A Respectable Actress Does Not Have a Blind Side - Essay Example

Soundtracks for The Blind Side were written by Alan Wilson and performed by Canned Heat. The Blind Side features Michael Other, a homeless teenager who is adopted by a wealthy and conservative family in the suburbs of Memphis, Tennessee. Michael is positioned as one of the most promising prospects in college football due to his natural athletic skills and the perseverant and unconditional support of his new family (IMDb). Michael Other (Quinton Aaron), a homeless teenager who has been running away from different host families in Memphis, Tennessee, is staying temporarily at one of his friend’s father sofas.

Fascinated by Michael’s athletic skills and corporal features, and despite his academic insufficiencies, Burt Cotton (Ray McKinnon) helps Michael to get admitted to Wingate Christian School where he coaches. A friendly and smart little boy called Sean Jr. ‘SJ’ (Jae Head) approaches Michael at school while waiting for his mother to pick him up. Although this is their first encounter, they meet once more when SJ’s father Sean Tuohy (Tim McGraw) is driving the family home. Leigh Anne Tuohy (Sandra Bullock) is moved by the image of ‘big Mike’ shivering in the cold while walking in direction to the school gym to spend the night, therefore, she asks him to stay at their comfortable house in the suburbs of Memphis.

Gradually the Tuohy family becomes Michael’s new family. Leigh Anne is a multitasking, persuasive and strong-minded professional and house-wife, working from home as an interior designer. She is very inquisitive woman and when seeking to become Michael’s legal guardian, she finds out he was cruelly separated from his drug-addicted mother when he was seven years old. The brutal separation from his mother caused a strong impression on Michael, who eventually developed resilient ‘protective instincts’.

The protective nature of Michael gives him the opportunity to become one of the most highly prospects in college football. Michael is a leader on the field. The only problem is that in order to be accepted at NCAA Division I scholarship, Michael should improve his GPA which he does with the help of some teachers and a personal tutor, Miss Sue (Kathy Bates), hired by the Tuohy. Leigh Anne makes it clear that she prefers the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) because she and Sean are alumni of this university; and, in a rather indirect and persuasive way, she convinces Michael to commit to Ole Miss.

As a result both Michael and the family Tuohy become the subject of an investigation of the NCAA. During the interview to find out Michael’s reasons to choose Ole Miss, Michael understands the game played by Leigh Anne to influence him; he gets angry at her and decides to return to his mother. Michael comes back to the Tuohy family after Leigh Anne approaches him and asks to forgive her. The inquiry conducted by the NCAA does not progress because Michael is relaxed and able to overcome all the questions from the investigator.

The Blind Side makes a stereotypical portrayal of American families and society. A white, middle-class family becomes the worthy protector of a poor, huge, illiterate black teenager. Both, Leigh Anne and Sean (a prosperous businessman) are the parents of a beautiful teenager Collins and