The Blind Side film
The Blind Side
Introduction to Film
November 14, 2011
The movie The Blind Side, is a movie that focuses on the kindness of a family rather than playing the game of football. It’s a movie about a family who puts a side their routines to help someone in need. From the way the storyline was presented, to the actors, to the plot, to the music, and the sound effects the editors and directors did a great job. The movie was made in a way that was easy to understand. It doesn’t jump around too often to explain why something is. It is an all around great movie that everyone should see.
The story takes place is Memphis, Tennesse with a young man named Michael Oher who is from a very rough neighborhood named, “Hurt Village”. A family named the Touhy’s, take him in to their home and give him some where to live and a family. In the midst of Michael staying with the Touhy’s, he learns to play football with some bumps and bruises and works on his learning curve in school. The Touhy’s were very generous in what they offered Michael to become better at school and in life. There were some people who didn’t agree with what they were doing but their intentions were to help Michael succeed.
The main characters in the movie are Sandra Bullock as Leigh Ann Touhy, Tim McGraw as Sean Touhy, Quinton Aaron as Michael Oher, Kathy Bates as Miss Sue, and Jae Head as SJ. Sandra Bullock is considered a wild card actress because she can play any role she is given. The acting type all the characters play in this movie is realism. A style of acting that appears to viewers to be “realistic” rather than artificial (Goodykoontz & Jacobs 2011). The acting was so genuine and so realistic it made the audience feel like it was authentic.
Each character had the theme of the story incorporated into their role. Everyone who was involved had one thing in mind and that was to help Michael in anyway possible. Their performances were legitimate and didn’t seem that they need too much direction of from the director. This movie was based on a true story which means that it was something that happened but may not have happened exactly the way it was portrayed.
In the clip “I’m a Democrat”, Leigh Anne Touhy is interviewing Miss Sue for the tutoring position for Michael. The mise en scene in this clip consists of furniture, drinking glasses, makeup, costumes, and paper. These props are put in place to make the scene work together as one. The furniture represents the style of the Touhy’s household. The drinking glass that Miss Sue is drinking from has a mascot on it which represents the liking of sports in their household. The make up and costumes represent the fashion style and sometimes attitude of each character. And, the paper was Miss Sue’s resume that Leigh Anne was reading from while she was asking Miss Sue questions. Everything in this scene worked very well together. All the elements gave a little clue as to what was happening in this scene.
The transition used in this film is a direct cut. An immediate, sometimes jarring cut between one scene and another (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2011). The scenes jump from one to another without even noticing the difference.
The movie is mainly dialogue and sound effects. The dialogue that takes place is between everyone in the movie. But, the main characters are the ones we hear the most. The sound effects occur when Michael is playing football and when he gets into a car accident with SJ. In the car accident scene there is also music playing very loudly.
The directors point of view is very evident. The main point of the story is how this family took in this person who was of a different race living a less fortunate life and they helped him as much as they could and he was able to succeed. The storyline and acting portrays this very well. The director uses a traditional way of telling the story which makes it easy to follow.
The societal impact of the movie makes the audience feel like “it could be you”. After watching it it gives that feeling that there is something that can be done. There are people out there who are nice enough to let this person in their home without really knowing him, why can’t I do it? It addresses a very controversial issue of letting some stranger living in their home and helping him out.
The genre of this film is drama. It falls into the category of “genre films” because of the style of the film. The characters and the storyline fits into that category.
In “The Blind Side” the Touhy family takes in a homeless teenager who doesn’t have too much knowledge of school because of his upbringing. He was moved from home to home until Leigh Anne Touhy invited him to stay with their family. This decision gave Michael and the Touhy family a chance to learn something that would impact them for the reset of their lives. Michael went from living in the streets to ultimately becoming a NFL first round draft pick. It is a remarkable story of sympathy, love and generosity that made the movie so great.
References
Goodykoontz, B. & Jacobs, J.P. (2011). Film: From Watching to Seeing. San Diego, CA:
Bridgepoint Education Retrieved from: https://content.ashford.edu
Hancock, John Lee, 2009. The Blind Side. Warner Bros. Pictures. Retrieved from
HYPERLINK “http://www.theblindsidemovie.com/dvd/index.html” l “/SpecialFeatures”http://www.theblindsidemovie.com/dvd/index.html#/SpecialFeatures
Hancock, John Lee, 2009. The Blind Side: I’m a Democrat. Warner Bros. Pictures.
Retrieved from HYPERLINK “http://movieclips.com/q3bR-the-blind-side-movie-im-a-democrat/”http://movieclips.com/q3bR-the-blind-side-movie-im-a-democrat/
