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The Blind Side Essay Movie Review

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Released in 2009, The Blind Side is an American football movie based on a 2006 book of the same name. Despite mixed critical reviews, it was a commercial success. Below, you will find The Blind Side summary, as well as a movie analysis.

Introduction

The blind side: summary essay, the blind side: full plot summary, themes & elements developed in the movie.

The Blind Side is a movie produced in 2009 that focuses on the life of Michael Oher. Michael is a teenager who overcomes numerous challenges, such as homelessness and loneliness, to become one of the most reliable offensive linemen in the National Football League (NFL) of America (Lewis, 2009).

The movie was directed by John Lee Hancock and was based on the book, The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game by Michael Lewis. The movie stars Quinton Aaron as Michael Oher, Tim McGraw as Sean Touhy, Sandra Bullock as Leigh Anne Touhy, and Jae Head as S.J Touhy.

These characters shape the plot of the movie. Sean and Leigh Anne are foster parents to Michael, while S.J. is their only son who has good relations with Michael as his big brother. Before moving in with Sean and Leigh, Michael had lived in other foster homes, as well as on the streets (Lewis, 2009). This movie is quite thematic because the viewer experiences sad feelings for what Michael goes through and feelings of joy for Michael’s life transformation from solitude and misery to success and greatness.

The movie’s plot revolves around courage, communication, and American football. Michael Oher, played by Quinton Aaron, is a homeless black teenager with a troublesome life. Eventually, he is taken in by a well-off white couple, Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy, played by Tim McGraw and Sandra Bullock. Together, the family goes through many challenges, teaching each other many moral lessons.

The main character in this movie is Michael, a seventeen-year-old black and homeless American teenager. He does not know his father, and his mother is a drug addict. He puts up at various foster homes. However, he escapes in several instances due to various reasons. Hopping between foster homes leaves Michael without much formal education or essential skills that can help him get a job (Lewis, 2009).

One of Michael’s foster parents tries to enroll him in Wingate Christian School despite his poor academic records. His athleticism and passion for football impress the football coach, who recommends his enrollment. Because of his huge stature and young age, Michael is nicknamed The Big Mike by his friends. While at Wingate Christian School, Michael becomes friends with S.J., the son of Leigh Anne, an interior designer, and Sean Touhy, a business guru (Scott, 2009).

One day while driving home, Anne notices Michael walking alone in the rain and decides to talk to him. On discovering that he intended to spend the night outside the school’s gym, she decides to take him home and spend the night. After that, Michael becomes part of that family amid negative criticism towards Anne from wealthy friends about making him part of her family.

Leigh Anne identifies as a caring person, as she goes ahead to seek legal rights to be Michael’s guardian, which gets approved (Scott, 2009). Although Michael starts slowly with the team due to his gracious and calm nature, Leigh Anne is always around during training sessions to motivate him (Lewis, 2009).

Michael impresses most college coaches with his ability on the pitch. However, Leigh Anne discovers that Michael’s GPA is below the required average of 2.5, which qualifies him for a college scholarship (Scott, 2009). Anne goes ahead to hire Michael, a tutor who works with other teachers and helps him attain an average of 2.52.

Michael receives scholarship offers from numerous colleges, but settles for the University of Mississippi, the alma mater of his foster parents. Michael sticks with his decision despite receiving numerous threats aimed at making him change his decision. It later emerges that Michael’s foster parents restrict anyone under their care from joining other colleges apart from the University of Mississippi (Lewis, 2009).

A confrontation ensues between Michael and Leigh Anne, and they disagree. As a result, Michael goes back to the projects where his mother lives. He reunites with old friends who make unpleasant remarks towards his foster parents. This makes Michael angry, and a fight ensues. Their cruelty forces him to run.

Leigh Anne searches for Michael in vain. He calls Michael, who agrees to meet and discuss a few things that made Michael uncomfortable (Lewis, 2009). During the meeting, Anne promises to support Michael’s decisions and allow him to talk to officers investigating his decision to join the University of Mississippi.

Michael moves back to his foster parents’ house and plans to join college get underway. The movie ends with Michael bidding farewell to his foster family. He focuses on his football career while in college and grows into an all-star left tackler (Scott, 2009). The end creates a feeling of joy, as one feels happy for the once poor, illiterate, and fat teenager who came from a broken home but managed to identify and fulfill his real potential despite all many challenges.

This movie identifies as a film that integrates various themes and elements. The fact that the movie develops out of a real-life story makes it an undeniable fairy tale.

It gives the viewer a touch of reality that human relations depend on. There are two important lessons about human relations brought out in this movie. First, it is important for human beings to reach out to the less fortunate in society. Michael is a teenager who has lost hope of fulfilling his dreams, but the family of Leigh Anne helps him identify and fulfill his potential (Lewis, 2009).

The second lesson is that people need to believe in their abilities and develop relations with people who believe in them. Leigh Anne believes that the decision to make Michael part of her family is right despite objections from friends. Michael has great potential, and Leigh’s family believes in his abilities, which is the reason they do all they can to ensure that he exploits them (Lewis, 2009).

For a keen viewer, the movie also develops the theme of love and family. The nature of life is such that people do not have a choice of who comprises their families. Some people are lucky enough to experience love from both parents and the joy of growing up in a complete family, while others are not that lucky.

However, from the movie, it is clear that these situations are not permanent because individuals can get these experiences from people they interact with in life (Scott, 2009). Michael came from a broken home that did not have a father, while the mother was not resourceful due to her drug addiction.

He lacked the life opportunities that his peers from bonded families had. However, he is able to feel the love of a family later in his teenage years after a white couple that already had two children adopts him. The love shown by others is often influential in how people develop perspectives about life (Lewis, 2009). The concept of family developed in this movie goes beyond nuclear families to include a social unit that shares common values, includes people who believe in each other, and who show love towards each other.

In the movie, challenges of poverty, racial discrimination, as well as drug and substance abuse are evident and well explored. Modern American society identifies as one that adores drugs and looks down upon people from poor backgrounds, as well as a society still incensed with the old habit of treating people based on the color of their skin (Scott, 2009).

This unfortunate reality has for long refused to die out of American culture. The treatment accorded to Michael’s foster parents when they go looking for him in the projects is unacceptable and one that modern parents would not want their children to grow up knowing. The comments made towards Leigh Anne during Michael’s adoption talks also clearly indicate various perceptions that American people still have towards each other.

Humor also develops a lot in this movie, as there are certain scenes that leave the viewer in stitches (Scott, 2009). One such scene is during one of the games when Michael, using his huge body, gives an opponent a block that clears him off the pitch. The scene gets funnier when the coach demands to know from Michael why he did such a thing to an opponent. Michael responded that he was trying to stop after the whistle but was on top speed.

Michael also said he carried the opponent to the bus because he felt the time was right for the player to leave the pitch. Numerous tackles, which prompted the referee to throw a flag as a warning, dominated Michael’s style of play in that game (Scott, 2009). Another element developed in the movie is sacrifice.

Michael’s foster family sacrifices to help him in a unique and inspiring way. They go out of their way to provide him shelter, food, clothing, education, and a career in football. The movie had a good reception across America, with critics giving positive remarks. The most notable remarks touched on the impressive role of Leigh Anne, played by Sandra Bullock (Lewis, 2009). The movie received many nominations and awards, including Academy Award, People’s Choice Awards, and Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards.

The main character in this movie is Michael, who puts up at various foster homes. However, he escapes due to various reasons. The fact that the movie develops out of a real-life story makes it an undeniable fairy tale.

This movie generates a sad feeling for what Michael goes through, as well as a feeling of joy for how his life turns into a success story. Themes and elements developed in the movie include humor, sacrifice, human relations, the importance of love and family, poverty, racial discrimination, as well as drug and substance abuse.

It is important for human beings to reach out to the less fortunate in society. Michael is a teenager who has lost hope of fulfilling his dreams, but the family of Leigh Anne helps him identify and fulfill his potential. It is also important for people to believe in their abilities and develop relations with people who believe in them. Leigh Anne believes that the decision to make Michael part of her family is right despite objections from friends. The movie had a good reception across America, with critics giving positive remarks.

Lewis, M. (2009). The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game (Movie Tie-In Edition) . New York: W. W. Norton.

Scott, A. (2009). Steamrolling over Life’s Obstacles with Family as Cheerleaders . Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/20/movies/20blindside.html?_r=0

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5 deeply beautiful lessons of compassion we learned from ‘the blind side’.

The Blind Side is a beautiful movie based on a true story starring Sandra Bullock as Leigh Anne Tuohy and Quinton Aaron as Michael Oher. Leigh Anne is a southern woman who one day notices her 8-year-old son talking with and befriending “Big Mike,” another student who was kind, but visibly lonely, and who was also the only Afro-American student at the school.

One day at a basketball game, the family sees Big Mike waiting until the crowds leave so that he can collect uneaten popcorn leftovers that were left in the stands. Another day while driving home with her family, they see Big Mike walking alone in the cold, without a jacket, on the side of the road. Leigh Anne pulls their car over and asks Mike where he is going and why he is walking around without a jacket in the cold. The student is hesitant to tell her the truth, but Leigh Anne’s direct way of questioning is slowly able to figure out Michael’s situation. Mike was walking to the school gym to sleep because he did not have a home to go to, and because it was warm there. Mike had come from a very poor and troubled family, which he was out of contact with, and he was homeless, just doing the best he could to survive while going to school.

Heartbroken, Leigh Anne invites him to stay the night at their house, and ends up letting it be his permanent residence as their family lovingly moves to adopt Michael. Mike later goes on to become a wildly successful football offensive tackle in the NFL for the Baltimore Ravens.

The movie ‘The Blind Side’ is a must-see and teaches us these very beautiful life lessons of compassion:

1. when you have more than you need, build a longer table, not a higher fence.

The Tuohy family was a wealthy family, owning a large number of chain restaurants and having more than enough to provide for themselves. Leigh Anne could have responded in two ways when noticing Michael at their school and seeing him talking with her son.

She could have responded out of fear, thinking why was a poor, physically large and homeless Afro-American student going to her children’s wealthy and prestigious school. She could have complained to the school, saying she was afraid of possible danger, and have attempted to build a “higher fence” in order to keep him from attending. But she chose the second way to respond: with compassion.

Leigh Anne responded from her heart out of love when seeing a poor and homeless struggling boy, who had to scrounge for food to survive, and who had to sleep in laundromats and the school gym in order to stay warm. She opened her heart and her home to this kind boy, and built a “longer table” by providing him with the first bed he’d ever owned; giving him the unconditional love and security of a family that every child needs. By offering the extra that they had to help one who was without, they beautifully changed his life, and their own, for the better.

2. Parenting Isn’t About Blood Or Skin Color; It’s About Love

“Families don’t have to match. You don’t have to look like someone else to love them.” ~Leigh Anne Tuohy

When inviting Michael into their family, the Tuohys knew that love was more important than any perceived visual differences. They saw beyond skin color and biological ties, and adopted Michael into their family because they shared a heart connection. We are reminded in the movie that not being biologically related to a child doesn’t make us any less of a parent, because being a real parent is in the heart, not the DNA.

3. When A Child Is Loved And Given A Fair Chance, They Can Succeed In Life

All children have the capacity to succeed in their own unique way in life when given the love of a family and a fair opportunity. Michael greatly improved his grades when Leigh Anne took the time to help figure out why he was having trouble in his classes. She helped match him with personal tutors who were able to catch Michael up in terms of education.

The movie also presented hints of discrimination from the school staff, suggesting hidden stereotypes that poor children of color cannot succeed in high class schools. While these ideas went largely unchallenged in the past, recent studies have shown that children with any skin color can succeed when given an equal education and are elevated out of poverty:

The IQ test score results from Bermuda are examples of how equal education and equal opportunity created equal performance for Afro-Bermudan students. In recent years, students with black skin in Bermuda have outperformed American students with white skin in terms of IQ testing, as social scientist Sandra Scarr explains in her study; “In Bermuda, we found that black children have IQ scores at the norm for white children in the United States at age 2; at age 4 their average IQ score is 99, and by sixth grade they score 2 years above U.S. white children in vocabulary, reading, and math on the California Achievement Test.”   [1] [2]

To separate genetic factors from rearing conditions, 130 black and interracial children adopted by advantaged white families were studied. The socially classified black adoptees, whose natural parents were educationally average, scored above the IQ and the school achievement mean of the white population. [1]

When given access to equal education, equal resources and equal opportunity, all children, regardless of skin color, perform the same. The success of Michael Oher, in both school and in the NFL, is another beautiful example of how giving love and a fair chance to a child can significantly help them succeed in life.

4. Don’t Let The Judgment Of Others Keep You From Helping Those In Need

Leigh Anne faced a decent amount of uncomfortable comments from her friends, as well as uncomfortable stares from strangers, but she didn’t let any of it stand in her way from giving and providing unconditional love for Michael.

She clearly let her friends know that while she doesn’t need them to approve of her choices, she does need them to respect them:

5. The Love Of A Family Is Forever

The Tuohy family experienced many challenges after bringing Michael into their family, but they made one thing clear; the love of a family is unconditional and forever.

From dealing with gang members, to car crashes, to arguments spurred by the NCAA, they never let the challenges related to Michael stop their unconditional love.

What did you think of the movie ‘The Blind Side’?

Let us know in the comments.

If ‘The Blind Side’ inspired you, please share this article online with your family and friends so that they too can benefit from its wonderful life lessons of compassion.

You are Loved.

See Also: 8 Deeply Beautiful Truths We Learned From The Giving Tree

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The Blind Side

96 pages • 3 hours read

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.

Before You Read

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-2

Chapters 3-4

Chapters 5-6

Chapters 7-8

Chapters 9-10

Chapters 11–12

Key Figures

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Summary and Study Guide

The Blind Side tells the intersecting stories of Michael Oher (who, after the book’s timeline, went on to have a long career as an NFL left tackle) and how the NFL’s passing game evolved. Folded into these two stories is that of Tom Lemming , who became the first person to evaluate high school football players both independently and on a national scale. His player evaluations impacted college recruiting, shifting it from a regional to a national focus. This change enabled an under-the-radar player like Oher, who played for a small Evangelical Christian high school, to be noticed. 

Lewis begins the book by describing the 1985 play that ended the career of Washing Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann: New York Giants defender Lawrence Taylor sacked Theismann, breaking his leg in two places. Theismann’s regular left tackle was on the sidelines with an injury for that game, and the result was costly both for Theismann and the Redskins.

The fast, aggressive play of Taylor, and defensive players who followed in his footsteps, transformed passing strategy and created the need for a left tackle with a unique physique and skill set. It took several years for talent evaluators to define these qualities and recognize the importance of left tackles, but by the 2000s, when Oher came on the scene, their value was well understood. Oher, in turn, became one of the most sought-after draft prospects.

Lewis weaves back and forth through time to tell Michael’s story. Lewis introduces Michael when he is 15 years old and temporarily staying with Tony (“Big Tony”) Henderson. Like Michael, Big Tony grew up in Hurt Village, one of Memphis, Tennessee’s most notorious housing projects. To fulfill his mother’s last wish, Big Tony takes his son to a Christian Evangelical school, Briarcrest, and brings Michael with him. Michael’s athletic abilities impress the school’s coaches. He becomes a student at the school, where he meets Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy , wealthy white Evangelical Christians whose children also attend Briarcrest. Leigh Anne grows close with Michael, and Michael moves in with the Tuohys. Michael slowly assimilates into the school environment, making friends and growing especially close the Tuohys’ children, Collins and Sean Junior. The Tuohys hire a tutor for Michael to ensure he maintains the grades he needs to play sports, and Leigh Anne educates him in the ways of white, upper-class Memphis.

After football scout Lemming brings Michael to national attention, Michael is heavily recruited by almost all of the top college programs. Michael chooses to play at the University of Mississippi (“Ole Miss”), the Tuohys’ alma mater. The NCAA receives a complaint that the Tuohys compensated Michael with gifts to convince him to play at Old Miss and opens an investigation into the Tuohys’ motives. Michael is eventually cleared to play at the school, and the Tuohys ensure he will meet NCAA academic eligibility requirements. Michael plays as a freshman, which raises his profile with NFL recruiters. Though the Ole Miss team he plays on is not successful, Michael’s individual play impresses, and he receives accolades and awards.

At the end of a successful season for Michael, a teammate confronts him, making a lewd reference to Leigh Anne and her daughter, Collins, and Michael beats him up. When he realizes he accidentally injured a young child in the vicinity, he flees the scene. Lewis shifts focus to Michael’s mother, showing how she fell victim to a cycle of poverty and drugs. Shortly before Michael turned eight, Children’s Services removed him from her care and placed him in a foster home. He ran away three times, eventually ending up in a hospital for psychiatric evaluation. After he ran away from the hospital, authorities gave up looking for him. For the next five years, he was in and out of school for long stretches, though school authorities continued to pass him from grade to grade. His family was homeless for a time, and Michael camped out in the homes of a string of friends, including Big Tony. Lewis then returns to the moment where The Blind Side begins: with Michael arriving at Briarcrest. Lewis discusses Michael’s early challenges at the school, relating to the students and adapting to the school culture.

The final chapter returns to the day Michael ran away from the scene where he got in a fight with a teammate. Sean communicates with him by text while consulting with his various contacts at Ole Miss and devising a plan to keep the story low profile. Michael returns, and the situation is resolved with no lasting impact on Michael’s character or player profile. Lewis notes that Michael’s support network helped to ensure that the incident remained under the radar.

At the end of the book, applications from inner-city high school athletes flood Briarcrest, but the school is ambivalent about accepting students who are not academically prepared for the school’s curriculum. Sean offers to pay for tutoring, and Leigh Anne wants to start a foundation to help other athletes. Michael plays well in college, continuing to draw honors and attention. 

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The Blind Side

By michael lewis, the blind side quotes and analysis.

As [Denise] had no income except for whatever the government sent her on the first of each month, the children had no money for provisions. They had no food or clothing, except what they could scrounge from churches and the street. Surprisingly often, given the abundance of public housing in Memphis, they had no shelter. When asked what he recalls of his first six years, Michael said, “Going for days having to drink water to get full. Going to other people’s houses and asking for something to eat. Sleeping outside. The mosquitoes.” p. 254

Here, Lewis gives insight into the severity of Michael's poverty, showing how he was constantly uncertain about having the basic necessities of food and shelter. This description is made bleaker by Michael's recollection of the details of this period of his life, as it shows the vividness these struggles impressed on him. This summary also shows how different the world Michael grew up in was from where he ended up, and the traumatic impact this continual struggle to survive had on him.

There were tiny revelations that had Leigh Anne upset for days, for what they implied about his childhood. She took Michael with her and Sean Junior to a Barnes & Noble. As they walked through the store, Sean Junior spotted Where the Wild Things Are and said, “Look, Mom, you used to read that to me when I was little.” To which Michael replied, in the most detached tone, “I’ve never had anyone read me a book.” p. 81

This moment, and others like it, reveal both the love that Leigh Anne has for Michael and the pain that she feels in what he was not provided with. Her reaction indicates how strongly she cares for Michael and how much it hurts her to know he was neglected. This particular scene shows the basic absence of attention in Michael's life as a child. By focusing on the small act of reading a book to a child, Lewis is able to reveal how Michael was deprived of many of the basic experiences of being cared for as a kid. This feeling is augmented by the fact that Michael mentions this to her offhandedly, suggesting that he never even assumed it was something he should have.

You don’t think of fear as a factor in professional football. You assume that the sort of people who make it to the NFL are immune to the emotion. Perhaps they don’t mind being hit, or maybe they just don’t get scared; but the idea of pro football players sweating and shaking and staring at the ceiling at night worrying about the next day’s violence seems preposterous. The head coach of the Giants, Bill Parcells, didn’t think it preposterous, however. Parcells, whose passion is the football defense, believed that fear played a big role in the game. So did his players. They’d witnessed up close the response of opposing players to their own Lawrence Taylor. p. 21

This section from the first paragraph introduces the player Lawrence Taylor, depicting his reputation as a linebacker who inspired anxiety and worry in opposing players. Lewis focuses on the abnormal level of fear surrounding Taylor to explain his importance on the field and highlight how dramatically he changed the game with his presence. He writes about Taylor's effect on the other players in a way that underscores the force and brutality he brought to the game, and the strategic competition he, alone, spurred as a result.

Ayers, on the other hand, was a profile in toughness and pass-blocking technique. He was, for that one moment, the critical component of Bill Walsh’s passing attack, and hardly a soul in Candlestick Park noticed. He was a reminder that what sets football apart from other sports is that what you don’t see is often the most important thing. What John Ayers was doing seemed routine. But to the few who knew, and watched, it was a thing of beauty. p. 108

This quote about left tackle John Ayers highlights the qualities that made him good at his position while also demonstrating the thankless nature of his job. Lewis notes that his prowess was a "critical component" of coach Bill Walsh's entire field strategy, but still mentions that basically no one noticed his contribution to the game. In Lewis' portrayal, Ayers' essential contribution—finally providing a solid counter to Taylor's brutal assault on quarterbacks—escapes the notice of the audience, but is still "a thing of beauty."

A boy had collided with an event. The boy was in many ways unlikely. He had never thought of himself as a football player, and didn’t have the first idea what the fuss was all about. The event was a shift in football strategy that raised, dramatically, the value of the one role on the football field the boy was uniquely suited to play. p. 92

In this moment, Lewis ties the two threads of the book together, observing that Michael's strengths as a football player were being valued more highly as a result of a shift in the way the game was played. This passage is important to the book as a whole, as it shows how Michael's story fits into the larger narrative of football strategy shifting and changing, causing the left tackle position to be valued. The strangeness of this event is shown in the way that Michael was unaware of these changes occurring in the game at the professional level.

The technique Long taught Michael was called 'getting fit.' A lineman the size and power of Michel Oher needed only to get his hands on his defender to ruin his day. He was so strong, and his hands so big, that there was no opponent—certainly not in high school, probably not even in college—who, once hooked, could wriggle free. It was of course illegal for an offensive lineman to grab a defender broadly, sumo-style; the lineman had to master the art of grabbing narrowly, of keeping his hands in close, and seizing his opponent near the breastplate of his shoulder pads. p. 112

This quote depicts the initial development of Michael's strategy as a player. In earlier sections, Lewis describes how different coaches immediately saw Michael's athletic ability, but weren't sure if it would translate on the football field. This moment shows how Michael was quickly able to grab other players "narrowly" and not let them "wriggle free." It shows how little trouble Michael had picking up the technical elements of his position.

The summer before the start of the 2006 season was still his moment, and would remain his moment—until it wasn’t. Until he lost a step. Or got hurt. Or until the next Jonathan Ogden showed up and was maybe a step quicker, or fractionally more gifted, than the original. As he listened to the biography of Michael Oher, Dwight Freeney’s expression changed. He was no longer smiling. “What’s his name again?” he asked. “Michael Oher.” “You tell Michael Oher I’ll be waiting for him,” he said, and walked into the locker room. p. 281

This final scene from the book shows how Michael was perceived as a major threat on the football field, as seasoned linebacker Dwight Feeney's confidence slowly fades. This moment mirrors the opening of the book, when Lewis describes the fearsome nature of Lawrence Taylor's reputation. Now, Michael is the one inspiring trepidation in his future opponents and, as his role as left tackle would suggest, is intimidating linebackers.

One night they came home with money that wasn’t theirs, and Big Tony found out and tried to explain to them a little bit about white people and how, lacking street smarts, they had established some rules to preserve their species and that, odd as those rules might seem, Steven and Michael needed to obey them. Rule number one was that a kid did not steal, or fight, or get into trouble of any sort; and what was a rule for white kids was an iron law for a black kid. Because a black kid who got into trouble in the white world was a black kid on his way out of that world. p. 266

This scene occurs at a pivotal moment in the book, as Lewis describes the lead-up to Michael's fight with another player. Big Tony's comments point to the force of white power structures, as he says that even though Michael and Steven have become part of a white social world, they must be certain never to break any of its rules, both spoken or unspoken, as those rules are "iron law" for Black children. This quote indicates that in spite of how fortunate Michael has been in this world, Tony wants him to understand how precarious his situation could (and eventually does) become in the event of a problem.

What never crossed Tom Lemming’s mind was that the player he would rank the number one offensive lineman in the nation, and perhaps the finest left tackle prospect since Orlando Pace, hadn’t the faintest idea who Lemming was or why he was asking him all these questions. For that matter, he didn’t even think of himself as a football player. And he’d never played left tackle in his life. p. 43

This early passage effectively sets up the mystery of Michael's early football career. Tom Lemming traveled out to talk with him after seeing a tape of him playing. Michael does not speak to him or answer any of his questions, and is baffled by his appearance. The scene indicates how Michael's skills as a football player did not, initially, keep pace with his perception of the recruitment process and culture surrounding it.

But there was one quality he possessed in an extreme form, and in whatever test the public school system had used to measure it, Michael Oher had scored in the 90th percentile. The quality was labeled 'Protective Instincts.' p. 150

While Lewis later notes how Michael's academic abilities dramatically improved with time, here he shows an essential aspect of Michael's character: his protectiveness. This description suits both his role as a player, protecting the quarterback from being "sacked," but also the care with which he treats his adopted siblings Collins and SJ. It shows that for all of his perceived toughness, Michael's greatest strength is the way he treats the people he loves.

The Blind Side Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for The Blind Side is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Study Guide for The Blind Side

The Blind Side study guide contains a biography of Michael Lewis, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About The Blind Side
• The Blind Side Summary
• Character List

Lesson Plan for The Blind Side

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to The Blind Side
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
• The Blind Side Bibliography

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The Blind Side Movie Review and Analysis

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Words: 714 |

Published: Sep 12, 2018

Words: 714 | Pages: 2 | 4 min read

Works Cited

• Hancock, J. L. (Director). (2009). The Blind Side [Film]. Warner Bros.
• Bullock, S., McGraw, T., Collins, L., & Head, J. (Actors). (2009). The Blind Side: The Real Story Behind the Movie [Documentary]. Warner Bros.
• Hall, L. (2010). Sociology on the Screen: The Blind Side. Teaching Sociology, 38(3), 203-209.
• Hooks, B. (1995). Killing Rage: Ending Racism. Henry Holt and Company.
• Johnson, C., & Clelland, J. (2012). Race and Social Class Issues in the Media Representation of the Adoptive Transracial Family. Journal of Family Issues, 33(1), 58-79.
• King, C. R. (2015). Non-Traditional Families: Adoption and Surrogacy. In Modern Families: Stories of Extraordinary Journeys to Kinship (pp. 41-74). ABC-CLIO.
• Kunzel, R. (2013). Struggling for Legitimacy: The Institutionalization of Adoption in Twentieth-Century America. Oxford University Press.
• Oher, M., & Yaeger, D. (2011). I Beat the Odds: From Homelessness, to The Blind Side, and Beyond. Gotham Books.
• Sanders, J. R., & Milan, S. (2016). The Blind Side: Considering Popular Culture as an Educational Tool. Youth Theatre Journal, 30(1), 40-55.
• Sanderson, K., & Cheyne, R. (2010). The Blind Side: An Examination of Stereotypes and Narratives in Sport Films. Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 34(3), 336-361.

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The Blind Side: History vs. Hollywood

Why did Leigh Anne Tuohy take Michael in?

"I just think Michael needed somebody, and it was so evident that there was nobody in his life. It just broke my heart," the real Leigh Anne Tuohy said in a December 2009 20/20 TV interview.

Was Michael Oher's birth mother really a crack addict?

Yes. The Blind Side true story reveals that Michael's birth mother had been addicted to crack cocaine. "She wasn't really around too much," Michael recalled in a 20/20 interview. "I took care of myself most of the time." He was one of twelve kids growing up in a broken home in Hurt Village, a housing project located in crime ridden North Memphis.

What happened to Michael's father?

Like in The Blind Side movie, Michael Oher's birth father was murdered. He was shot and killed, then thrown off an overpass on the west side of Memphis. Michael didn't learn of his father's death until three months after it happened, partially because it took time for his father to be identified. Tony Henderson, who helped Michael get into Briarcrest, called the school office with the news of Michael's father's death. Michael's father hadn't been around when he was growing up. - The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game

The real Big Tony (right) played a more significant role in Michael's life than his movie character (left). Who was the man who helped Michael get into Briarcrest Christian School?

The character in the movie who refers to himself as Tony Hamilton is based on Tony Henderson (aka Big Tony), who in real life runs an athletic program that mentors teens in his neighborhood. Recognizing Michael's unstable home life, Tony took Michael in. "He was a good kid," Tony recalls. "He was real quiet and especially stayed to himself." Like in The Blind Side movie, Tony took his teenage son Steven to be enrolled in Briarcrest Christian School, and he brought Michael along with them ( 20/20 ). In real life, Tony worked across town as a mechanic, as stated in the movie ( Evolution of a Game ).

Why did the filmmakers change the name of the school to Wingate for the film?

In the movie, the Christian school that Michael attends is named Wingate and is the home of the Wingate Crusaders football team. Through our research into the Michael Oher true story we discovered that the real name of the school is Briarcrest, home of the Briarcrest Saints. "It wasn't adversarial, there were just concerns," Briarcrest president Mark Merrill said. He noted that there were several school administrators who were concerned over instances of "artistic license" in the original script that stretched the truth. - CommercialAppeal.com

The real coach (Hugh Freeze, right) and his onscreen counterpart (left). Did the coach at Briarcrest Christian School really lobby to get Michael accepted?

Yes. According to the Michael Lewis book The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game , the football coach at Briarcrest, Hugh Freeze (referred to as Burt Cotton in the movie), did encourage his colleagues to accept Michael's application.

Was Michael immediately let into Briarcrest like in the movie?

No. When researching The Blind Side facts vs fiction, it was revealed that due to Michael Oher's poor and nearly non-existent academic record as of 2002, the principal at Briarcrest insisted that he participate in a home school program for a few months first to get his grades up. - The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game

Prior to attending Briarcrest Christian School, where else had Michael gone to school?

How did Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy learn about Michael Oher?

The Tuohy's then 15-year-old daughter Collins was in one of Michael's classes and she told her father about the big quiet new guy in her class. Sean made an effort to get to know him and realized that he was hungry all day and that he had no money to buy lunch. So, Sean started to pay for his lunches. - Author Michael Lewis Interview

Did the father, Sean Tuohy, first spot Michael in the stands at his daughter's volleyball game?

No. The real Sean Tuohy did first spot Michael Oher when he was sitting in the stands of the Briarcrest gym, but it was during basketball practice, not Sean's daughter's volleyball game. At that point, Michael was still academically ineligible to play on the Briarcrest boys basketball team. - NYTimes.com

Was Leigh Anne the first one in the Tuohy family to help Michael?

No. Unlike what we see in the movie, in real life Leigh Anne's husband Sean started paying for Michael's lunch at school before his wife encountered Michael on the side of the road. A fictional account of this can be seen in the DVD's deleted scenes. - Author Michael Lewis Interview

The real biology teacher, Marilyn Beasley (right), found potential after giving Michael a test verbally. Did Michael really write the "White Walls" essay that was read by his biology teacher in the movie?

I look and I see white everywhere: white walls, white floors, and a lot of white people…. The teachers are not aware that I have no idea of anything they are talking about. I do not want to listen to anyone, especially the teachers. They are giving homework and expecting me to do the problems on my own. I've never done homework in my life. I go to the bathroom, look in the mirror, and say, "This is not Mike Oher. I want to get out of this place." -Evolution of a Game

Did Michael Oher really encounter Leigh Anne Tuohy on the side of the road?

"There were a few artistic liberties taken in that scene," the real Leigh Anne Tuohy told Mike Huckabee during a Fox News Channel interview. Unlike the rainy nighttime scene in the movie, The Blind Side true story reveals that Leigh Anne's encounter with Michael on the side of the road really happened on a cold morning during Thanksgiving break. She and her husband watched Michael get off a city bus in the snow wearing only cutoff blue jeans and a t-shirt. Like in the movie, Michael was on his way to the school gym in order to escape the weather and find warmth. In reality, Leigh Anne didn't offer Michael a place to stay immediately. Instead, their encounter on the side of the road on that snowy November morning in 2002, prompted her to pick Michael up at Briarcrest the next day and take him shopping. She couldn't ignore that he had been out in the cold in cutoff jeans and a t-shirt, the same outfit he was seen wearing every day. - Evolution of a Game

Was the Tuohy family the only family that Michael Oher stayed with while attending Briarcrest?

No. In reality, it took months after the roadside encounter before the Tuohy family welcomed Michael into their home. For months, Michael actually continued staying with Tony Henderson (aka Big Tony), the mechanic whose son also attended Briarcrest Christian School. And for months after that, at least five different families, both white and black, provided Michael with a place to stay after his coaches realized that he didn't have a home. This eventually included the Tuohy family. "He'd stay here once in a while and then he'd leave," says Sean Tuohy, "and then he seemed more comfortable to stay." ( 20/20 ) With regard to the Tuohy family, the real Michael Oher said, "When I moved in with Leigh Anne and Sean, I felt loved, like part of a family. In the other houses I didn't feel like part of the family. I didn't feel like they wanted me there." - Evolution of a Game

How old was Michael Oher when Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy took him in?

Michael was 16-years-old when Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy welcomed him into their home.

Does the real Leigh Anne Tuohy work as an interior decorator?

Yes. Leigh Anne works as an interior decorator and is a graduate of the University of Mississippi. After Michael Oher made it to the NFL and moved to Baltimore to play for the Ravens, Leigh Anne helped him decorate his suburban home.

Was the Tuohy's daughter Collins really a high school volleyball player?

No. In real life the Tuohy's daughter Collins was a state champion pole vaulter. She was also a high school cheerleader, as seen in the movie. - Good Morning America

Michael Oher as a kid around 10-years-old. Did Michael Oher really never have his own bed prior to living with the Tuohy family?

Yes. Being one of twelve children growing up in the projects, the real Michael Oher never had his own bed. Like Sandra Bullock's character does in the movie, Leigh Anne bought him a futon to sleep on since her husband told her that the larger pro athletes use them if they can't find a bed big enough. - NYTimes.com

Did everyone really call him "Big Mike"?

Yes. As in the movie, most people who knew Michael Oher referred to him as "Big Mike". This included the people he knew back in Hurt Village where he grew up and the people he met at Briarcrest Christian School. Like in The Blind Side movie, in real life he admitted to Leigh Anne that he hated to be called "Big Mike". - Evolution of a Game

Just how big was Michael Oher?

When he was 15-years-old Michael was 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighed 350 pounds ( 20/20 ). In 2010 as a member of the Baltimore Ravens NFL team, Michael Oher was listed at 6-4 with a weight of 309 pounds ( BaltimoreRavens.com ). His onscreen counterpart in The Blind Side movie, Quinton Aaron, is 6-8 and weighs 472 pounds ( 20/20 ).

Did Michael Oher really have to learn to play football when he first joined the high school team?

No. This was grossly exaggerated in the movie. Michael did not have to learn how to play football, and Leigh Anne never walked onto the practice field to inspire Michael by telling him to protect his team as if he was protecting their family. The film's suggestion that he needed to be taught how to play football upset the real Michael Oher, "That part right there, it really got me because it was never like that. I've always known how to play the game of football. I've always had a passion for the game. You know, it's Hollywood, so I mean that's what they do, but at the end of the day it's still a good story."

Was he really a timid player who had to be toughened up?

No. "I've always had that fire and passion in me on the field," says Michael. "You can't put aggression into a person. It's impossible. Either you have that toughness and aggression or you don't." - 20/20

Did the Tuohy's son S.J. really help teach Michael about football?

No. As the real Michael Oher stated above, he already knew how to play football. When Michael Oher was taken in by the Tuohy family, the Tuohy's son S.J. (Sean Jr.) was 8-years-old at the time ( NYTimes.com ). Actor Jay Head, who portrays S.J. in the movie, had just turned 11-years-old when filming began, although onscreen he looks to be a few years younger than he is and more in line with the true story. The real S.J. was not nearly as small either. He was by no means the pipsqueak that we see onscreen. Michael and S.J. did play sports together recreationally, but S.J. didn't have to teach him anything.

Did Michael really remain silent when taunted by racist fans at a game?

No. As Michael Lewis states in his book, when racist fans were taunting him, the real Michael Oher flipped them the bird.

Did Michael really lift up a trash talking opponent and carry him off the field by his pads?

Yes. During a scrimmage against a team from Munford, the defensive end who lined up across from Michael delivered a hefty dose of trash talk with every play, threatening Michael and calling him fat. Like in the movie, when the opportunity arose during a play later in the game, Michael lifted his trash talking opponent up by his pads and began to carry him off the field, through the Munford bench, across the cinder track and toward his bus. In real life, Michael got the Munford player up to the fence but not over it (unlike what we see in the movie) before a group of Munford players piled on top of him. Unsure what penalty to call, the refs penalized Michael for "excessive blocking", the same unusual penalty called in the movie. - Evolution of a Game

Collins Tuohy (right) and Michael Oher during their days at Ole Miss. Did the library scene really happen with Leigh Anne's daughter Collins?

No. The real Collins Tuohy never had to overcome taunting at school because of Michael staying with her family. "My friends were very open to Michael," Collins said. "They were very sweet to him and we all got along really well." After investigating The Blind Side true story, we discovered that the reality of Collin's support of Michael was actually much more profound than what is seen onscreen. Collins Tuohy, an honor student, rearranged her entire class schedule in order to help Michael. She dropped all of her AP (advanced placement) classes to be in Michael's English and math classes, so that she could understand what his assignments were. She spent several hours at night helping him with his homework. "That was the most studying I'd ever done in my life," Collins recalled ( 20/20 ). Collins isn't quite as timid as her onscreen counterpart and being seen with Michael at school was never an issue. She was a cheerleader and he played football, and they both were on the track team together ( Huckabee ).

Did Leigh Anne really have to deal with haughty women questioning her decision to take Michael in?

Yes. In the movie, Leigh Anne's (Sandra Bullock) friends ask her intrusive questions about Michael during a lunch gathering. The real Leigh Anne Tuohy commented on this in Michael Lewis' book The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game , "We knew people were going to have issues because we had a daughter exactly the same age," Leigh Anne admitted. Leigh Anne faced countless questions from people she encountered at shops, restaurants and school events, all typically asking, "How have you handled it?" More specifically, one of the questions they often asked her was how she handled Michael's sexual urges, him being a teenage boy living under the same roof as her daughter. Eventually, Leigh Anne let her opinion of this line of questioning be known, "You just need to mind your own business. You worry about your own life and I'll worry about mine," she said.

Was Leigh Anne Tuohy conscious of where Michael came from and the fact that he was black?

"It had nothing to do with what color Michael was or how big he was," Leigh Anne told 20/20 interviewer Deborah Roberts. "He was a child that had a need, and it needed to be filled."

Did Michael really inspire the Tuohy family to sit around the dinner table?

Yes, but in real life this happened on a regular basis, as Sean Tuohy pointed out in an interview. "He made us sit around the dinner table. But if we were going to spend time with him, we'd come eat at the table. We haven't eaten at the table since he left," Sean stated jokingly. - 20/20

Did a gang member really taunt Leigh Anne when she visited Michael's mother?

No. Gang members never taunted Leigh Anne. However, once when she was dropping Michael off after taking him clothes shopping, he did tell her to stay in the car like his character does in the movie. The main gang member in the movie, Alton, is loosely based on Delvin Lane, the leader of a gang that hung around the Hurt Village housing projects. As emphasized somewhat in the movie, Michael never associated with such individuals. His closest friend from his old neighborhood was Craig Vail, whom he often told the Tuohy's about and later brought to their home. Craig was a person Michael could trust, who never expected or asked for anything. - Evolution of a Game

Was Michael really adopted by the Tuohys?

No. The Michael Oher true story reveals that despite  The Blind Side movie depicting Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy adopting him, they actually had a conservatorship instead. This gave the Tuohys the ability to make decisions on Oher's behalf, including financial decisions. News of the conservatorship made headlines in August 2023 when Oher, then 37, filed a lawsuit against the Tuohys, claiming that they established the conservatorship so they could make business deals in his name. Oher claimed that he'd only recently learned that he wasn't adopted. The suit states that Oher is seeking compensatory and punitive damages from the family for profiting from his name and likeness. Oher retired from the NFL back in 2017. Sean Tuohy responded to the allegations, stating, "We contacted lawyers who had told us that we couldn't adopt over the age of 18; the only thing we could do was to have a conservatorship. We were so concerned it was on the up-and-up that we made sure the biological mother came to court." Despite claiming that he was advised that adult adoption for those over 18 was not permitted under Tennessee law at the time, our research indicates that Tennessee was one of more than 20 states that "allowed the adoption of any person, regardless of age." Tuohy said that the family is devastated, but they will continue "to love Michael at 37 just like we loved him at 16." The New York Post reported that, according to the family's attorney, Michael Oher had allegedly asked the Tuohys for $15 million not to go public with claims they swindled him. Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy conveyed through their legal representative that Oher's claim he was fooled into a conservatorship is false. In Oher's own 2011 memoir, I Beat The Odds , he clearly conveyed that he understood he wasn't adopted, writing that the Tuohys were "named as my 'legal conservators'" in the summer after he graduated high school. He stated that the Tuohys "explained to me that it means pretty much the same thing as 'adoptive parents,' but that the laws were just written in a way that took my age into account." The Tuohy family emphasized that they have given Oher "an equal cut of every penny received from The Blind Side " over the years. The author of the book, Michael Lewis, also said that the family had been sharing the royalties with Oher, but sometime prior to his lawsuit, he started to decline the royalty payments. However, instead of keeping Oher's share, the Tuohys deposited his checks into a trust for his son. "What I feel really sad about is I watched the whole thing up close," Lewis told The Washington Post . "They showered him with resources and love. That he's suspicious of them is breathtaking. The state of mind one has to be in to do that — I feel sad for him."

How does Michael react to black people who criticize the notion of the wealthy white family helping the poor black kid?

"I don't understand why people would feel that way," the real Michael Oher said, "because as long as somebody is helping somebody and taking somebody off the streets, I don't care, you know, black or white or whatever, it should never be a problem." - 20/20

The real Tuohy family Christmas card photo vs. the movie photo (inset). Was Michael really included in the family Christmas card like in the movie?

Yes. The actual photo is shown on the right. Like in the movie, Leigh Anne says that her cousin called her to ask her about the photo. "He said, 'I'm not trying to be rude or anything. Who's the black boy in the Christmas card?'" - 20/20

Did the Tuohys really hire a tutor for Michael?

Yes. In The Blind Side movie, the Tuohys hire Kathy Bates' character, Miss Sue, to tutor Michael. In real life, Sue Mitchell spoke about her routine with Michael, "We worked hours and hours every day. He would come home, he'd take a shower and we would work until at least 11:30 every night. And we did this six nights a week." ( 20/20 ) By his senior year at Briarcrest, Michael was making the honor roll ( Author Michael Lewis Interview ).

Was the tutor really a liberal, or was that Hollywood injecting its views?

In The Blind Side movie, the tutor, Miss Sue (Kathy Bates), admits to Leigh Anne (Sandra Bullock) that she is a liberal who is more spiritual than religious. In real life, Leigh Anne Tuohy met Sue Mitchell at a sorority function. Sue was a retired public school teacher and cheerleading coach. It's true that Sue Mitchell was turned down a job at Briarcrest Christian School because she didn't share their religious beliefs. It's also true that she was a liberal, to which the real Sean Tuohy replied, "We had a black son before we had a Democrat friend!" - NYTimes.com

Did the accident really happen?

Yes. In the movie, a distracted Michael Oher (Quinton Aaron) doesn't see a landscaping truck backing out in front of him as he and S.J. are on their way to get the new Madden videogame that has just come out. The Blind Side true story reveals that the accident actually happened in icy conditions when Michael's truck skidded across the divide traveling at 25 miles per hour and crashed head-on into a big van, which was also moving at 25 miles per hour. When Leigh Anne first arrived on the scene of the accident, she approached Michael who was sobbing uncontrollably to the point she could hardly understand what he was trying to tell her. - Evolution of a Game In real life, S.J.'s injuries looked much worse than what we see in the movie. In addition to blood being on his shirt, S.J.'s face was so severely swollen that his mother almost didn't recognize him. Surprisingly, despite the swelling, no bones were broken. - Evolution of a Game

Did Michael really stop the airbag with his arm?

Yes. When Leigh Anne came home from the hospital, she delivered the news that S.J. was okay and that the doctors were amazed that his facial injuries weren't more severe. It was then that Michael held out his arm to show Leigh Anne the unsightly burn mark that ran down the length of it. - Evolution of a Game

Does Leigh Anne's husband Sean Tuohy really own dozens of Taco Bell restaurants?

Yes, Leigh Anne's husband Sean is one of three partners who operate RGT Management, Inc., a corporation that owns more than 80 restaurants under the Taco Bell, Long John Silver's, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Off the Grill brands. RGT's stores can be found across Tennessee, Mississippi, Kentucky, Ohio and Missouri. - Memphis Business Journal What's not mentioned in The Blind Side movie is that Sean Tuohy also works as a sports commentator and as of 2009 was in his ninth season as a broadcaster for the NBA's Memphis Grizzlies. He also has seven years experience serving as a broadcast analyst on radio programs at Ole Miss, in addition to working on national broadcasts for Westwood One and CBS Radio. - NBA.com

Was Leigh Anne's husband Sean Tuohy really a former college basketball star?

Yes. Leigh Anne's husband Sean Tuohy played college basketball for The University of Mississippi (Ole Miss). He was named All-SEC in each of the four seasons that he played and was named to the All-Century SEC team. In 1982, he was drafted by the New Jersey Nets but instead opted to continue his career overseas before returning to the US to be with his father during his final days. - NBA.com

Did Michael play any other sports at Briarcrest?

Yes. Although it's not focused on in the movie, Michael Oher's basketball talent made him runner-up high school Player of the Year in Tennessee.

Are the college football coaches who recruit Michael in the movie played by the real coaches?

The southeastern conference (SEC) coaches who appear in the movie are portrayed by the actual coaches who recruited Michael Oher. This includes former Notre Dame and then South Carolina coach Lou Holtz, former LSU coach Nick Saban, former Arkansas coach (and current Ole Miss coach) Houston Nutt, former Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville, former Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer, and ex-Ole Miss coach Ed Orgeron, who actually won the fierce recruiting battle for Michael Oher. - ESPN.com

Did the Tuohy's son S.J. really have demands for the college recruiters?

"What's in it for me," S.J. asks the recruiters in movie, making demands such as being allowed to lead the team onto the field. "I don't know if it's quite like that," the real S.J. admitted. "I think Jay [John Lee Hancock] might have pulled me off better than I pull myself off." S.J.'s parents interjected, "He worked those coaches pretty hard," Sean Tuohy added. "Don't let him fool ya." ( Huckabee ) Lewis' book states that the only sort of perk S.J. got was a tour through The Grove (a popular campus tailgating spot) from Ole Miss coach Ed Orgeron.

Did Michael take any academic shortcuts to become eligible for the NCAA?

In his February 2010 article "Why 'The Blind Side' is Too Good to be True", Entertainment Weekly columnist Mark Harris is critical of some of Michael Oher's methods to become eligible for the NCAA, stating that Oher's methods largely trash educational ethics. Michael had nothing but D's and F's until the end of his junior year. However, he made all A's and B's during his senior year, but with no more classes to take, he could at best only finish with a 2.05 grade-point average. This was a problem since the NCAA required a 2.65 GPA ( NYTimes.com ). Regarding Michael and the Tuohy's questionable academic efforts to fix this problem, columnist Harris focuses on 10-day internet courses that Michael took his senior year from Brigham Young University, in order to replace existing F's on his transcript with A's. Harris refers to the courses as "an NCAA eligibility trick." The author of The Blind Side book labels the practice as "the great Mormon grade grub." Sean Tuohy had gotten the idea from a friend and the effort was being managed by Michael's tutor Sue Mitchell. ( Evolution of a Game ). Sean Tuohy selected a series of 10-day online BYU character courses for Michael to complete over the summer with Sue Mitchell's help. All that each course required students to do was to read a few brief passages from famous works or speeches and then answer five questions on it. A's that Michael earned in these character courses could be used to replace existing F's that he had earned in high school English courses. Sean's strategy for Michael almost didn't work because even after he had been accepted to Ole Miss, the NCAA said that his GPA was still a bit too low to play college football. Sean quickly enrolled him in another BYU internet character course and on August 1, 2005 the NCAA finally accepted him. - NYTimes Another loophole that Sean had found was that since Michael had been certified as learning-disabled, he was allowed to retake the ACT tests as many times as he wanted and Miss Sue was on hand to help him analyze the questions. Recouping a small amount of points on the ACT meant that he needed less on his GPA, since the NCAA had a sliding scale when it came to ACT scores and grade-point averages. If you had a higher ACT score, then you didn't need as high of a GPA to be eligible. - Evolution of a Game

Was Michael Oher really investigated by the NCAA?

Yes. NCAA investigator Joyce Thompson visited the family several times, interviewing both Michael Oher and Sean Tuohy. She was particularly concerned with how Michael was going to become NCAA eligible given that his high school transcripts still contained eight Fs. She wanted to know more about the Brigham Young study program (see above question), but Michael wasn't speaking up and Sean Tuohy claimed that he didn't know the details since Michael's tutor, Sue Mitchell, had been handling it. The NCAA investigator was also interested in discovering if the Tuohy's had pressured Michael into attending their alma mater, Ole Miss, which is similar to what is depicted in the movie. - Evolution of a Game

How do Leigh Anne and Sean react to allegations that it was in their interest for Michael to go to college at their alma mater, Ole Miss?

In the movie, Michael is questioned by an NCAA investigator over whether or not Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy had a grand plan for Michael to go to their alma mater Ole Miss. When interviewer Deborah Roberts suggested to Leigh Anne that some people think that she and Sean took a black teen in to mold him and make him what they wanted him to be, Leigh Anne responded by saying, "Nobody has the guts to say that to my face. No one has ever said that to my face. And if they did, I would tell them don't let the door hit their butt on the way out." - 20/20

Did Michael really get in a fight when he was waiting to see his mom?

No. Michael did not get into a fight with gang members in his old neighborhood. However, after researching The Blind Side true story, we discovered that while he was in college at Ole Miss, Michael got into a fight with teammate Antonio Turner who had visited the Tuohy's home. At some point after his visit, Turner called Michael a cracker for living with a white family. Antonio also made comments to Michael suggesting that he was going to have sex with Michael's white sister and white mother (similar to the comments made by the gang member in the movie). This infuriated Michael who chased after Antonio and eventually tracked him down hiding at the study hall where the football players studied with their tutors. Michael threw the 230 pound Antonio into the ground, picked him up by the throat, beat him in the face and threw him across the room. In the process, the 3-year-old son of one of the tutors was knocked to the floor and suffered a bad head wound. The small white boy laid on the floor in a pool of his own blood. When Michael saw what had happened to the boy, he ran off. Antonio was taken to one of the coaches homes for protection. At Sean Tuohy's urging, Michael eventually turned himself in to the campus police, and Sean called his friend, well known attorney Steve Farese. Michael ended up making apologies and was given ten hours of community service. - Evolution of a Game Regarding Michael going back to his old neighborhood to see his mom, it is stated in author Michael Lewis' book that whenever Michael Oher went back to his old neighborhood bad things often happened. For instance, on one occasion Michael arrived at his birth mother's apartment to find her being arrested. She had been driving around in a truck that had belonged to a man who turned up murdered. The police asked Michael what he was doing there and then took him into custody to central lockup. Sean had to get him out.

Did Leigh Anne really fake Michael's baby picture for his graduation?

Yes. The real Leigh Anne Tuohy went online and found a picture of the cutest little black baby she could find. The picture appeared in the senior program at graduation, not blown up on stage like we see in the movie. - NYTimes.com

Was Michael excited to graduate high school?

"It was unbelievable, just to walk across the stage and shake the president's hand." Michael said. "I was the first one out of anybody that I ever knew to graduate, so it was a great experience." - 20/20

Tuohy family on the field at Ole Miss, where Michael and Collins attended. Why did Michael Oher choose to go to The University of Mississippi (Ole Miss)?

"Ole Miss was right down the road," Michael said, "and I figured it would be easier for my family, you know, my friends to get down to Oxford to come see me play." ( ABCNews.go.com ) He received more than a thousand letters from college football recruiting programs, with Penn State being the only major football school that didn't offer him a full scholarship. - Evolution of a Game

How long did Michael live with the Tuohy family?

Michael was a sophomore when he came to Briarcrest. He began staying regularly at the Tuohy's in the fall of his junior year, 2003 ( NYTimes.com ). He remained with the Tuohys until he left for college at Ole Miss. Having become part of the family, Michael returned often to visit, sometimes bringing players from the Ole Miss team with him ( Evolution of a Game ).

Did Michael's high school tutor, Miss Sue, really continue to help him at college?

Yes. At the end of the movie, Michael's tutor, Miss Sue (Kathy Bates), is shown on his college campus making a comment about moving her things into an apartment nearby. In real life, Michael's tutor, Sue Mitchell, did continue to tutor Michael at Ole Miss. - Evolution of a Game

Did Michael Oher ever graduate college?

Yes. Michael graduated from the University of Mississippi (aka Ole Miss) after playing football for the Ole Miss Rebels for four years. While attending Ole Miss, Michael made the dean's list. He and the Tuohy's daughter Collins were the same age in real life (they were a year apart in the movie). Collins also went to college at Ole Miss, which allowed the two of them to grow even closer due to their shared experiences.

Leigh Anne Tuohy congratulates Michael Oher at the 2009 NFL Draft. When did Michael Oher enter the NFL?

In 2009, Michael was selected as the 23rd pick in the first round of the NFL draft by the Baltimore Ravens. The entire Tuohy family was with him at the draft, in addition to his tutor Miss Sue and his older brother Marcus. He entered the league as a starting lineman on the Ravens team, signing a $13 million contract. In his rookie season Michael started every game and was named the NFL's Rookie of the Month for December 2009. Oher finished second to Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Percy Harvin in the Associated Press NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year voting ( BaltimoreRavens.com ).

Are the Tuohys still as in touch with Michael now that he's an NFL star?

Yes. Eight years after they brought Michael into their home, the Tuohys are just as devoted to him. On game days, they take a private jet to go see him play. - 20/20

Where does Michael live now?

Michael, 23, bought his own home and lives in suburban Baltimore. Leigh Anne, an interior decorator, helped him to spruce it up. "I definitely came a long way," says Michael. "Growing up in the projects in some of the roughest parts in Memphis. …it was a long road. Everyday I'm like, 'wow, how did I get here?'"

What song plays during the credits at the end of The Blind Side movie?

The Blind Side credits song is called "Chances" by the group Five For Fighting. The song can be found on the The Blind Side Movie Soundtrack and on Five For Fighting's album Slice .

How did actor Quinton Aaron land the role of Michael Oher?

Before auditioning for the part of Michael Oher, a then 23-year-old Quinton Aaron was working as a security guard. He was living in a rough neighborhood in the Bronx with his brother and mother, and it was his mother who discovered the casting call online. After director John Lee Hancock saw Quinton's tape, he flew him out to Los Angeles to meet in person. After the meeting, Quinton gave Hancock a card with his contact information and offered to work as a security guard on the movie set if he didn't get the part. - 20/20 It took a year before casting was complete and Quinton was notified that he got the part. During that time Quinton's mother had died and he was unable to pay his rent. On the verge of being evicted from his apartment, he got a phone call telling him that he got the part. Quinton drew from his own personal experiences to help relate to his onscreen character. - 20/20

Why didn't Michael Oher attend the movie's premieres?

"I am not curious," Michael told The Baltimore Sun. "I am not in a hurry to see it, but I will watch it eventually." Baltimore Ravens veteran wide receiver Derrick Mason responded by saying, "He lived the life, so he is concentrating on playing football." Oher put his focus on his job in the NFL, for which he was awarded the NFL's Rookie of the Month in December 2009. Despite missing the premieres, the somewhat shy and reserved Oher has since seen the movie.

Michael Lewis' Blind Side book. Why did author Michael Lewis write The Blind Side book?

In the new afterword to the paperback edition of his book The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game , author Michael Lewis writes that the purpose of his story was to "examine the many forces—chance encounters with a family, big changes in football strategy—that affected the value of this one unlucky turned lucky boy." Lewis says the thing that impressed him was that Michael Oher, who was 6 foot 2 inches tall and 350 pounds at the age of sixteen, and ran a 4-9-40, was already considered by many to be bound for the NFL. Michael Lewis is a non-fiction author and financial journalist. He is married to former MTV news anchor Tabitha Soren.

Why is the movie called The Blind Side ?

As diagrammed with the Joe Theismann/Lawrence Taylor footage at the beginning of the movie (see below), Michael Oher's position on the football field is left tackle. It is the left tackle's job to protect the quarterback's blind side.

Watch interviews and video exploring the Michael Oher true story. See the complete footage of the Lawrence Taylor hit on Joe Theismann that is featured at the beginning of movie. Watch interviews with the Tuohy family and a separate interview with author Michael Lewis that further explores The Blind Side facts vs. fiction.

• NY Times "Ballad of Big Mike" 2006 Article
• "Why 'The Blind Side' is Too Good to Be True" Entertainment Weekly Article
• "Prominent Coaches Turn Actors for Film" - ESPN.com Article
• ABC 20/20 Blind Side Special
• Oprah.com - "Michael Oher's Inspiring Journey"
• The Blind Side Official Movie Web Site

The True Story of Michael Oher and The Blind Side

The 2009 movie starring Sandra Bullock took some liberties while telling the triumphant tale of the football player.

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Before Oher spent eight years in the NFL, he was the subject of acclaimed author Michael Lewis’ 2006 book, The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game , and its big-screen adaptation, The Blind Side . The movie, written and directed by John Lee Hancock, traces Oher’s journey from homeless teenager to Division I All-American left tackle for Ole Miss. Bullock won an Oscar for her performance in the Best Picture–nominated film.

A smash hit that made over $300 million at the box office, The Blind Side took some liberties with the particulars of Oher’s life story. And now, Oher says he didn’t earn any money from the film, even as the family who took him in when he was a teenager has profited, according to a court petition filed Monday.

Here’s how The Blind Side stacks up to the real story, what Oher has said about the movie over the years, and the legal turmoil brewing more than a decade after its release.

Oher’s birth parents weren’t around much

Oher was born in 1986, right smack in the middle of the crack cocaine epidemic that swept the United States’ inner cities. He was one of 12 children born to a mother who had fallen victim to the cheap and ultra-addictive narcotic, which set him along a troubled path from the start. His father disappeared early on, while his mother, Denise, struggled with addiction for many years .

“When my mother was off drugs and working, she would remember to buy groceries and there would be a mad scramble to grab whatever you could before anyone else got to it,” he wrote in his 2011 memoir, I Beat the Odds: From Homelessness to The Blind Side and Beyond . The problem was that she was rarely off drugs and working, so Oher was a nomad from an early age . Child services removed him and his siblings from their mother’s home when Oher was at the tail end of first grade, and he bounced around between foster families, friends’ couches, and wherever else he could find a warm place to rest his head.

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With little adult supervision or stability, Oher barely made it to school. He repeated both first and second grades, attended nine different schools over the course of 11 years, and missed dozens of school days per year even when he was passed along to the next grade. The most stable home he had was in a housing project called Hurt Village, where he lived from age 11 until he began high school.

A chance trip to a prestigious private school changed his life—eventually

By the time he was 15, Oher was bunking up with a local athletic program director named Tony Henderson, who had an extra room in his house. Oher was already 6-foot-5-inches and 350 pounds, which made him a prime recruit for drug dealers seeking some muscle. He was less of a desirable prospect for prestigious private schools, but when Tony took his son Steven to the local Briarcrest Christian School, Big Mike, as he was called, tagged along for the ride anyway.

“He wasn’t no trouble kid, nothing like that, you know?” Henderson later told ABC News . “He was real quiet, you know, and just stayed to himself.”

He was so quiet, in fact, that Briarcrest’s admissions team couldn’t really find a reason to admit him, let alone offer him a scholarship. Having spent his life just trying to survive, getting into an expensive private school wasn’t really on Oher’s radar. He barely spoke during interviews, his reading comprehension level was closer to elementary school, and tests showed he had an IQ that barely cracked 80.

Perhaps, these facts led to the movie’s general portrayal of Oher, who is played by Quinton Aaron. It’s one of Oher’s biggest complaints, though he has complimented Aaron’s acting. “I felt like it portrayed me as dumb instead of as a kid who had never had consistent academic instruction and ended up thriving once he got it,” Oher wrote in I Beat the Odds .

Still, the Briarcrest football coach was interested in Oher, not just as a prospect for the team but as a redemption story. This was a kid who’d never been given half a chance, he told the school president and principal, making the case for a very large exception to their typical admissions process. The principal, Steve Simpson, felt stirrings of sympathy and issued Oher a challenge: If he could get his grades up in another private school, he could enter the far more prestigious Briarcrest the next semester.

Within a few months, Simpson had a change of heart and admitted Oher to his school. But entering Briarcrest was no panacea and produced no immediate change. The kid was out of place, shy, awkward, and way behind.

This is where the movie and real life began to diverge. In reality, Oher couch-surfed at the homes of his fellow students and foster families for his first few years at school and played three sports—basketball, track and field, and football—before ever meeting the Tuohy clan in 2003. In the movie, Oher, played by Quinton Aaron, is fully homeless and has nothing to do with athletics until the very wealthy and generous Tuohy family took him in.

Life with the Tuohys provided stability and family

Leigh Anne Tuohy, played by Sandra Bullock in the movie, is the outspoken matriarch of the family and wife of Sean Tuohy, played by Tim McGraw , a former college basketball star and wealthy fast food entrepreneur. The movie posits that their young son S.J.’s mismatched schoolyard friendship with Oher is the catalyst for their involvement in his life, while in reality, it was actually Sean noticing Oher on the sidelines at the gym that prompted their involvement.

Soon after Sean first met Oher, he set up a standing cafeteria account for him so that he’d be able to eat lunch every day. Eventually, on Thanksgiving weekend, the family crossed paths with Oher, who was walking alone in the rain, wearing his only pair of shorts and going nowhere in particular. They took him in for the weekend, an arrangement that soon became permanent.

A tutor was hired. New clothing was purchased. The Tuohys are conservative Christians and taking Oher in raised eyebrows in their community, but it was quickly a natural fit. Leigh Anne told The New York Times point-blank that she was raised by a racist father to be a racist herself, but she’d moved past her upbringing by the time she’d grown up and had children of her own, including a daughter named Collins, who was in high school at the same time as Oher.

After some early awkwardness, Oher became a full-fledged member of the Tuohy family. In the movie, one scene shows Oher accepting Sean and Leigh Anne’s offer to become his legal guardians. Both The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times have described the real-life relationship as a legal guardianship in past reporting, though Oher and the Tuohys have publicly called it an adoption. That changed this year when Oher discovered paperwork he signed didn’t make the Tuohys his adoptive parents but rather his conservators, according to an August 2023 lawsuit Oher filed in Tennessee. Sean told The Daily Memphian that he and Leigh Anne were advised they couldn’t adopt someone over the age of 18.

His football dominance opened up new doors

Just as in real life, the fictionalized Oher ultimately becomes a force of nature in high school football, but how that happened and the timeline his development followed was a real bone of contention.

“I could not figure out why the director chose to show me as someone who had to be taught the game of football,” Oher wrote in I Beat the Odds . “Whether it was S.J. moving around ketchup bottles or Leigh Anne explaining to me what blocking is about, I watched those scenes thinking, ‘No, that’s not me at all! I’ve been studying—really studying—the game since I was a kid!’ That was my main hang-up with the film.”

Given the gaps in his formal education and his lack of athletic training, Oher had virtually zero reputation when he began playing football at Briarcrest, but that changed soon enough. Once he polished his game on the football field, it became clear that he was special, and football scouts were starting to notice.

Universities across the South showed up during the spring of 2004, hoping to recruit him. Prominent coaches later appeared in the movie as themselves , underscoring the huge interest in Oher’s potential. He was a First Team Preseason All-American at left tackle, perhaps the most important non-quarterback position on the offensive side of the ball.

Oher was closer with the head coach, Hugh Freeze, than the movie suggests, having spent plenty of time with him and his family both on and off the field. He even once said Freeze’s daughters were “like my sisters,” a sign of just how many families were eager to take him in. (Freeze later resigned as head coach of Ole Miss after a personal scandal, though Oher had his back then, too.)

Oher became a football star in college

Both Tuohys had gone to the University of Mississippi, which complicated Oher’s decision to follow in their footsteps, at least in the eyes of the NCAA. His academic record, spotty at best given his years of struggles and lack of schooling, also made it difficult for him to initially attend the school. But with some correspondence courses and tutoring, he was able to raise his grades enough to earn his diploma and earn admission into the school.

He was an instant success: First Team Freshman All-American his first year, Second and then First Team All-SEC in his sophomore and junior years, and finally a First-Team All-American in his senior year in 2008.

By that point, his backstory wasn’t at all relevant to his playing skills, which clearly stood on their own. Lewis’ book was published in 2006, while the movie hit theaters in 2009, just after Oher was drafted in the first round—23 rd overall—by the Baltimore Ravens.

If anything, the attention from the movie grew to frustrate him during his career. Making the NFL and sticking in the league is hard enough without the added pressure of a mega-hit, Oscar-winning movie about your life to draw international attention to your rookie season.

The attention from The Blind Side often overshadowed his career in the NFL

The movie would continue to follow him throughout his career, which had its ups and downs. Making it to the NFL is remarkably difficult and staying in the league more than a few years is exceedingly rare. Careers average just a shade over three years , and not all of that time, if any, is generally spent as a starter on a winning team.

“People look at me, and they take things away from me because of a movie,” he said in 2015, near the end of his career. “They don’t really see the skills and the kind of player I am. That’s why I get downgraded so much, because of something off the field. This stuff, calling me a bust, people saying if I can play or not... that has nothing to do with football. It’s something else off the field. That’s why I don’t like that movie.”

It’s not that he didn’t have his successes, of course. The Ravens got more than they might have expected from a late first-round pick. Oher helped the team reach the playoffs in his rookie season. Then in 2013, he won a Super Bowl as a Ravens starter. Three years later, he was back at the Super Bowl, this time for the Carolina Panthers. He played eight years in the NFL, which is a great career for anyone in the league. Ultimately, Oher was released by the Panthers in the summer of 2017 due to his trouble with post-concussion syndrome , which wound up marking the end of his pro career.

Today, Oher is a public speaker and author. His second book, When Your Back’s Against the Wall: Fame, Football, and Lessons Learned through a Lifetime of Adversity , released this month.

Oher reportedly received no money from the movie

The Blind Side grossed more than $309 million at the box office, but for all its success, Oher claims to have been left out of the profits. In August 2023, he filed a court petition stating he unwittingly made Leigh Anne and Sean his conservators—granting them the sole authority to make business deals in his name—in December 2004. At the time, Oher believed he was signing adoption paperwork.

The Tuohys then negotiated a movie contract The Blind Side , covering themselves and their birth children, with 20th Century Fox for $225,000 plus 2.5 percent of all future “defined net proceeds,” according to the petition. Meanwhile, Oher’s signature appears on a separate agreement that grants Fox the rights to his life story without any compensation. In addition to ending the conservatorship, Oher asks in his lawsuit for his share of the profits from a story “that would not have existed without him,” along with damages.

Sean told The Daily Memphian all the family—including Oher—earned money from the movie, amounting to roughly $14,000 each. That payout came from author Michael Lewis who split half his share with them. “We’re devastated,” he said. “It’s upsetting to think we would make money off any of our children.” He added the conservatorship was done to appease the NCAA and that he and Leigh Anne would end the legal arrangement if that’s what Oher wanted.

The Biography.com staff is a team of people-obsessed and news-hungry editors with decades of collective experience. We have worked as daily newspaper reporters, major national magazine editors, and as editors-in-chief of regional media publications. Among our ranks are book authors and award-winning journalists. Our staff also works with freelance writers, researchers, and other contributors to produce the smart, compelling profiles and articles you see on our site. To meet the team, visit our About Us page: https://www.biography.com/about/a43602329/about-us

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The Blind Side

Michael lewis.

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Lewis begins by describing how in the late seventies and early eighties, there was a major change in the way football was played at the highest levels. Rushers became bigger and faster, meaning that quarterbacks had slightly less time to react or pass the ball to their receivers. Perhaps the defining football moment of the period came in 1985, when Lawrence Taylor “sacked” the legendary quarterback Joe Theismann , ultimately breaking Theismann’s leg and ending his career. In the aftermath of the Theismann injury, coaches began recruiting big, heavy left tackles who could protect a quarterback’s blind side—i.e., the area, usually to the quarterback’s left, that was left defenseless when the quarterback turned to throw the football. Where before, all linemen had been treated equally, left tackles were increasingly paid high salaries—if the left tackle didn’t do a good job of protecting the quarterback, the quarterback could be horribly injured, just like Theismann.

In the early 2000s, at a time when left tackles were beginning to command massive, seven-figure salaries, a man named Big Tony , who lived in the Memphis inner-city, tried to enroll two students in the prestigious Briarcrest Christian Academy. One was Tony’s son, Steven ; the other was a kid named Michael Oher . Big Tony had taken Michael in because Michael seemed not to have a family of his own; now, he tried to provide Michael with an education. Reluctantly, the Briarcrest administration agreed to admit Michael, in spite of his low test scores, partly because Michael seemed like he could be a talented football player, and Briarcrest was full of football-loving teachers, administrators, and alumni.

Michael’s early days at Briarcrest aren’t happy: he’s incredibly shy and lonely, and barely speaks. He’s a slow learner in class, largely because he hasn’t had many of the experiences that his classmates take for granted—he’s spent his entire life in the inner city. Michael isn’t allowed to play sports right away, because his grades are poor. However, the Briarcrest basketball coach, Sean Tuohy , notices Michael watching the team’s games. Sean is a self-made millionaire who grew up in an impoverished household. As a result, he’s better than other Briarcrest coaches at having a rapport with black students from poor neighborhoods, such as Michael Oher. Sean is sympathetic to Michael, but his wife, Leigh Anne Tuohy , is even kinder: she buys Michael food and clothes, and drives him wherever he needs to go.

Michael works with special tutors and brings up his grades just enough to play basketball and football. He’s an excellent basketball player—big, but also fast and agile. But Michael’s greatest talent seems to be as a football player. He’s so big and wide that he can tackle anyone—indeed, his coaches think he’s probably the biggest kid ever to attend Briarcrest. Shortly after he begins to distinguish himself as a football player, Leigh Anne decides to let Michael stay at her house, rather than going back to the inner-city every night. She gathers that he lives with his mother, but doesn’t ask any questions about her.

As Michael begins to distinguish himself in football practices, he begins receiving scholarship offers from Division I colleges. He becomes calmer and more outgoing around his peers—where before he barely spoke, he now laughs and jokes. Around this time, the Tuohys decide to adopt Michael as their own child. Michael endears himself to Collins and Sean Junior , the Tuohys’ two biological children—in particular, Sean Junior, who’s much younger. During Michael’s junior and senior years of high school, the Briarcrest football team does exceptionally well, thanks largely to Michael’s massive size and skillful maneuvering. In 2004, Michael’s senior year, the Briarcrest football team wins the state championship of Tennessee. Michael is generally thought of as the best football player in the state.

In his senior year, Michael begins considering his college options. Football coaches from around the country tell Michael that he’s going to be an NFL player, and probably a very good one, too. They offer him full room and board, tuition-free, at their colleges. Michael begins to narrow down his choices to three schools: LSU, Tennessee, and the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss). Michael seems to be most interested in Ole Miss, in part because the Tuohys, as well as his tutor, Sue Mitchell , attended school there.

Michael has a problem, though: he needs to bring up his grade point average in order to attend college on a sport scholarship. With Sean’s help, Michael qualifies as learning disabled, meaning that he can bring up his GPA by taking correspondence courses with Sue Mitchell’s help. His GPA rises to above the NCAA minimum, and he ultimately chooses to go to Ole Miss, tuition-free, where he’ll be given free room and board and coached by Ed Orgeron .

Shortly after he chooses Ole Miss, Michael becomes involved in an NCAA investigation. Someone—perhaps more than one person—has complained to the NCAA that the Tuohys have adopted Michael because they wanted to recruit top talent for Ole Miss (and may even have accepted money from the University of Mississippi for adopting Michael). Leigh Anne and Sean are hurt by these accusations, but Sean cooperates with Joyce Thompson , the woman the NCAA sends to talk to Michael and Sean.

During Michael’s freshman year at Ole Miss, he distinguishes himself as a left tackle, even though the team overall doesn’t do particularly well. Sue Mitchell continues to help him with his classes, and the Tuohys build another house near the University of Mississippi campus, where they’ll be very close to their adopted son. Although Michael seems to be adjusting to his new college life, he gets in a violent argument with a teammate, Antonio Turner , after Turner makes sexually offensive comments about Leigh Anne and Collins. Michael beats up Turner, and accidentally hurts a young child who happens to be walking nearby. Panicked, Michael runs away from the scene of the accident. However, with Sean and Leigh Anne’s help, he regains his composure, returns to Ole Miss, and avoids arrest for his actions.

Toward the end of the book, Michael Lewis gives us more information about Michael’s family and background. His mother, Denise , was a crack cocaine addict and a negligent parent, and Michael spent much of his early childhood searching for food and clothing, with the help of his older brothers. When he was eight, he was placed in a series of foster homes, but often ran away. Later, he was sent to a hospital center, but escaped and returned to living in inner-city Memphis. When he was a teenager, he began living with Big Tony (the point at which The Blind Side begins).

Michael goes on to have a brilliant career at Ole Miss—as the book ends, he’s still extremely close with Leigh Anne, Collins, Sean, and Sean Junior, and is likely to be drafted by the NFL.

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Interpersonal Communication Movie Analysis - The Blind Side

Type of paper: Movie Review

Topic: Communication , Michael , Cinema , Film , Relationships , Family , Life , Theory

Published: 07/16/2021

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The Blind Side exemplifies important principles of interpersonal communication. Based on true episodes and life events, the film explores the struggles that characters go through to succeed in life. The highlights of the theoretical understanding evidenced in the film is anchored on the scene where Michael Oher goes back to Memphis and meets a new atmosphere altogether forcing him to engage in intercultural communication, listening, perceptual accentuation, feedback and nonverbal cures. This paper presents an analysis of “The Blind Side” using various concepts and theories in interpersonal communication.

According to DeVito ( 2013 p. 227), interpersonal communication is an important aspect of human life. This means that as replica of human life, films are awash concepts of communication and relationships and the various interpersonal communication theories are concepts are applicable to the films. The film, written by Michael Lewis, has two different tales of Michael Ohor. This character is the film is an African-American teenager, who is less privileged, leading to a white family taking pity on and adopting him. One part of the story is about the trials and tribulations that the teenager goes through; while the other part is about his evolution and the part he comes to play in the football game. Leigh Ann Tuohy comes across the teenager in the street and somehow adopts him and given the fact that he is not so talkative, the other family members find it difficult accommodating him. However, he later finds a place in the family and becomes a major asset, admired and liked by the family.

There are important interpersonal communication concepts that are revealed in the film. Relationship development is among these concepts, which is clearly evident in the film. Interpersonal relationships are revealed as going through a number of stages as suggested by DeVito (p. 230). However, it is not always the case that a relationship will go through the six stages given that there are opportunities to exit at any point (as showed in appendix 1). Any relationship is revealed to begin at some point when people come into contact and an impression about the other person is formed (DeVito, 2013 p. 231). This is what happens when the Tuohys first come into contact with Michael.

Uncertainty Reduction Theory (URT) evidently plays out in the film, where uncertainities (DeVito, p. 232) fraught the beginning of the relationships in the movie. Thus, through knowledge and understanding people are able to reduce the uncertainty in relationships. Initially, it is presumed that Michael will not fit into the family just because he is different (he being black and the family white). However, while the relationship does not appear positive at the very beginning, once Michael stays for a while in the family, they all learn to cope with each other developing relationships as evident in the illustration “It's nice, I never had one before”. In the same breadth Collins Tuohy begins referring to him as his brother, which even amazes his friends as capturd in “Michael, I want you to have a good time but if you get a girl pregnant out of wedlock, I will crawl into the car, drive up to Oxford and cut off your penis”. Michael and Sean Junior develop a relationship of brotherhood.

Non Verbal communication emerges as a very strong concept in the film, especially in the way the family relates to Michael as he is revealed to be less talkative. This means that non-verbal communication plays a critical role in the way he relates to the family. There is a lot of use of gesture as a way of communicating between Michael and the family and even in school and at the game. A classic example is where, before the accident occurs, Michael gives Sean Junior an eye and hand gesture asking to be allowed by the mother to lend them the car.

Besides non-verbal communication, verbal communication is another important concept that emerges in the film (Erozkan, 739). While not talkative, Michael is not mute and can communicate verbally. Verbal Communication and feedback is a major characteristic of interpersonal communication. Michael would communicate with Ann, during the first night with the family, when he objects to the place where he is shown to sleep.

Listening is an evident concept in the film. Listening, which is the capability to accurately receive and interpret message in the process of communicating, is an important element of interpersonal relationships (Erozkan, p.739). This is clearly evident in the film where Miss Sue and Michael’s history teacher listens to him and Ann, leading to an improvement in his performance. Evidently, the entire change and improvement in Michael’s life center on listening to both his verbal and non-verbal communication.

Self Concept is also revealed in the film and can be best understood from a Relational Dialectics Theory (RDT) perspective. This is from the point of view that interpersonal relationships reflect tensions (contradictions conflicts,) which are revealed in dialectical tensions (communication interaction). Initially, Ann is criticized by her friends for adopting a black teenager and actually referring to him as son. However, both Ann and Michael are determined to change his situation for the better, the boy needed family as Ann explains to her friends and Michael has to prevail amid life’s challenges.

Works Cited:

DeVito, Joseph. A. Interpersonal Messages Communication and Relationship Skills. MA: Allyn and Bacon, 2008 Erozkan, Atilgan. The Effect of Communication Skills and Interpersonal Problem Solving Skills on Social Self-Efficacy. 2013. Theory & Practice, 13(2): 739-745

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'The Blind Side' movie controversy explained: Who profited from Michael Oher's life story?

"The Blind Side" has been waylaid with controversy more than a decade after the 2009 blockbuster movie's release.

On Aug. 14, Michael Oher, the onetime NFL player whose story was dramatized in "The Blind Side," asked a Tennessee court to end his legal relationship with the Tuohy family, who took him into their home as he navigated the foster care system and went on to become a football star and pro player. Oher, 37, claimed he recently learned he had never been adopted by the Tuohys as portrayed in the film.

He also said he had been tricked into signing an agreement to make the couple his conservators, giving them authority to make his business decisions and allowing the family to profit from his life story with "The Blind Side," which earned $309 million at the box office.

Here are some of the burning questions around "The Blind Side," which won Sandra Bullock a best actress Oscar for her portrayal of Leigh Anne Tuohy and co-starred Tim McGraw as her husband, Sean, and Quinton Aaron as Oher. 

'The Blind Side' controversy: Michael Oher is suing the Tuohy family. Many know the pain of family wounds.

Is 'The Blind Side' a true story?

The film is a dramatized Hollywood account of "Moneyball" author Michael Lewis' 2006 book "The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game," written while Oher was playing college football at the University of Mississippi. The book also used Oher’s true personal story to highlight the left tackle position, which protects the “blind side” of predominantly right-handed quarterbacks from pass rushers. Hence the title.

Even understanding the movie's liberties in storytelling, Oher called out "The Blind Side" before the lawsuit. In his 2011 memoir written with author Don Yaeger, "I Beat the Odds: From Homelessness to 'The Blind Side,' and Beyond," Oher wrote that he had problems with how the movie "portrayed me."

"I felt like (the film) portrayed me as dumb instead of as a kid who had never had consistent academic instruction and ended up thriving once he got it," Oher wrote.

Oher also took issue with the focus on the Tuohy family.

" ' The Blind Side’ is about how one family helped me reach my fullest potential, but what about the people and experiences that all added up to putting me in their path? As anyone in my family will tell you, they were just part of a complicated series of events and personalities that helped me achieve success,” he wrote. “They were a huge part of it, but it was a journey I’d started a long time before.”

Oher also mentions the conservatorship in the memoir, describing when he became "a legal member of the Touhy family."

"Sean and Leigh Anne would be named as my 'legal conservators.' They explained to me that it means pretty much the same thing as 'adoptive parents' but that the laws were just written in a way that took my age into account. Honestly, I didn't care what it was called," Oher wrote. "We were a family."

Who has made money off 'The Blind Side' movie?

According to Oher's petition, Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy negotiated a movie deal that gave them and their two biological children $225,000 each and 2.5% of the film’s net proceeds.

In 2007, Oher signed a contract with 20th Century Fox, which unbeknownst to Oher gave away his story rights "without any payment whatsoever," the petition alleges.

“Michael received nothing,” Oher’s petition says, for a “story that would not have existed without him.”

Sean Touhy disputed Oher's account, telling the Daily Memphian newspaper, “We didn’t make any money off the movie.” Touhy added that Lewis, his friend since childhood, "gave us half of his share" of the money the author received for the film.

"Everybody in the family got an equal share, including Michael. It was about $14,000 each," Touhy said.

In an interview with The Washington Post, Lewis said no one involved in the story saw millions, despite the movie's success.

“Everybody should be mad at the Hollywood studio system,” Lewis said. “Michael Oher should join the writers strike. It’s outrageous how Hollywood accounting works, but the money is not in the Tuohys’ pockets.”

Lewis said that ultimately, he and the Tuohy family received about $350,000 each in movie profits.

'Blind Side' producers speak out on film's authenticity

Film producers Broderick Johnson and Andrew A. Kosove, whose company Alcon Entertainment co-produced "The Blind Side," defended the film's depiction of Oher and the Tuohy family in a statement to USA TODAY on Aug. 24.

"In the story of 'The Blind Side,' we saw the better angels of human nature," Johnson and Kosove said. "We saw it in the Tuohys' wonderful acts of kindness toward Michael Oher." They added the film is "verifiably authentic and will never be a lie or fake, regardless of the familial ups and downs that have occurred subsequent to the film."

Johnson and Kosove also addressed Oher's allegation that he didn't receive compensation for the use of his life story in the film, acknowledging that Alcon Entertainment acquired film rights to Lewis' book and associated rights contracts from 20th Century Fox, which negotiated the contracts.

"In 2006, the nature of life rights deals for books, documentaries and film, as well as the limitations of what college athletes were able to do and maintain eligibility, were very different than they are today," Johnson and Kosove said. "The deal that was made by Fox for the Tuohys’ and Michael Oher’s life rights was consistent with the marketplace at that time for the rights of relatively unknown individuals. Therefore, it did not include significant payouts in the event of the film’s success."

The producers added that Alcon Entertainment paid approximately $767,000 to the talent agency that represents the Tuohy family and Oher. "The notion that the Tuohys were paid millions of dollars by Alcon to the detriment of Michael Oher is false," they said.

Could Sandra Bullock lose her Oscar over the 'Blind Side' controversy?

As the news of the lawsuit unfolded, calls emerged on social media for Bullock to return her 2010 best actress Oscar, which Aaron addressed during an interview with TMZ.

"To make a statement like that doesn't make any sense," Aaron said. "Sandra Bullock didn't have anything to do with the real story."

"We're all just finding out about this situation, which is heartbreaking," Aaron tells USA TODAY. "I just feel like the people saying that are Internet trolls trying to add fuel to the fire and take away her Oscar."

There is little chance of Bullock returning her Oscar, or of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences seeking to take the the award back.

"Nothing's going to happen," says Joyce Eng, senior editor of awards website Gold Derby . "This is just typical Twitter outrage − and misguided outrage at that. (Bullock) is not involved in this."

Where can you watch 'The Blind Side'?

"The Blind Side," which also was nominated for best picture, is available for rental or purchase on such platforms as Amazon , Apple TV and Vudu .

Should you watch 'The Blind Side'?

The feel-good film, which has 66% positive reviews on aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, has been the subject of controversy since its release. Critics decried the film for perpetuating the "white savior" trope.

"The film is very problematic the way it celebrates this white family, and specifically this white woman, with such negative stereotypes of Black people," says Erica Chito Childs, a professor of sociology at Hunter College and The CUNY Graduate Center and a researcher of issues of race, gender and sexuality.

If people watch the drama again, Chito Childs believes, it should be for educational reasons.

"Go back now and watch that film and see it through a new lens and think more critically about these issues," Chito Childs says.

Aaron says "The Blind Side" should be watched again for its overarching message of hope, no matter who is right in the legal conflict.

"Over the years, I've heard from so many people who say they were affected in a positive way by 'The Blind Side,' " Aaron says. "There is so much positivity that came from that film. It has a legacy that will live on for generations to come."

Contributing: Edward Segarra, USA TODAY