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English Essay (prejudice) In the two texts Deadly Unna? written by Phillip Gwyne and Bend It Like Beckham directed by Gurinda Chadra the theme of prejudice is significantly explored. Deadly Unna? is the story of a young boy Blacky who is made to overcome prejudice in his small town of the Port. Bend it like Beckham is set in London and is the story of Jess a young Indian girl whose infatuation is football, much to her parent’s discontentment. The key theme of prejudice is greatly explored in both texts through the main characters and their relationships with their family and friends.
It is also explored through the technical, symbolic, audio and written codes in both texts. Blacky and Jess must both overcome many types of prejudice including racial, gender, cultural and class prejudice. The prejudice in both texts is only overcome with much needed assistance, determination and perseverance from many major characters. There are numerous examples of gender prejudice in the text Deadly Unna?. One of the obvious examples is when Blacky’s mum was not wanted as a coach at the Port football club. Neither Arks (the coach) nor the players wanted the help or support of a female.
They might have thought it would be an embarrassment or simply it is and always will be a male’s sport. This is shown in the following quote “I’d thought of suggesting it to Arks that mum could be appointed tactical advisor. Send somebody over at the end of each quarter to get her thoughts. Or maybe they could use walkie talkies. But I knew Arks wouldn’t have a bar of it. Everybody thought that to be a great coach you had to have been a great player. And a bloke, of course. ” pages 31 and 32. Blacky’s mum didn’t have the confidence to stand up for herself or her gender.
I think that gender prejudice is not the biggest form of prejudice explored in this specific text, never the less, it is explored and gives an insight into how gender prejudice affects our community today. The theme of prejudice was explored considerably throughout the feature film Bend it like Beckham. One example of gender prejudice is when Jules (Juliette Paxton) quotes “It’s not just Indians I mean look at the crowd we get”. This quote is fundamentally saying that it is not just the Indian culture that forbids girl to play football.
Jules is explaining that the female football team does not get as big a crowd as the men’s teams because some people do not accept that females should play football. I think that this quote shows that women have not been acknowledged into the football world like men. The only reason why there is a female side in Hounslow is because Joe “busted his knee” and was unable to play. I think in contemporary times gender prejudice has been greatly reduced, but is still a common form of prejudice in today’s society. Racial prejudice is explored throughout the text Deadly Unna?.
This is exposed through the various technical symbolic and written codes as well as the relationship between characters of different racial backgrounds. An example of racial prejudice in Deadly Unna? Is the relationship between the Port and the Point. The two settings are both physically and emotionally/mentally segregated and do not make much contact. The main thing these two towns have in common is their love of the game (AFL). I think that if football were not played these two towns would have no contact apart from the people from the Point buying supplies from the Port.
I think that the separation of these two towns shows that racial prejudice is a major issue for today’s communities. In the feature film Bend it like Beckham racial prejudice is a main theme that is explores throughout the film. Throughout the entire film there are many examples that show just how common racial prejudice is in today’s society. One example is when Jess’ father shares his story of how he was treated badly when he first arrived in England and was not accepted as a cricketer.
I think this shows how common racial prejudice and it also explains why jess’ father was so wary and cautious to let her play football in the fear that she might also be treated badly. He feels that she may not be accepted into the football community as he was not accepted into the cricketing community. I think that Jess’ parents are just looking out for her best interests although they will have to let her go and live her own life at some point. An additional form of prejudice is class prejudice; this is explored hroughout Deadly Unna? Through the Macca’s and Cathy’s treatment of not only the aboriginals but also Blacky and his family and friends. Blacky thinks that the Macca’s are at a prestigious school because the have a limited amount of flaws and are intelligent. Blacky soon finds out that the Macca’s are at a great school because they are wealthy. I think that this shows just how important money and wealth are in today’s society. I also believe that the Macca’s show absolutely no respect towards Blacky and his family and friends.
Class prejudice is another form of prejudice that is surveyed for the duration of the feature film Bend it like Beckham. The main example in the film is Pinky’s fiance’s parents they want a ‘better’ daughter-in-law the Pinky. I think that class prejudice is shown in both texts and shows us (the viewer) that it is a common for of prejudice for people of all different cultural and racial backgrounds. Although not the most prominent form of prejudice in this text it does give the viewer an insight as to what it may be like living by way of Indian culture today.
Prejudice is difficult to overcome but with much needed support, love and communication both Blacky and Jess overcome prejudice to create their own life. At the end of Deadly Unna? all the Black siblings go down to the jetty and each erase a letter of a racist comment. I think that this shows just how far Blacky and his siblings have come since the beginning of the book. At the end of Bend it like Beckham Jess faces up to the truth and tells her parents about her real passion football and asks them if they will allow her to pursue it as a career in America.
I think that the moral of this story is not to lie because once you start lying it is very hard to stop and your whole life could turn into a lie. I think that these two texts are great because they both show that prejudice can be overcome. Both Deadly Unna? and Bend it like Beckham have the influential theme of prejudice. They both explored this theme using well thought-out characters and their relationships with other characters. It is also explored through the technical, symbolic, written and audio codes.
Both Jess and Blacky are encouraged to overcome the various forms of prejudice that they encounter. At the end of both texts they do succeed in overcoming prejudice, which takes a lot of courage. I feel that people who are prejudicial and judge certain people are immature, and I believe that it is wrong. I think that these texts are both excellent because they both give us and insight into how prejudice can affect our community today and also both show that prejudice is possibly to overcome which is truly inspiring.