BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM - scene 1
Answers
Scene 1 : opening (00:00-02:45)
I.. You're going to watch a video extract. Circle the words you hear:
Star - free - comfortable - invention - magnificent house - proud -legs - shame - sad - mad - interview - crazy
II. Answer the following questions:
1. Sum up the situation in one sentence
This is the dream/fantasy of a girl who imagines playing football with well-known player David Beckham.
2. Who's the main character?
The main character is Jess Bahmra, a teenager of lndian origin who's a football fan and who's dreaming of playing (and scoring) with her idol D. Beckham, a famous English football player
3. ln the TV studio, what is the presenters' opinion about jess? Why?
She is acclaimed /celebrated /highly praised by the TV presenters, and considered as a great hope of football because she scored a goal, bringing victory to the team.
4. What brings a contrast in this scene?
Her mother brings a strong contrast: indeed the TV presenter assumes/presumes that she' s really proud of her daughter, which would be a normal feeling for every parent. But, she' s actually quite mad at her daughter about her playing football. She condemns her playing football. She doesn't agree/disagrees with her playing football. She looks quite mad / furious/ angry /cross at her.
-why is she cross?
Because she doesn't agree with/ approve of her running with men showing her bare legs to 70 000 people, according to her this brings shame on the family.
5. Why does Jess' mother want her 10 switch off the TV?
Because her sister's getting engaged and they must go somewhere.
6. Jess' bedroom: what elements show that she's a football fan?
There's a football t-shirt pinned on the wall, bearing Beckham's name, we can also see posters, especially a big one of Beckham.
7. From what you've seen, what cau you infer about Jess' background and feeling?
She lives in Eng land, but in a traditional and conservative Indian family (sikh), so we can understand that she' s torn between / straddles the two cultures, which are quite different. She dreams of playing football professionally ( a man's sport, a British sport), but her family doesn 't agree with that. We can guess that like many children of immigrants, she 's always lived in England, and so is fully integrated in the English way of life, but at the same lime is refrained by her family, which has kept its roots.