If I think Sandra Bullock seems appealing in The Blind Side, opening November 20, does that mean I'm a racist?
Let's watch the trailer, and then I'll explain...
Oh, let's dance around the obvious for a minute. Let's start by saying that as a wealthy, no-nonsense Tennessee housewife named Leigh Anne Tuohy, Sandra Bullock looks like she's giving one of the best performances of her career. She seems focused and specific, and there's an exciting energy in her eyes.
And hey, there's a good song by The Fray at the beginning of the trailer.
But that's just it. The song is called "How to Save a Life," a title that suggests the trailer's breathtaking paternalism.
This is the story we're told: A poor, ignorant, and "innocent" black teenager (IBT) stumbles into the privileged world of white society. Because he's so "backwards," the only white people he can communicate with are small children. And even they know better than he does. One little boy even has to teach the IBT how to smile at girls so they won't be afraid of him.
And oh, thank god for the white boy's kindness, because the IBT's life is hard! He's never had his own bed, he's never gotten much schooling, and the other black people in his life are Mean and Scary and Probably Do Drugs. It'll take a white kid's mercy to get him out of this mess.
Except wait. No. It's not the white kid who can help the IBT. It's the white kid's pretty white mother (PWM). When the PWM learns about the IBT's hard knock life, she uses all of her rich white magic to make it better. She even helps him learn to play football. Yes! A skinny white lady teaches someone about football!
And you know what else? IBT's simple-minded charm affects the PWM. When her rich whitelady friends compliment her good deeds, she says, with a small choke in her voice, that it's really him who's changing her.
So. Ahem. Yeah.
This movie is based on a true story. A rich white family really did adopt Michael Oher, a homeless black teenager, and eventually, he became an NFL star. In the real world, that's very moving.
In the manipulated world of movie trailers, however, Oher's story is a disturbing revival of the "benevolent white master" trope.
There are shots of Michael studying in the Tuohy kitchen and of Leigh Anne buying him clothes. There's a scene of Leigh Anne facing down black people in the projects and calling Michael her son. There's a voiceover of a character telling Leigh Anne, "I think what you're doing is so great." And it's all underscored by feelgood power-pop.
In other words, the trailer begs us to feel sorry for black people and feel grateful that there are white people in the world who can take of them.
A story like that dehumanizes black and white people alike. It irons the complexity out of life and replaces it with a simplistic lie.
It's possible that The Blind Side is much more sophisticated than this trailer, but if that's true, then the trailer is even more unsettling. No matter what the film is like, someone decided that the best way to market it was to trot out the "inspiring" notion of helpless blacks being rescued by whites. Is that a story we should find entertaining?
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Thank you for engaging with what I wrote. I'd love to keep the conversation going, but before we can really talk, I feel I should clarify that what I wrote about "Blind Side" applies exclusively to the trailer.
As I say in the final paragraphs of my essay, my analysis does not apply to Oher's true-life story (which I find very moving) or to the full-length movie (which I plan to see, but haven't yet). My concern was the particular, paternalistic nature of that trailer. It didn't have to be edited that way, but it was. To my mind, the preview reduces a complicated story to unsettling parts. And yes, a trailer is always a reduction, but to me, this particular reduction is disturbing.
I am not passing judgment on Oher or the Tuohys. (Again, I'm moved by their story.) I'm trying to explore the way a trailer can manipulate a story and what those manipulations might mean.
When a film is effective, it makes us look at ourselves in ways that sometimes make us deflect in order not face who we are.
To say that the character of the youth is a cipher strikes me as disingenous as best - I work with such youth and I will maintain that to many they are all ciphers - like the homeless so many many people pass by and see through. These youth tend to react in two ways - either through attention-getting behaviour or by building a wall around themselves to keep out the pain.
This youth was not a cipher to the Tuohys- they took him in and - yes saved his life - and God Bless them for it.
Beyond the story - for me - the essence of the film can be summed up in the now obligatory "during the credits photos of those on whom it was based" sequence when they showed Oher's peers in the projects and how many of them are now lost.
But you'll only take from it what you bring to
And even more unexpected would be if the story were told from the point of view of the teen.
But no, it's the same old thing.
Did this women know that this boy had tremendous potential in football before she took him in? Most likely he was given a hardship scholarship to the prep school because of this potential. Did she try and steer him to play for her husbands alma mater. It seems like the case but real parents do this all the time in the recruiting process.
More importantly did she invite this stranger to live in her house and become part of her family. Yes. Did she help this kid, give him a home, adopt him, and treat him like her own son. Yes.
If this young man had been adopted by a San Francisco Muslim Asian Lesbian family rather than a White Southern Conservative Christian family I am sure the left would be shouting about this film from the rooftops. This is a case where the details of a wonderful true life story make certain people uncomfortable because it challenges their stereotypes.
After hearing the author's take on the events that inspired his book, this truly sounds like a great, heartwarming story. I, for one, can't wait to see the movie.
Another film with a black teenager who isn't expected to invision or want success in any field other than sports or hip hop, seems just as hoary as the scenario of benevolent whites who are out to save a childlike gentle giant.
For too many black youth, the only dream worth having is that of a football player, basketball player or rapper. Thus, many are doomed to failure.
Unfortunately, the Southern U.S. worship of "KIng Football" unwittingly contributes to this limited life view. Young black males are only treated as worthwhile by whites and blacks alike, if they play a sport and play it well.
This movie may actually avoid treating the kid like he's big oversized pet, but the trailer certainly doesn't look promising. As is, this looks like a story about the Sandra Bullock character who becomes a better person by saving this poor guy.
Why isn't this story told from the point of view of the kid?
I don't care how well-intentioned this film is, it looks like 1960's era schmaltz sprinkled with liberal pixie dust.
It's a dangerous formula because some people are smart enough to believe it. I used to work at a facility that helped "inner city youth" and the staff stressed that we teach the children how to eat with spoon and forks. When I asked why, I was told that many of the students were so poor that they never eat with such utensils...in NYC...yeah...
Oh and about people so surprised and upset that this writer reviewed the trailer...um...don't we usually form opinions about movies based on the trailer? Is it not the purpose of the trailer to give you some insight about the theme of the movie without giving it anyway? Yeah, nuff said
Just because everyone is slow, but surely obtaining equal rights, and therefore we are all on the same acknowledgement that white people have TREMULOUSLY screwed up in the past, does NOT give everyone the right to now join the bandwagon of bashing everything a white person does or says. It seems like now, if a white person helps a person of colour, then they are just trying to be "PC" and "probably" still hold some sort of judgement. . .WEll GIVE ME A BREAK!
This movie, is meant to portray a TRUE act of kindness. Lets look at it realistically, shall we?This kid, was POOR. . .and this very rich white woman, had nothing to gain from helping him. It wasn't as if helping him, was going to improve her custom of living. . .other then. . .IT WAS THE RIGHT THING TO DO and it made her feel good.
Who cares if he was black? Who cares if she yelled at a table full of black people and called him her son. . .the FACT is. . .she did it. . .she treated everyone as a person. . .not a stereotype. . .was she not suppose to? Was she suppose to be affraid of those black people at the table!?!?!
When oh when, will the day come. . .where we can TRULY just talk to people with whatever crass or respect we want, and it's not called racism or being "PC?
Stop trying to ruin
Geez.
It never ceases to amaze me when people feel so compelled to impose a worldview on a piece of popular culture that is simply not there. I have no doubt that the movie will be overly sentimental shmaltz and I'm certainly not the biggest fan of Sandra Bullock but I find this analysis of the trailer to be patently absurd.
We should support films that are hopeful and kind rather than continuing to get behind the most debasing, socially empty product that Hollywood regularly forces on us.
Should we want movies like Sandra Bullock's The Blind Side?
HELL YES.
What kind of world have we come to when people question whether or not the truth is worth telling?
Maybe instead of being suspicious of the woman's motives (which will undoubtedly be boiled down to their barest ingredients to keep the film going) it would be better to concentrate on the fact that a young black kid was given the chance to improve his life, his children's lives and his family's life. From that point on he can make good all by himself. If someone is willing to offer their help, don't snap their hand off because it's the 'wrong colour'. Use what's offered and bring it home.
Frankly, although Sandra looks very different as a blonde, I don't actually think she's playing all that appealing a character - very snippy, pushy and dominant. Not too nice at all.