The Blind Side

Compared to the Real Story

            My class picked a horrible movie for this assignment. Honestly, The Blind Side, directed by John Lee Hancock, is event by event played out as depicted in the article chosen for the comparison. The small article is also well connected to the book by Michael Lewis, The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game, which I have previously read. With such a remarkable and almost unbelievable story it’s hard to find a version that twists the facts to a point where it’s unrecognizable; therefore, contrast and compare will be difficult.

            The article, I found, was annoying to an extent but it helped draw a clearer picture of Michael Oher. While being interviewed Mr. Oher used the vocal filler “you know,” most people would over look this. I chose not too, because it’s a big part of someone’s character. It’s one thing that was simply left out of the movie, more to just make a film where you don’t think the main character is a complete idiot. No, instead in the movie they made Michael seem more awkward and shy using very little words and insignificant head gesturers. Michael was just a kid in a bad situation. "It was easy for me to say, you know, I want to hang out, you know, with these guys and, you know, do drugs and, you know, not go to school," said Oher. "But I decided I didn't want to do it. I wanted to, you know, be something in life,” from abcnews.go.com. A quote from the movie said by Michael Should you always do what others tell you to do? Sometimes you might not even

know why you're doing something. I mean any fool can have courage. But honor, that's the real reason for you either do something or you don't.” These quotes prove that the real Michael Oher and the movie made Oher both had courage and strength, something that makes up a large part of his character.

 Over all both show this growing teen who has very little and no family to fall back on for support until a southern woman’s intuitive takes over. Leigh Anne Tuohy, the southern woman, seems in every way ideally played out in film. In the film she said “You threaten my son, you threaten me.” From the ABC News article, "He thinks I birthed him," joked Leigh Anne Tuohy. "It's gotten to the point where I think I birthed him. He takes great offense if people don't think that he's a part of the family." These two quotes show how the mother, Mrs. Tuohy, was well played by Sandra Bullock. She was able to show who Mrs. Tuohy is and what she did for Michael. As for the rest of the Tuohy family, Collins had the same “Whatever he’s here, and he’s now my brother” attitude, and SJ really did introduce him to everyone as his “big brother.” They accepted this teenage boy before they started asking questions about his past.

            Everyone has something in their past that they just don’t want to remember. For Michael Oher it was seeing his family ripped apart at such a young age. Like Oher, Christopher Adams shares that experience. Chris is a dear friend of mine, he has also been through so much. I interviewed him about a week ago about part of his tender past. At the age of five he was taken from his fathers care. His mother was a big drinker he also described her as “cold and selfish,” she didn’t want Chris to turn out like his father if she could manage it.

 “I felt confused, angry at my mother for taking me away from my dad. I felt hopeless and alone, like I’d never see my dad again. I had no idea why mom wanted to separate us. I grew up fast, I was no longer a sweet innocent five year old in a loving home I found that the world was a cold hard place. The whole experience toughened me up, it taught me to keep my emotions in-check. I entered the “real world” knowing that I sometimes only you can make life better. You create the life you want to live, and I didn’t and to this day still don’t want to live a life like my mother’s. If I could have changed what happened I would. No child should ever, and I mean EVER go through that. Being taken from the person I loved most was the most painful thing I’ve gone through.”

            Michael Oher’s story is truly a remarkable tail. From being taken from his mother, saying no to gangs, finding a family to call his own, to becoming a well known and high paid NFL left tackle, Oher has seen his fair share of pain and love. He welcomed everyone across the nation a look into his life hoping to help another’s. “The left tackle's job is to protect the quarterback from what he can't see coming. To protect his blind side.”