaker 1: UK at that point in time, So for me it
26:10
Speaker 1: kind of went over my head. But at the same time,
26:12
Speaker 1: that hurt that the other that being discriminated against not
26:15
Speaker 1: only by a coach, but by a referee seemingly and
26:18
Speaker 1: by players, and being accepted to be that way that resonates.
26:24
Speaker 1: And then also we're gonna talk about kind of the
26:27
Speaker 1: family relationships in a minute, but there was, as you mentioned,
26:30
Speaker 1: kind of these expectations placed on Jess from her family
26:34
Speaker 1: about like helping her mother, doing chores, getting grades, being
26:38
Speaker 1: obedient and pleasant, and through that lens from other people
26:44
Speaker 1: just experienced some racism where people were like, so that's weird,
26:50
Speaker 1: like what are you doing. So it was very like
26:55
Speaker 1: for a movie that could, if you wanted, you could
26:58
Speaker 1: describe it simply as like a feel good sports comedy movie,
27:02
Speaker 1: had a lot of nuance in it around these kinds
27:05
Speaker 1: of things. And then I did find an essay about
27:10
Speaker 1: colorism uh in this and it was really really interesting
27:15
Speaker 1: and I would recommend looking up again. There's so many
27:18
Speaker 1: essays about well, you know, one of the things that
27:22
Speaker 1: we do and are very talented at without knowing is
27:25
Speaker 1: coming up on anniversary dates. Because this year it celebrates
27:29
Speaker 1: twenty years since it was released. It's been twenty years,
27:34
Speaker 1: so I was like, oh my god, how did we
27:36
Speaker 1: do this again? Because there's articles about where are they now?
27:39
Speaker 1: What did this mean and the impact of this movie,
27:42
Speaker 1: and I was like, perfect timing is more usual. So therefore,
27:44
Speaker 1: there are a lot of good essays and were discussions
27:46
Speaker 1: about this movie because of that. Yes, every now and
27:50
Speaker 1: then Samantha accident rates. Yeah, I'll take it, I will
27:58
Speaker 1: take it. But yeah, I would recommend looking at that essay.
28:03
Speaker 1: I just wanted to mention it, um because I thought
28:06
Speaker 1: it was really interesting, but I think that the essay
28:10
Speaker 1: would do it better justice because they are coming from
28:13
Speaker 1: personal experience. UM. I also wanted to talk about queer
28:19
Speaker 1: relationships because we did mention quite a few and this
28:23
Speaker 1: was something I didn't necessarily pick up on. But there
28:29
Speaker 1: is a big like why couldn't Jewels and Jess have
28:32
Speaker 1: been together? Uh push and Chatta later admitted she quote
28:37
Speaker 1: chickened out on depicting a relationship between Jewels and Jess
28:40
Speaker 1: due to fear of backlash from Indian audiences. So that's
28:43
Speaker 1: what she she said. And there's so many essays about
28:47
Speaker 1: this too, and there were a lot of people that
28:49
Speaker 1: are like, well, bisexuality is a thing or polyamory is
28:52
Speaker 1: a thing, you know, not necessarily mean like they can't
28:56
Speaker 1: be in a relationship later, or they couldn't all be
28:59
Speaker 1: in a relationship Joe, Jules and Jess uh. And I know,
29:02
Speaker 1: I know, I know, before you get angry in in
29:03
Speaker 1: the email. It's different to like think about it versus
29:07
Speaker 1: actually see it, uh and have it confirmed. But I
29:11
Speaker 1: did think that was a good point to make because
29:13
Speaker 1: I feel like bisexuality, especially often gets sort of completely dismissed. Right,
29:18
Speaker 1: she could still be queer. Yeah. Also another part of
29:20
Speaker 1: this conversation is there was a bit of an anti
29:23
Speaker 1: like there was a little bit of homophobia in this
29:25
Speaker 1: whole context, and I was like, oh, that part doesn't
29:27
Speaker 1: age too great because of the languages do sometimes and
29:30
Speaker 1: then like the mother and all of that, Jules's mother
29:32
Speaker 1: being ridiculous over the top um, all of those things
29:37
Speaker 1: do have that at the moment of like, oh this
29:38
Speaker 1: is kind of cringe e. But it was two thousand
29:41
Speaker 1: two and not necessarily that it had to be defied.
29:44
Speaker 1: Jules had a relationship with quote unquote relationship with the coach, However,
29:49
Speaker 1: her focus was not on any of that. Her focus
29:51
Speaker 1: was never on that. So I don't think it has
29:53
Speaker 1: like that to me takes away from what was happening
29:56
Speaker 1: with her trying to find happiness. Point like, did I
30:01
Speaker 1: think I think they did the typical throw in a
30:03
Speaker 1: roll romance because you know, you got to for the ladies.
30:07
Speaker 1: I'm saying that like sarcastically all, but that's essentially what
30:11
Speaker 1: was happening. I feel like that was like a throwaway
30:13
Speaker 1: part of the plot. It was about her finding her
30:15
Speaker 1: love and doing something that she loved, which included football,
30:17
Speaker 1: going away from her family, and standing up to her
30:19
Speaker 1: family point blank. And instead of focusing on a relationship
30:23
Speaker 1: or a romance, a doomed romance or like a stary
30:25
Speaker 1: eyed romance that was you know, rebellious, they focused on
30:30
Speaker 1: something else. And I appreciated that for a person who
30:32
Speaker 1: was always like all these movies about founding boys, it
30:36
Speaker 1: wasn't that was just a side okay, why not? And
30:38
Speaker 1: so any type of relationship, to me was unnecessary. I
30:42
Speaker 1: kind of appreciate it. I did appreciate that Jules did
30:45
Speaker 1: not find Typically in these movies, you'll see that she's
30:47
Speaker 1: she gets the secondary character to character, you know, the
30:49
Speaker 1: side to gets the secondary character. They didn't need that.
30:52
Speaker 1: Moving on the fact that her friend Tony you know,
30:56
Speaker 1: comes out as gay. I feel like it was really
30:59
Speaker 1: a push of like we needed to learn to accept
31:01
Speaker 1: and see what this looks like. That was more of
31:03
Speaker 1: the stance on the sexuality. I think then, more than
31:07
Speaker 1: the relationships. That makes sense, right, I agree, I mean
31:11
Speaker 1: I think the relationship definitely felt secondary. It felt like,
31:14
Speaker 1: you know, she wanted this football. I feel like that
31:17
Speaker 1: was for the audience, like here you go, here you go,
31:19
Speaker 1: but this is not what we wanted. The writer necessary. Yeah,
31:23
Speaker 1: I mean, but as you said, it was nice to see, like, Okay,
31:28
Speaker 1: there was that added plus was like, oh it wasn't
31:30
Speaker 1: the white girl who got it cool, that makes me
31:32
Speaker 1: feel like but yeah, the overall was like it was
31:35
Speaker 1: more about her, this is about her taking her stand
31:38
Speaker 1: point Blake, But I also was able to show like, yes,
31:42
Speaker 1: as a woman, as a white woman, she still had
31:43
Speaker 1: to struggle to make her way to be known, like
31:45
Speaker 1: to push into like getting that acceptance as well. It
31:48
Speaker 1: was easier for her than just obviously, but you know
31:51
Speaker 1: that was like we all struggle a little bit type
31:53
Speaker 1: of conversation. But yeah, I think it was interesting that
31:57
Speaker 1: people talk about that and I don't. I'm like, yeah,
31:59
Speaker 1: why not why not, But I mean, like I think
32:03
Speaker 1: I read that after I had watched it, and I
32:06
Speaker 1: was like, oh, yeah, yeah, I can definitely see it.
32:10
Speaker 1: Um Kira Knightley famously I said, yes, she wished she
32:15
Speaker 1: was on board. I did. I saw a lot of
32:18
Speaker 1: articles about Tony being like the gay best friend, but
32:23
Speaker 1: also that he was actually he was more fleshed out
32:25
Speaker 1: than that character normally is and then at the time
32:27
Speaker 1: was still pretty rare to get that representation at all.
32:31
Speaker 1: Well to me, like, yes, he could have been the
32:33
Speaker 1: gay best friend, but I think we see the gay
32:35
Speaker 1: best friend as being a caricature of the gay person.
32:37
Speaker 1: And that's why it's so ridiculous that they become the
32:41
Speaker 1: jester of the movie. Same thing for people of color
32:43
Speaker 1: and marginalized people of color, that they become the jester,
32:46
Speaker 1: the kicking bag, the punching bag, the clown in the background,
32:50
Speaker 1: and that's what happens, and he's not. He is the
32:52
Speaker 1: supportive friend who was really like the ones that like
32:55
Speaker 1: you need to push through your dreams because he I
32:56
Speaker 1: have a feeling would want that for himself as he's
32:59
Speaker 1: finding a lot of his life, like that's kind of
33:01
Speaker 1: that same level, like just accepting, you know, like trying
33:04
Speaker 1: to help someone who you have. When you struggle yourself,
33:08
Speaker 1: you want someone else to get that, somebody to be
33:10
Speaker 1: able to be happy. Yeah. Yeah, I got a good friendship. Yeah.
33:29
Speaker 1: There's also the stereotype that women's soccer players are all gay.
33:33
Speaker 1: But I would also add, given what you said about
33:35
Speaker 1: sporty spies, just like sporty women, right, and particularly like
33:41
Speaker 1: I guess male dominated sports are gay right or something, well,
33:49
Speaker 1: you know, like if not, they're gonna be overall sexualized.
33:51
Speaker 1: So the friends of Tony's, the dudes Indian guys who
33:54
Speaker 1: are coming to watch sports with Tony, watch justin with Tony.
33:58
Speaker 1: Like the first thing comments is talking about the black
34:01
Speaker 1: player Mel, who is like look at her rack, which
34:05
Speaker 1: is really discussing it. Then and then they're like he's
34:07
Speaker 1: like he stops, and he goes can you not see
34:09
Speaker 1: them as footballers? They're like start busting up laughing. They
34:12
Speaker 1: became kind of the joke, which I appreciated. It flips
34:15
Speaker 1: his head of like you're the idiots. Here we go,
34:17
Speaker 1: um bt dubs. The player, the woman who plays Mel
34:22
Speaker 1: is one of the late singers of all things who
34:25
Speaker 1: happens to be one of my favorite girl bands from
34:27
Speaker 1: the UK after Spice Girls, You Walk Ume, Yes the Fun.
34:34
Speaker 1: Actually didn't know this until this year. I was like,
34:37
Speaker 1: the hell was her? I love the whole thing. So
34:39
Speaker 1: I still have that in my play nice I would
34:42
Speaker 1: have to look that up. Yeah, I didn't get connected.
34:46
Speaker 1: I told the story before. The boys would give his
34:48
Speaker 1: state names based on how bigger Boops was and how
34:51
Speaker 1: mountainous the state was. And it's hard to focus on
34:54
Speaker 1: a sports when that's what you're hearing from the sidelines,
34:58
Speaker 1: especially when you're young and insecure. Right. Uh, there's also
35:03
Speaker 1: like Jules mom, We're going to talk about more because
35:08
Speaker 1: she did say a lot of really problematic stuff purposefully,
35:11
Speaker 1: Like she was like caricature. Yeah, she definitely, like I
35:17
Speaker 1: used the word accused of being a lesbian on purpose.
35:21
Speaker 1: She did it as like this is bad, this is
35:24
Speaker 1: real bad. Right, So there was that aspect as well. Um,
35:28
Speaker 1: And then one of the big themes and this is
35:31
Speaker 1: also friendships and friendships between women, which we talked about
35:33
Speaker 1: all the time. We've seen the praises of I saw
35:36
Speaker 1: a lot of people specifically mentioned the differing body types,
35:42
Speaker 1: but also that they changed in the dressing room and
35:45
Speaker 1: this team and didn't seem to have like they weren't
35:48
Speaker 1: insecure about it, right. I wondered if you noticed the
35:51
Speaker 1: part about the tampon and she pulls it out and
35:53
Speaker 1: say the painters and decorators are in. I guess that's
35:55
Speaker 1: a UK saying because I've never heard that right, But
35:59
Speaker 1: I was like, oh my god, we're talking about table.
36:01
Speaker 1: This is two thousand to someone actually pulled out a
36:03
Speaker 1: tampon in a movie. That's amazing. And to talk about
36:07
Speaker 1: it like that she actually had her period what and
36:10
Speaker 1: that she was still playing sports? What I did notice it?
36:15
Speaker 1: Did you this that I did? I did? And it
36:18
Speaker 1: was still shocking, and I'm still upset that it was shocking.
36:23
Speaker 1: I didn't. I didn't like that bypassed me as a kid.
36:27
Speaker 1: I don't know if I was like, huh, okay, moving on,
36:29
Speaker 1: or like didn't realize the significance in that. I really
36:32
Speaker 1: love that they left that in. I do say the
36:35
Speaker 1: part of the problematic portions are the pinky and hurt
36:38
Speaker 1: little friends, and I'm putting them in air quotes because
36:40
Speaker 1: they're all very competitive of each other. I feel like
36:45
Speaker 1: it's definitely a stereotype to put in there when the
36:47
Speaker 1: girls like not being married and who's doing this and
36:50
Speaker 1: who's hotter than what. It was interesting to have that
36:55
Speaker 1: in there, the slut shaming, all of that, but it
36:58
Speaker 1: is reminiscent of a nineteen eighties nine nineties rom com
37:03
Speaker 1: to to have that in there. But we do get
37:06
Speaker 1: to see the good friendships in the team and how
37:08
Speaker 1: they truly support each other. I do love that in
37:10
Speaker 1: the sister relationship. As fighting as they can be and
37:13
Speaker 1: as different as they are, they really do support each other.
37:17
Speaker 1: They do, they do. And there is the aspect of
37:21
Speaker 1: like Jess and Jules getting a fight over Joe, which
37:24
Speaker 1: is sort of that competing over a guy thing. I
37:26
Speaker 1: do think. I think part of the issue is we've
37:29
Speaker 1: been like pitted against each other for so long, but
37:32
Speaker 1: I think this one is different. Like we see that
37:37
Speaker 1: all the time, so that's already kind of a problem,
37:39
Speaker 1: but this is different in that like, maybe I'm reading
37:42
Speaker 1: this wrong, but Jess didn't seem to pick up on
37:46
Speaker 1: like either thing with Jules are with you. It sort
37:49
Speaker 1: of seemed like, oh, I might be interested in this guy,
37:53
Speaker 1: and then they did make up, um eventually. I think
37:58
Speaker 1: it's I think it's fair to say that we do
38:01
Speaker 1: have those fights and there are jealousies that happened. I
38:05
Speaker 1: think that's I could tell you a high school story
38:08
Speaker 1: which was similar to that. But both of those things
38:11
Speaker 1: to say is Joe was never interested in jewels, and
38:15
Speaker 1: that was very obvious. A B. They went past it
38:18
Speaker 1: because they realized that wasn't the big deal in their lives.
38:21
Speaker 1: That's not what they cared about the most. And I
38:23
Speaker 1: appreciate that from both ends. It's kind of like, yeah,
38:25
Speaker 1: we have crushes. Oh no, this is a misunderstanding. Oh,
38:28
Speaker 1: but we were on the bigger things. I really love
38:31
Speaker 1: that move on. Yeah, and you you know, you chose.
38:34
Speaker 1: They chose their friendship over that, Like they didn't let
38:37
Speaker 1: it blow up because they realize, like this is bigger
38:41
Speaker 1: and this hopefully will stick around. So yeah, I did
38:44
Speaker 1: appreciate that. Um. And then also yes, there was family
38:48
Speaker 1: was a big part of this, particularly the mother daughter relationship,
38:52
Speaker 1: also the mother father. But I just find this interesting
38:54
Speaker 1: with the mother daughter thing because I think we're seeing
38:56
Speaker 1: a lot of stuff right now, which again twenty years later,
39:00
Speaker 1: where we are seeing these things of definitely like the
39:05
Speaker 1: patriarchal thing is still there, kind of the like women
39:10
Speaker 1: hurting other women and not maybe realizing that they are
39:15
Speaker 1: um because of the systems that they were raised in
39:18
Speaker 1: and because of the expectations that were placed on them, uh,
39:22
Speaker 1: and all of these things. So I just thought that
39:25
Speaker 1: was that was something that huh there it is. Yeah,
39:31
Speaker 1: his mother daughter relationship is so complicated and these things.
39:34
Speaker 1: It is well when you think about the generational things
39:37
Speaker 1: and what the expectations were for women as it goes on,
39:42
Speaker 1: if you look at what is happening generationally, they're being
39:45
Speaker 1: more lenient as it comes, but it's still really difficult,
39:49
Speaker 1: and that leniency still doesn't meet the standard of modern society.
39:54
Speaker 1: So as she states that at the time I was
39:57
Speaker 1: your age, I was already married king full Indian dinner,
40:01
Speaker 1: she actually says that, and at this point she's like,
40:03
Speaker 1: you're gonna learn some dishes. So she's waited this long
40:06
Speaker 1: to put this place on her because she did want
40:08
Speaker 1: to allow her to have that life. But she was
40:10
Speaker 1: scared for her because if she doesn't follow into these traditions,
40:13
Speaker 1: that means she's going to be an outcast. And it
40:16
Speaker 1: doesn't affect just her, affect the entirety of a family,
40:19
Speaker 1: including the sister, including them be like they're talking about
40:22
Speaker 1: the model wearing short short skirts and being kicked out
40:25
Speaker 1: of temple, like those are the things that we don't
40:27
Speaker 1: talk about as much like the mother, as concerning and
40:31
Speaker 1: as judgmental, as as as heavy as it feels, they
40:34
Speaker 1: really are thinking this is the betterment for their child
40:38
Speaker 1: as well, because they don't have the opportunity to be like,
40:42
Speaker 1: we don't have to do that as where men can. Yeah, no,
40:46
Speaker 1: I agree, And I think there's definitely a fear aspect
40:49
Speaker 1: of getting outcast or being judged or whatever it is.
40:54
Speaker 1: So I think it's kind of it might not look
40:57
Speaker 1: but I often think it's like a protective and if
41:00
Speaker 1: motherhood is the basis of who you are as a
41:03
Speaker 1: person and you fail at that, you know, a father
41:07
Speaker 1: doesn't have that same They have the legacy of the family, sure,
41:10
Speaker 1: but they're the providers and all of that. So it's
41:12
Speaker 1: kind of the outward scope. And then but a mother
41:15
Speaker 1: that is literally like if you can't keep your children
41:17
Speaker 1: to follow through and maintain, then you have failed your
41:20
Speaker 1: one job at least in this cultural idea. In this moment,
41:26
Speaker 1: and she Uh, the director talks about how she had
41:29
Speaker 1: taken her own experience with our family and her mother
41:32
Speaker 1: specifically was the inspiration to this mother who was straight.
41:36
Speaker 1: By the way, in the lineup of the elderly Indian
41:40
Speaker 1: women and the sister and the wedding party, her mother
41:43
Speaker 1: isn't that actual mother is in there? Cool? Another fun
41:48
Speaker 1: fact packed. Uh And then yes, finally we wanted to
41:56
Speaker 1: talk about sports and women and sexism because there's just
42:01
Speaker 1: like tiny little pieces throughout where I kept picking up
42:04
Speaker 1: on like yp okay, there's that. So there's a whole
42:07
Speaker 1: conversation about just showing her bare legs um and shorts
42:12
Speaker 1: and how that would not be appropriate. Um, there's several
42:15
Speaker 1: instances when you already mentioned of the players being sexualized
42:20
Speaker 1: that is actually agres Leg is actually scarred from childhood.
42:24
Speaker 1: That is real. And when she auditioned. Before she auditioned,
42:28
Speaker 1: she actually sent an email her talent agents at the
42:30
Speaker 1: email to the director just like just so you know,
42:32
Speaker 1: we know there's a scene there's a giant scar And
42:36
Speaker 1: because of that, the director actually wrote that end for
42:39
Speaker 1: her that was not a part of the original movie.
42:41
Speaker 1: And I love that so much because it was such
42:43
Speaker 1: an acceptance. Why didn't directors do that more often? What
42:49
Speaker 1: could it be? Yeah? Yeah, And her. I mean, even
42:54
Speaker 1: without the scars, I feel like a lot of us
42:57
Speaker 1: when we were younger, a lot of those women had
42:59
Speaker 1: that moment of like embarrassment or shame around her legs,
43:03
Speaker 1: and then you've got the added thing of the scar.
43:06
Speaker 1: There was also taking of measurements, a lot of talk
43:10
Speaker 1: about boobs, mangoes, do see juicy mangoes. I'm not gonna lie.
43:17
Speaker 1: That's the line that my friends and I was saying
43:18
Speaker 1: to each other. I'm an out of context too. It
43:23
Speaker 1: didn't make sense, but I still love it. Yeah. Yeah.
43:26
Speaker 1: There is a scene where Jewels and her mother are
43:30
Speaker 1: shopping and Jewels is like looking at sports bras and
43:33
Speaker 1: her mom is like, no, you need this, Jill bro
43:37
Speaker 1: like you need all these other things. And I had
43:40
Speaker 1: this no, well I did when I got older, painful,
43:45
Speaker 1: Yeah they are. I was. I was actually really I
43:48
Speaker 1: was kind of like this where I was just like
43:49
Speaker 1: I just wanted sport, right, I don't need anything else.
43:53
Speaker 1: I'm nervous um and I had kind of I went
43:56
Speaker 1: through puberty early, so I had pretty big breast pretty early,
44:00
Speaker 1: so I was very self conscious and I did not
44:03
Speaker 1: want bra like I was nine years old, I didn't
44:06
Speaker 1: want to go, I just sports, bra, leave me alone, right. Um.
44:14
Speaker 1: But this also because kier and Nightley's character Jewels, there
44:18
Speaker 1: was that scene she had the short hair, which kept
44:22
Speaker 1: coming up as not being feminine enough, I suppose, And
44:26
Speaker 1: then I believe her mom said to her dad at
44:29
Speaker 1: one point, You've got a daughter, not a son, so
44:31
Speaker 1: essentially saying like this very gendering of the sports and
44:35
Speaker 1: the clothes and the hair, that yeah, this is not correct,
44:39
Speaker 1: this is wrong. She should be more feminine. I did
44:43
Speaker 1: find this interesting. I found a whole essay about how
44:46
Speaker 1: Jess like I'm starting with that glorious day dream that
44:50
Speaker 1: we see. Uh, it's not that she wants to be
44:54
Speaker 1: with Beckham, but she has a crush on him. She
44:56
Speaker 1: wants to be him. She it's a very professional, like
45:01
Speaker 1: she's imagining being as skilled and talented as he is. Yeah,
45:06
Speaker 1: well we also see it in the conversation he has.
45:08
Speaker 1: She was like I played today, I was brilliant. Like
45:11
Speaker 1: she's talking to him as a as a co player,
45:13
Speaker 1: as a teammate, um, as if someone who could have
45:17
Speaker 1: coached her and taught her along the ways are the
45:19
Speaker 1: fun fact that was David Beckham Because for the longest time,
45:22
Speaker 1: the way they had it filmed, I thought it would
45:24
Speaker 1: just lookalike, but it was David Beckham on the film,
45:28
Speaker 1: and he he said he would do it. And he
45:29
Speaker 1: was actually very supportive of the title and everything because
45:32
Speaker 1: at that point in time he was a huge proponent
45:34
Speaker 1: of having women in soccer and women in sports and
45:36
Speaker 1: talking about that that was necessary and he was glad
45:39
Speaker 1: to see more of it and wanted his name to
45:40
Speaker 1: be a part of it. That could be a whole
45:42
Speaker 1: kind of a different, other other level, but you're just
45:44
Speaker 1: being able to support and show that he has He
45:46
Speaker 1: was supporting it, So I loved that too. That's awesome
45:51
Speaker 1: is a very fun fact. Yeah, but I do love that.
45:57
Speaker 1: I love that aspect of it because we recently did
46:00
Speaker 1: an episode. I'm not immune. I've had my celebrity crushes,
46:03
Speaker 1: but I like that this was not a crush. It
46:05
Speaker 1: was right. I want to be as good it was
46:08
Speaker 1: Tony's question, Ah, yes you are. I also read a
46:14
Speaker 1: lot of essays about how powerful it was for people
46:16
Speaker 1: at the time who hadn't seen something like this to
46:19
Speaker 1: see kind of this camaraderie on the team, people women
46:23
Speaker 1: playing and competing with other women, but still kind of
46:26
Speaker 1: maintaining those friendships. And also how for Jess that was
46:29
Speaker 1: a new thing because she'd been playing with these boys
46:31
Speaker 1: in the park and they did have these comments. Um,
46:34
Speaker 1: but when she started playing with them, it was a
46:36
Speaker 1: different experience for her and it was a new experience
46:38
Speaker 1: for her as well, so and she got confidence. Yes,
46:43
Speaker 1: I loved it. I did too. I did too. Uh.
46:46
Speaker 1: And then there was more like sports specific, but there
46:52
Speaker 1: were kind of those comments around low turnout for the
46:56
Speaker 1: women's teams and how like they're never gonna get anybody
46:59
Speaker 1: to show up, is biased refereeing and all these are
47:02
Speaker 1: all things that yeah, we're still talking about has progressed,
47:08
Speaker 1: but still conversations that are happening. But they have to
47:12
Speaker 1: approve themselves more and more exactly exactly. But Yeah, I
47:18
Speaker 1: loved it. I'm glad we picked it. I'm glad you
47:22
Speaker 1: loved it. It was important that you liked it. That'd
47:25
Speaker 1: be the end of our friendship's no, No, I did.
47:29
Speaker 1: I really enjoyed it. Yeah, So thanks for the suggestions,
47:34
Speaker 1: Samantha and listeners. If you have any suggestions, we would
47:38
Speaker 1: love to hear them. Our email is Stephanie and mom
47:41
Speaker 1: stuff and I hurt me dot com. You can find
47:43
Speaker 1: us on Twitter at mom Stuff Podcast or an Instagram
47:45
Speaker 1: and Stuff I've Never told you. Thanks as always to
47:47
Speaker 1: our super producer Christina. If you haven't watched that, Christina,
47:49
Speaker 1: you need to go watch it. I know yes, but
47:53
Speaker 1: it is a requirement. And thanks to you for listening
47:57
Speaker 1: Stuff under inspection by our radio. For more podcast to
48:00
Speaker 1: my Heart Radio, visit the ihar radio app Apple podcast,
48:02
Speaker 1: where you listen to your favorite shows. H