Bend It Like Beckham Is Still The Greatest Sporting Film Of All Time
For many young women, Bend It Like Beckham was the first time they'd seen women's sport on-screen.
In celebration of the 20th anniversary of Bend It Like Beckham, Junkee is spending the week digging into the impact and legacy of the iconic film.
It is my firm belief that sports movies are the greatest film genre and, quite frankly, deserve their own category at the Oscars. And there is one film in particular that stands head and shoulders above the rest: Bend It Like Beckham.
When the film — directed by Gurinder Chadha — was released 20 years ago, the world was a very different place, particularly when it came to women’s sport. At the time, football legend David Beckham agreed to let the film use his name because he was a big supporter of the progression of women’s football — which was far from the norm in 2002.
“He said, ‘I wholeheartedly support this because I support girls’ football and want families to come to matches’,” Chadha said in an interview.
While we’ve obviously come leaps and bounds in women’s sport over the last two decades (although we’re far from actual equality), the film — and the message it promotes — still resonates today.
The Film Was An Inspiration To Women In Sport
When I first watched BILB at age four, I became instantly obsessed with the idea of becoming a footballer. And while I never actually played, and ended up with the sporting ability of a cooked spaghetti noodle, Bend It Like Beckham instilled in me a deep and unwavering love of football.
And, as it turns out, the film was equally inspirational for professional footballers like Emma Checker — the captain of Melbourne City FC, who has represented Australia in the Matildas.
“It was probably my most-watched film as a kid, and I guess most people in my generation who were into sport were probably the same and I think at the time it was probably a pretty accurate reflection on where women’s sport was at,” Checker told Junkee.
There have been countless other sports films, and even plenty of films about women playing soccer — like She’s The Man — but Bend It Like Beckham reigns supreme. Amanda Bynes’ beloved film She’s The Man is wonderful, of course, but Bend It Like Beckham is a cut above because, unlike Viola Hastings, Jess and Jules owned the fact that they were female soccer players. And while many of the characters within the film didn’t necessarily appear to take women’s soccer seriously, the film itself always did.
“I think at the time it was probably a pretty accurate reflection on where women’s sport was at.”
When it was released, the film was groundbreaking — now, it serves as a history lesson on just how far we’ve come.
“When you look back at it now, we’ve just come so far and women are now playing on the big stage and not in a men’s team, we’ve got our own space in the sport… obviously that film was a really groundbreaking one in the sense that it also helped break cultural barriers as well, so it’s definitely a really special film,” said Checker.
Now, players like Australian legend Sam Kerr reportedly earn upwards of $600,000 per season at Chelsea — but the messages in Bend It Like Beckham still resonate through other sports, such as the AFLW and NRLW.
“[It’s a] great metaphor for a lot of us, especially girls. We can see our goal but instead of going straight there, we too have to twist and bend the rules sometimes to get what we want,” Chadha said in an interview about the title of the film.
This film was the first time I ever saw not only women represented in sport, but women breaking down any sort of barrier in a world otherwise ruled by the patriarchy. Not only did we see the obvious inequalities in sport, but even in Jess’ family life, she served as a strong woman who stood up for herself and wasn’t willing to give up on what she wanted, even when it felt like everyone and everything in her life was working against her.
The very first time we see Jess playing football in the film, she’s playing in the park with her male friends — long before she realised that women could pursue professional football careers. But it’s not until we return to the same park later in the film, where Jess’ horrified mum catches her playing in uniform, that we see just how far she had to bend the rules to reach her goals.
Even after securing a place on the team and proving that she could — in fact — play at a pretty elite level, Jess is still threatened with the idea of it all being taken away. And it’s not until the very end of the film, after countless setbacks, that the people in her life actually let Jess live out her dreams and accept the US football scholarship.
For so many young sporting women, Bend It Like Beckham was much more important than just a film about football.
Lavender Baj is Junkee’s senior reporter and a football tragic. Follow her on Twitter.