The Blind Side
“The Blind Side” is an outstanding 2009 film based on the extraordinary true story of Michael Oyer, a black boy from the projects of Memphis, Tennessee who was taken in by an upper-class white family, a college All-American at Ole Miss, and later became a first-round NFL draft pick by the Baltimore Ravens in 2009. This movie captured my heart and drew me right in. The film not only captured my love of football, it also made me realize how priceless family is. It brought raw emotions to the service in regard to racism, sexism, gang violence, and drug abuse. Throughout the film were remarks, comments and stereotyped words that were used to describe blacks, whites, class, and gender. I have watched this movie twice prior to viewing it yesterday to prepare for this assignment. When I watched it before, I never really realized all the different stereotypes that were expressed throughout the film. I believe that I am used to it and did not give it a second thought when I watched it before. Starting with racism, there were numerous times throughout this film that it was expressed. Here are a few situations that were shown: Right at the beginning of the movie a left tackle, the second highest player in the NFL behind the quarterback, was described as big, with a wide butt, huge hands, long arms and extremely quick feet. More times than not, a left tackle is black. When “Big Mike” saw basketballs unlocked on the grounds of Wingate Christian School, his response was, “White people are crazy.” He wrote a poem and threw it in the trash can in his science class entitled, “White Walls.” He wrote, “I look around all I see is white everywhere, a lot of white people, white walls, white floors.” Little girls on the playground ran away from him when he said hello to them, because they were unfamiliar with blacks and are taught to be afraid of them. He used his intimidating size and look to scare the woman in the laundry mat to use her dryer. Black males are stereotyped as being dangerous and violent, even though he was not like that at all inside. He was a gentle soul with high protective instincts. He protected or “had their backs” in referring to Mrs. Tuohy, his mother, his family, coach and teammates. S.J. Tuohy said he did not get the role of “Chief” in his school play about Native American Indians because of a multi-cultural bias thing. The boy that got the part was Chinese. Other comments included name calling such as: fly on milk, colored boy on your Christmas card, Jessica Lange in King Kong, Snowflake, Not fair, they’ve got a black man playing for them, is this a circus?, big goon, Black piece of crap, You are not welcome here, this is my field, fine white sister, Do you think he’ll steal from us?, and the infamous N-word. Mrs. Tuohy’s upper class, white women friends made several racist and degrading comments regarding Michael such as: What would your daddy say?, Aren’t you worried about Collins with a large black boy sleeping under the same roof as your daughter?, and is this a white guilt thing? Also class differences were exhibited in this film. Michael grew up in the projects, was extremely poor, homeless most of his life, had a drug-addicted mother, never even knew who his father was, and was surrounded by gang violence and corruption. He grew up on the other side of Memphis on Alabama Street in Hurt Village. He didn’t know the meaning of family until the Tuohys took him in. He never had a bed of his own before. Sexism was shown on several occasions. Here are some examples: S.J. implied that girls’ volleyball is not a real sport, not like boys sports and that his Mom was a cheerleader at Ole Miss, but that doesn’t really count as an athlete, Looks like Tarzan- plays like Jane, football players and coaches very obviously check out Leigh Anne’s butt when she walks off the field, and his high school football coach pouted after being shown up on the field by Mrs. Tuohy because it was a blow to his male ego. Class was shown many times also in the following examples: Deliverance was the name Mrs. Tuohy called the obnoxious racist parent from the opposing team, Tutor, Miss Sue said she wasn’t religious enough for Wingate Christian School and she was a Democrat in the South, and Rednecks and Nascar were described as going hand in hand.
This film is “feminist” because Leigh Anne Tuohy is a woman who stood up for her beliefs despite all the obstacles that came to her and her entire family. It also shown countless acts of feminism with the way she acted, along with Miss Sue, the tutor and Collins Tuohy. They all were strong women who were not afraid to go against the norm. Collins did by standing up for Michael in front of the entire school, which was all white. Miss Sue exemplified feminism by being her own woman, a Democrat in the South and a person who stood up for her beliefs, despite what it might cost her career-wise.
My hat goes off to writer and director, John Lee Hancock for making such a superb film and bringing this incredible true story to life. Sandra Bullock deservedly earned the Oscar she won for her role as Leigh Anne. I especially enjoyed the essay Michael wrote in his English class entitled “Courage.” He said it all. He said, “It all depends on who you are, where you come from. Honor is the real reason you either do something or you don’t. If you die trying to do something important, then you had both honor and courage and that’s pretty good.” This movie depicted real life in the south and the unfortunate consequences of racism, sexism, class, and gender stereotyping. Every one should see this movie and learn the true meaning of family.
Filed under Uncategorized | Comment (0)Noxzema Ad
My Blog #2 comes from a current advertisement for Noxzema, a popular skin cleanser for girls made by Procter & Gamble. I believe that Noxzema has been around for a long time. I remember my mother using it when I was a little boy. It had a distinctively strong smell that lingered in the bathroom after she washed her face with it. That is probably why I remember it.
As for this advertisement, it brings out several areas that could be considered sexist, dangerous, disempowering, unrealistic and negative. The words, “Noxzema. Pretty. Smart.” are geared toward women. Of course, women want to be pretty and smart. So if they purchase Noxzema and wash their faces with it, this is the smart way to have pretty skin and get noticed. First of all, it depicts a young woman being harassed on the street by construction workers. This ad makes the assumption that male construction workers are sexist and gives a negative stereotype of them. I am sure that there are many male construction workers who are like this, but not all act this way. The text which says, “Pretend to be annoyed” makes the viewer feel that “no” really means “yes” and that women do or should enjoy being harassed on the street by men. This way of thinking encourages violence toward women. It also reinforces the feeling of women as the surveyed, or the surveyor within. It makes women feel they need external substantiation from men in order to feel beautiful themselves. It can also lead to low self-esteem in women and allow them to feel that it is okay to be treated badly by men, or sexually abused. Since women look at themselves as males look at them, they are taught to look at themselves as violent targets. As for the shape of the girl in this ad, it is extremely unrealistic of what a woman is actually shaped like. It depicts her in a very short skirt, extremely thin and with very skinny legs; it is absurdly inaccurate in its proportions. It also makes her appear African-American which can lead the viewer to believe that she is worthy of sexual harassment, which is definitely a racist depiction. Women of color are still being depicted as exuberant and excessive in sexuality. All in all, this ad gives viewers the assumption that women like men to notice them and will continue to do what it takes to be pretty so men will continue to view them as objects of desire.
Filed under Uncategorized | Comment (0)Brut Ad
For my first blog topic I have chosen a printed advertisement from The Sporting News magazine week of January 11, 2011 issue. In this advertisement, a young white male is photographed close up straight in line with the camera. His face is covered with a green exfoliating facial mask and there are ten small cucumber slices placed strategically on his forehead, eyes, nose, cheeks and chin. There is quite a bit of beard stubble on his chin giving the appearance that he has not shaved in a few days. As for the large text which is in all capitals that reads, “SOME MEN JUST NEED TO BE SLAPPED,” this is an extremely harsh and violent sexist statement. This bold statement is making the assumption that men are not masculine if they get facial treatments such as the one depicted in this ad. It is also making the assumption that if a man does things that are considered feminine, he is truly no longer a man that makes him inferior or like a woman. I believe the beard stubble is a way of showing that he is still trying to be masculine, but needs help in finding a way. This ad is suggesting that the reader, who is typically a male, will see this photograph and decide that purchasing BRUT products is the way to smell like a man and therefore be truly masculine.
The small text implies that choosing to go curtain shopping (a.k.a. a woman’s thing to do) over playing basketball (a.k.a. a man’s thing to do) means that the reader needs to get his masculinity in check. The ad also suggests that badminton is a “girl” sport and that real men do not play badminton, another sexist statement. This ad is degrading to women because it makes the assumption that being feminine is disempowering. It goes along with the beliefs of living in a patriarchal society such as ours with the men dominating socially, economically and culturally. This ad suggests that being a man means acting like a man. It suggests that men do not need to go to the lengths that women do to be attractive. All a man needs to do is wash his face and splash on some after-shave and he is good to go out in public. Or he can choose to do nothing at all and that is totally acceptable. The woman, on the other hand, is constantly concerned with her looks and feels that to be accepted in the world she must wear make up, have flawless skin, be thin, and be pretty all the time. Spa treatments are generally done on women because women are the surveyed sex and they feel they need to care about how they look and how men feel about them. Women are more concerned about aging skin than men in our society. This BRUT ad is very sexist in nature and made to make men feel superior. At the same time, it can also be disempowering to homosexual males as they would probably see nothing unnatural about getting a facial, going curtain shopping or playing badminton. Our society has stereotyped men as being tough and these actions do not fit into masculine stereotyped categories.
Filed under 1st Post | Comment (0)