Discuss the similarities or differences in the representation of one social group in East are East and one other film of your choice.

The social group that I will be writing about in my essay is the relationships between adults and children and the way both groups are represented. I will be comparing this particular social group with the way adults and children are represented in “Bend it like Beckham” and in “East is East” because both films represent this social group is very similar in some ways and also quite different as well. I will not go into much detail at the moment with that but it will be revealed later on in my essay. “East is East” is about a Muslim family and “Bend it like Beckham” is about a Sikh family but in both films the children rebel which is what I will be writing later on in the essay.
In East is East, the family appears to be a unconventional Muslim family because the children do not take their religion seriously but as for the father, (George) he seems to take his religion quite seriously I use the word “quite” because he is not as righteous as he thinks he is and makes out to be. His children and his wife, really fear him and do everything they can to please him. The reason why I say that the children are unconventional Muslims because in the first scene it starts of with all the children (Meenah, Sajid, Manner, Tariq, Saleem and Abdul)and mother Ella participating in a Catholic parade that is going on in their street the whole family is enjoying themselves which is fine if they are not a strict Muslim family they to they know that from other peoples point of view it could seem that they are Catholic but as soon as Ella spots her husband George, they all have to hide because they know that he will be angry and disapprove of them being their because they are not Catholics. George feels as if he is the dominant male, so he wants his family to follow HIS religion, as he also feels that he is the most important member of the family. George’s family morals are also seen as over powering and strict, this is probably the reason his children and his wife, do not conform to his religion, as they feel that, George’s religion is the reason why he is so strict. We know this because, in one scene of “East is East” we see the children running away from the “Mosque van”. The mosque van is the van in which takes the children to the place they hate most; the mosque. George see’s his children running away from the van, which causes George great frustration and causes him to hit and call his children “Bastards”. Also they would not want to get on the angry side of their father.
Also in the first scene it shows us that the children are very rebellious but hide it from their father. We know this because there is also a scene in “East is East”, when the children are rebelliously eating bacon which is against the Muslim religion. Although bacon is against the Muslim religion, we can also say that the children do this just to test their dad’s patience, although they are scared of him. This is the same for “Bend it like Beckham”. The children are rebellious. The main character, which is Jess Bhamra, is rebellious because she wants to play football and her parents do not approve of her decision to play football and think it’s a “mans game” the Tariq and Abdul are rebellious because they don’t to have an arrange marriage. Saleem rebels because he wants to do art and lies to his father because he knows that he will disapprove and that he will be punished. The only son that does everything his father tells him and also takes his religion seriously is Maneer and because he does what he does his siblings call him Ghandi because they believe that he is too righteous and to good. Unlike the others Maneer wears a taqiyah where as the rest wear religious clothing when they are forced to go to the mosque.
Religion seems to play a huge part in both films because it is religion that makes everybody act the way they do this includes the adults and the children. If George wasn’t as strict as he is then maybe the children will not be keeping things from him and they can be a happy family. In Bend it like Beckham Jess is still religious and wears the sari so embracing her culture is not really the problem it is her playing sport is what her family does not like they want her to further her education instead. As for East is East they do the Meenah does the complete opposite in the second scene when her elder brother was getting married she had to wear a sari and she said “I look stupid in this” which shows that she is not use to wearing the traditional clothes and hates it a lot.
In both films Asians are represented as a community that most or maybe all of them go through the process of an arrange marriage. It seems to be a common thing in both films. In Bend it like Beeckham it is not of great importance but it is still shown as for East is East it seems to be the only option for the children and it causes caos in the family.