"The Blind Side" : Theories of Communication

The “Blind Side” is a 2009 biographical sports drama movie based on Michael Lewis’ book, "The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game." Produced by Alcon Entertainment and released by Warner Bros., the film is about the life struggles of Michael Oher (portrayed by Quinton Aaron), who grew up in a dysfunctional home with an absentee father and a drug-addicted mother (Adriane Lenox) in Hurt Village, a housing project in Memphis, Tennessee. After being bounced in and out of foster homes he opted to be homeless but by stroke of luck, he ends up enrolling in an all white Christian school. He felt out of place and his survival was threatened but he was soon befriended by S.J. Tuohy (Jae Head) whose parents, Leigh Anne Tuohy (Sandra Bullock) and her husband Sean (Tim McGraw) decidedly offered Michael their home and raised him as their own child. He was provided an education that otherwise he would not have had.

The film documents the many trials and struggles of Oher –his rise from his impoverished past and the stigma placed on him by racism,, and of the Tuohys – to stand for their principles and go against all the flack they got for fighting for, and with, Oher. At one point, Leigh Anne invites Michael to join them in their traditional Christmas family photo and her friends Sherry (Ashley Campbell), Beth (Rhoda Griffs), Elaine (Eaddy Mays) laugh about Leigh Anne's "project in the projects", but she cuts them off by telling them that she will stop seeing them if they don’t learn to respect what she does.

The courage, which I feel was fuelled by kindness, of Leigh Anne was truly remarkable. In the scene where she comes face-to-face and talks with Michael's mother, Denise Oher (Adriane Lenox) – the once unresponsive mother who discouragingly told Leigh Anne that Social Services had branded Michael as “a runner” and that warns her that one day Michael will run away from her too, later on wishes her son well after listening to what Leigh Anne had to say. Leigh Anne...