How far do the characters you have studied for this topic conform or challenge stereotypes?

All the characters within the case studies are put in situations where they do not feel they belong to a certain group of people, this causes them to only conform to one group and stereotype.
Firstly, My Beautiful Laundrette (Stephen Frears, 1985) sees the main character, Omar challenge his Pakistani stereotype in when he goes against what is expected in his culture to marry a nice Pakistani female. Instead he is involved in a homosexual relationship with his childhood friend, skinhead Johnny, this sort of relationship was still not completely accepted in 1980’s Thatcher Britain, and was definitely not accepted in Pakistan. However the relationship is never directly addressed, as the audience witness Omar and Johnny’s affair, but it is never discussed by either of the characters, the audience just assume that this is a taboo subject as the couple hide. Even when Omar’s cousin, Tania seduces Omar through the window with a room full of the male family members, this could be seen as herself challenging her stereotype as this was not the correct behaviour of Pakistani culture.
However Omar conforms to his culture by going out and getting a job, he also manages to start his own business with the help of his uncle Naseer, who challenges his own stereotype by having a mistress and cheating on his wife. Despite conforming to his culture, Omar goes against his father’s wishes of furthering his education.
Similar to this in East Is East (Damien O’Donnell, 1999) the eldest son, Nazir is disowned by his father George, after he runs out on his arranged marriage due to his sexuality. George is an extremely religious muslim and believes his son has brought shame on his family. Nazir is then found to be openly gay and known as Nigel, the owner of a very successful hat shop.
The younger children of the family also secretly eat pork while their father is out, this results in them spying on his return and comically airing out the house before his return to get rid of the smell, although their mother does not stop them, she is eager to keep her husband happy despite. Along with going against their religious values, they take part in church activities and parades, again they have to hide from their religious father, this includes them returning home down back streets as their father watches the parade with slight entertainment, the lack of respect they show for their religion as they go against the rules and practice other religions such as Christianity.
Bend It Like Beckham (Gurinder Chadha, 2002) portrays the life of Jesminder who continually goes against her family’s wishes and plays football for the local girls team. After causing shame on her family when they believe she is a lesbian after hanging around with Jules who has extremely short hair, she the finds herself getting very close to her coach Joe, this leaves her family to believe that she has been involved two white people, despite this challenging her Punjabi culture. Her family also want her to go to university however Jess is adamant on getting a scholarship to play football, in the end her parents respect her wishes and allow her to go to America with a scholarship.