Just got back from seeing this year’s surprise indie hit – and enjoyed it tremendously. The friend I saw it with and I had a fundamental disagreement about what Jess’s parents’ expectations were, however. I thought they wanted her to go to university and become a professional (the traditional imigrant parental dream) – my friend thought they wanted her to get married first, and only then go to university, with the expectation that she might have some “little” job in addition. This, she says, is what Tony’s offer to marry her was about. No, sez I – that offer was about her being allowed to go to the States to play soccer; if she’d planned to stay in England and just go to school, it wouldn’t have been necessary for her to get married. I point to the fact that there really wasn’t any discussion of her getting married, or pressure for her to get married, despite the whole thing about learning how to cook.
I assumed that the parents wanted the girl to get married to a good family, cementing connections and ensuring a “good life”. Any plans she wanted to follow after that were fine, as long as they were subservient to the family life.
I also think that they were very culturally concerned about their daughter staying withing the culture they lived. Playing professional soccer would no doubt divorce her from that. I believe this would be a very strong force in people who are living amidst cultures radically different from their own.
Thanks, Yookeroo – I ran two red lights while in the middle of this argument and would hate to think my brush with the law was all for naught! (Got off with a warning – I still can’t believe it!)
Anyway – yes, the whole culture-conflict thing is clearly the central issue of the movie, mofo – my question was specifically about whether her parents wanted her to get married before going to university regardless, or only if she wanted to go to the States.
Additional votes supporting my obviously correct interpretation would be very welcome!
I thought it was medicine path, not law. They didn’t want her to marry just yet, they wanted her to be a doctor first. If/when she married, they wanted her to marry another Sikh, not an Irish lad. In many cultures, the food is an essential part of the culture and traditions… learning how to cook the traditional dishes properly is part of learning about them.
If it wasn’t the medicine path, why did Jess always keep talking about she was headed toward a boring life as a solicitor?
I saw this on DVD as my local store has the Chinese version. (Which is in English.)
I thought it was more like My Big Fat Sikh Wedding also.
I must also point out that there are few foreign players who get scholarships to play women’s soccer in the U.S. The women’s game here may actually have better talent available to it than the men’s game does.
However, the WUSA is not exactly a booming financial success.
When she gets her scores and her father hands them back, he says something like “now you can go to a top school and become a solicitor.”
It was my understanding, as well, that she didn’t have to get married if she stayed at home while going to school. That being away from her parents would require the protection of marriage.
I don’t think there was any expectation she wouldn’t have a career just because she was married.
