Women, Sport, and Film Course

How does sport reflect the tensions between tradition and modernity, or the masculine and the feminine.

Which character do you most identify with? Why?

As for a tension between the masculine and the feminine there is not a great deal of overlap so it is hard to say. There are few sports where men and women compete against one another. The place where there is most overlap is in the coaching. And there sometimes one will see a male coach feeling that he is doiung something beneath him by coaching women, such as in the movie "A League of Their Own." And sometimes not as in "Bend it Like Beckham."

I think I identify with Jess because I too sometimes feel the pull of tradition and some family pressure to marry with in the culture, or in my case to marry within the faith.

I think I relate most with Jess-- having immigrant parents, and as a second generation trying to maintain a balance between traditional culture and "western culture". In Jess's case, I think soccer was the balance. It allowed her to assimilate into British culture, by giving her more exposure to people and friends outside of the Indian immigrant community, while also giving her the opportunity to discover her talents and learn to appreciate her parents' mentality.

I think that the character I identified with most was the older sister. To me, she seemed like she wanted to stay within the outer bounderies of her tradition, and the only lying she did to her parents were sort of the basic stuff that, let's face it, everyone does. The reason I identify more with her than with Jess, is because Jess wants to leave her tradition to apoint I am not comfortable with (what's up with that guy anyways? Talk about a forced relationship). Whereas, her sister married another Indian.

Just my personal biases, of course.

I identify with Keira Knightly's character Juliet, mostly because of her friendship with Jess. My parents are always very laid-back and trusting when it comes to letting me make my own choices, but I have friends like Jess who are restricted in many ways by the rules that their parents make for them. It's hard to stand by while one of my friends is unhappy, even though I know that most of the time her parents are just trying to do what they think is best.

Both Jess and Julie are passionate about playing soccer-and don't see their participation in gender terms yet their frinds and families relate to their participation through the lens of gender and in the case of Julie's mother, sexual orientation. Why does sport heighten the conversation re: gender and orientation for women and not for men? Are there other places in society this happens?

There are other places in society were this has happened both for women and for men. Upon until the last few decades of the twnetieth century women who participated in the business world were considered unwomanly and risked "unsexing" themselves. And even today there are certain things that when a man does them cause eyebrows to be lifted. If a man is an interior decorator he is often assumed to be gay. The notion of a man staying home and taking care of the children and the home is just beginning to be thought of as an acceptable thing for a man to do without risking his masculinity.

I think I relate most with Jules since my mother is basically sweet but kind of crazy too. She didn't like any of the sports I played when I was younger, told me to work on the pitch of my voice because it was too low, thinks women should wear lacy push-up bras, is a bit concerned that I play so many male characters in plays and worries about the lack of males at Bryn Mawr. But she's not really overbearing about it. Just kind of embarrassing sometimes.

Plus, it's far more accepted for women to have short hair and dress manly, than it is for men to have long hair and dress feminine. I sometimes feel that straight men are VERY afraid of being labelled gay, whereas women just take such..umm...accusations(?) in stride.

I would have to agree with Katherine about the business world being another area where gender was questioned, although I doubt it is so much the case today, as well as with what she said about males in "nontraditional roles." I would also say that theater is another area in which people question the gender of both males and females. For example, the stereotype about male actors being gay (I guess because they wear makeup, get dressed up, usually can sing and dance and are supposed to be in tune with their emotions-- I'm not sure I undertand that notion, but I know it's out there). If female actors play roles that are too "masculine" or untraditional they are labeled as lesbians. Sometimes it's true, sometimes it's not, but why it's anyone's business or can cause a scandal, I'm not sure.

Sports, athlethics, muscles, etc are regarded as "masculine"; on the flipside: fashion, cosmetics, certain genres of music, etc are regarded as "feminine".

Just as women in sports are accused of being homosexual, I'm sure lots of us would question a guy's sexuality if we found out that he uses Estee Lauder lotion or listens to Cher.

There are different expectations for men and women in society, which are now crossing over, but nontheless still exist. Women and men are both accused of being gay... but for different reasons.

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