Football Drama

A black foster kid, who’s talented in football, gets adopted by a wealthy white family. Not so out of the ordinary in today’s society, but during the time the movie was film, it was, especially because the kid was drafted into the National Football League. The controversy in the film starts when Michael meets with a representative from the National Collegiate Athletic Association who suspects that the Tuohys forced Michael to select Mississippi, due to their ties with the university, rather than Tennessee, which is home-state team. Of course make a movie out it, it will sell, but be warn the story will lead to much talk on social class and racism.
This film “The Blind Side” was written and directed by John Lee Hancock. The main characters are Michael Oher, Leigh Ann Tuohy, Miss Sue and SJ. Michael, the young poor black troubled foster kid, who becomes a high school star football athlete, accepts an Ole Miss Scholarship and then drafted into the NFL. Leigh Anne Tuohy an obliviously wealthy white interior designer, offers guidance and assistance to Michael in form of adoption, she sees his potential as a football player and ensures he will be successful. Miss Sue, Michael’s tutor, boosts his knowledge confidence and secretly coasts him into going to Ole Miss as she mentions to him that the FBI buries body parts of unrecognized dead people under the University of Tennessee. SJ an energetic motivator throughout the film helps Michael with his practices and discusses negations with the coaches.
Cultural stereotypes in this film, show and tell of the various socioeconomic differences in the storyline and show the influential nature of someone for personal gain. The NCAA representative questions Michael college choice; his association with the Tuohy family, due to racial and social backgrounds. Examples that stand out in my mind are the way Michael looks (big and black), the status of his mother, the runaway father, the location of where he is from and the showing of only negative aspect of black people like partying, drinking, drama in this film in-comparison to the positive aspects of the suburbanized Tuohy family. The Minority –Group characteristics are evident in the film, “The group is easily identifiable because of distinguishing physical or cultural characteristics that are held in low esteem”, Parillo text page 15. Many may argue that an important factor is that the success of another race is dependent upon a superior race and it’s shown in this film.
My personal opinion of this film is yes that there were obvious varying socioeconomic differences, but the film was a great one. I feel the film sums up the differences in a statement by Michael when he spoke with the investigator and tells her that the only reason he chose Mississippi was because his whole family has always gone to school at Mississippi. The ability to captivate an audience is a gift and no matter what the feature film may be, there will be a form of criticism, sometimes it takes bringing things to light in order to tell the story. Yes it’s true that “Media has a tremendous impact on the shaping of our personal and group identities” Parillo text page 92, but we must not be drawn to such beliefs that all is true.