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.

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