the blind side movie summary essay

The Blind Side

By michael lewis.

• The Blind Side Summary

The story begins with a scene from a game between the New York Giants and the Washington Redskins. Lewis focuses on the fearsome strength of linebacker Lawrence Taylor who consistently brings down quarterbacks. In this particular scene, he comes down hard on Joe Theismann, breaking his leg and effectively ending his football career. Taylor springs up and leaps away from the scene, seeming to feel, as Lewis describes it, sympathetic pain to the injury he just caused. The next chapter describes the work of Tom Lemming, opening with him watching a tape of Michael Oher and being stunned. He goes out to meet him, feeling slightly mystified about the fact that no one seems to know who he is in his hometown. Lewis writes about Lemming's process, as he rose to prominence as one of the premier football recruiting analysts. Lemming traveled constantly to see every top-tier high school football player in the U.S. He compiled this information and began making a profit by creating a valuable list of these prospective college athletes. He meets Michael and is baffled by him, as he refuses to speak much or answer his questionnaire.

The third chapter begins with the story of Big Tony, a man in the impoverished neighborhood known as Hurt Village in East Memphis. To keep a promise he made to his dying mother, he enrolls his son, Steven, in an evangelical Christian school called Briarcrest. At the same time, he asks about the possibility of enrolling Michael, who has been sleeping on their couch, as well. The school is concerned about Michael's academic performance, but agrees to give him a chance. The school's football coach, Hugh Freeze , takes an interest in Michael for his athletic ability. Michael struggles in school, initially seeming unable to work through material but eventually showing some aptitude, just suffering from being behind. Slightly later, Sean Tuohy , a local businessman, sees Michael sitting in the stands at a basketball game and, being somewhat familiar with him, offers to cover his school lunch. Shortly after this first meeting, Sean, now with his wife Leigh Ann, encounters Michael again, en route to the school gym, trying to keep warm. The following day, Leigh Anne takes him shopping for clothes.

The fourth chapter depicts Michael's initial involvement with Briarcrest's sports teams. He shows impressive strength as a shotput thrower, while also being a decent basketball player. Around the same time, Michael becomes increasingly close to Leigh Anne, turning to her when he sustains a hand injury during a basketball game. As Michael's housing situation appears increasingly dire, Leigh Anne takes him in. She begins to learn more about him and his past, taking notice of his various habits that seem like survival tools, like saving extra meals. Michael attends a football match and easily lifts one of the strongest players, astounding the coaches. He is quickly recruited as the team's left tackle. The fifth chapter deals with the contrasting coaching styles of NFL coaches Bill Parcells and Bill Walsh , as a means of explaining the rise in status of the left tackle position. It opens with a game between the Raiders and Bengals, coached by Walsh, in which the Bengals lose due to a blind-side rush. From there, Walsh begins to reconsider his approach to the game, shifting the focus of his plays to short passes, a style he would become known for. Lewis says Parcells' style was more about brute force, while Walsh's was centered around clever plays. Up against Parcells' Giants, and feared linebacker Lawrence Taylor, Walsh employs this new strategy, this time as coach of the 49ers. Using left tackle John Ayers , Walsh is able to protect quarterback Joe Montana from Taylor's forceful tackle. Lewis also describes how Ayers' job is both essential and fairly invisible to a viewing audience.

The sixth chapter shows Michael's slow adjustment to all of the new attention as a major player on Briarcrest's team. Michael learns the team's plays, while Leigh Anne closely watches each of his games. In one particular game, a player keeps calling Michael names. Michael picks him up and carries him off the field, past the bench, and into the fence. Gradually, Leigh Anne notices Michael opening up more and more, as he begins the process of getting a driver's license. During the process, she learns more about his complicated family background, including his large number of half-brothers and sisters. Later, she has a conflict with Coach Freeze about not properly utilizing Michael's talents on the field. Freeze ultimately changes his plays, relying on Michael to clear the way for the quarterback to score. The team wins the season.

The seventh chapter deals with Michael's many college offers and interaction with various coaches. He receives particularly strong interest from the University of Mississippi, Louisiana State University, and the University of Tennessee. Leigh Anne's son, Sean Jr., also takes a strong interest in the matter, asking each coach very specific questions about how involved he can be in Michael's sporting life. Ultimately, he chooses the University of Mississippi because he likes its coach. The eighth chapter depicts an investigation carried out by the NCAA that sought to find out if the Tuohys adopted Michael in an effort to coerce him into playing for the University of Mississippi, their alma mater. At the same time, it also details Michael's effort to raise his GPA before leaving for college, which involves him working relentlessly on academics with his tutor and taking some online classes. The investigation concludes, finding no evidence of wrongdoing on the Tuohys' part. Michael finishes school and begins preparing for his role on his college team.

The ninth chapter describes the rise in the stature and pay of the NFL players who served as left tackles. Concurrently, it depicts the pressure put on left tackle Steve Wallace. Wallace was told the fate of his team, The San Francisco 49ers, largely rested on him that season in 1982. It was expected he would be able to stop Chris Doleman, a renowned linebacker who played for the Vikings. Wallace proves adept at keeping Doleman at bay in a pivotal game. Following this tactical development, demand for left tackles increases significantly, as does their pay. Lewis also describes the career of Jonathan Ogden , a talented left tackle who was such a capable player that he seemed nearly able to fill multiple roles on the team. Chapter ten depicts the complex racial politics at the University of Mississippi, particularly in relation to its treatment of Black athletes. Lewis details how Black football players were often isolated from the largely white social sphere of the school. He then returns to Michael's story, describing his first season at the school as the team suffers some setbacks, leading up to a climactic loss in Starkville. Michael's status in the school remains strong until there is an incident with another player. One of his teammates, Antonio, says something about Leigh Anne and her daughter Collins, causing Michael to beat him. Michael inadvertently injures a young child who is present at the scene and flees.

In the eleventh chapter, Lewis pivots and describes the details of Michael's early life. His mother gives birth to him and his siblings when she is very young. She develops a crippling drug addiction and is rarely around. Michael and his siblings grow increasingly concerned that their family will be broken up, which eventually happens. Michael runs away from a group home multiple times, returning to Hurt Village, the apartment complex where his mother resides. Social Services eventually stops looking for him and he spends his days playing basketball and seeking out both food and shelter. The book then details Michael's early days at Briarcrest, illustrating his fear and wonder about a predominantly white world that remains largely alien to him. The chapter ends with Big Tony warning Michael to be careful of the rules of this other world.

The final chapter depicts Sean getting in touch with Michael and helping him sort out the incident with Antonio. Michael doesn't get any legal or academic penalties, but is reminded to be more mindful in situations like that one. Michael goes on to have a successful season, inspiring hope in many athletes from impoverished neighborhoods hoping to use their talent to push back on generational poverty. At the same time, Leigh Anne seeks to find a way to help other kids who grew up in circumstances like Michael's. The book ends with a description of linebacker Dwight Freeney seeming nervous about facing Michael's prowess and power on the field someday.

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
• 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

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

The Blind Side

• The story of Michael Oher, a homeless and traumatized boy who became an All-American football player and first-round NFL draft pick with the help of a caring woman and her family.
• Based on the true story of Leigh Anne Tuohy and Sean Tuohy who take in a homeless teenage African-American, Michael Oher . Michael has no idea who his father is and his mother is a drug addict. Michael has had little formal education and few skills to help him learn. Leigh Anne soon takes charge however, as is her nature, ensuring that the young man has every opportunity to succeed. When he expresses an interest in football, she goes all out to help him, including giving the coach a few ideas on how best to use Michael's skills. They not only provide him with a loving home, but hire a tutor to help him improve his grades to the point where he would qualify for an NCAA Division I athletic scholarship. Michael Oher was the first-round pick of the Baltimore Ravens in the 2009 NFL draft. — garykmcd
• Seventeen year old Michael Oher , an extremely large, physically imposing black youth, grew up in the projects in Memphis. He no longer lives with his drug addicted mother, but is in foster care when he isn't running away to sleep wherever else he can find. Out of circumstances including Coach Burt Cotton's belief that he would be an asset to the school's football program based solely on his size and seeing him move, Michael is accepted into Wingate Christian School - an exclusive private school - despite his abysmal 0.6 GPA. After Michael starts attending classes at Wingate, most of his teachers believe he is unteachable, except his science teacher, Mrs. Boswell, who begins to understand that he learns in a different way. Believing he is indeed homeless, Caucasian and staunch Republican Leigh Anne Tuohy - mother of Wingate students, teen Collins Tuohy and adolescent S.J. Tuohy , and wife to Sean Tuohy , franchise owner of several Taco Bell's - invites Michael to stay in the Tuohy's upscale home for the night. But that one night slowly extends itself both in terms of time and emotion as the Tuohys begin to treat Michael like one of the family and vice versa. Part of that emotional investment for Leigh Anne is fully understanding Michael as a person so that he can fulfill his potential as a human being, which includes giving him opportunities such as what Coach Cotton initially saw in Michael as a potential left tackle. Potential problems include Michael's poor academic standing which may prohibit him from participating in extracurricular activities at the school, his learning disability which may extend to other aspects of his life beyond his schooling, whether he actually can play football, and authorities questioning Leigh Anne and all the Tuohy's motivations in inviting Michael into their home and family. — Huggo
• Having drifted in and out of the school system for years, Michael Oher , a homeless African-American youngster from a broken home, is a lost cause. But when Leigh Anne Tuohy and her husband, Sean Tuohy , a well-to-do white family, take the rudderless black teen in, they transform both his life and theirs. As the under-educated football player and student faces an entirely different set of challenges to overcome, Michael's tremendous size and protective instincts make him a formidable force on the gridiron. Little by little, Michael Oher 's new family and devoted tutor helped him realise his full potential as a left tackle. And with hard work and perseverance, Michael's guardians groomed him into an athletically and academically successful NFL prospect. — Nick Riganas
• Based on a true story, a mother and her family do everything that they can to help a homeless and poor young male. They help him through his education and help him succeed in sport to become the best player that he possibly be for his team. — RECB3
• For most of his childhood, 17-year-old Michael Oher (Quinton Aaron) has been in foster care with different families, largely because of his mother's drug addiction, throughout Memphis, Tennessee. Every time he is placed in a new home, he runs away. His friend's father, whose couch Mike had been sleeping on, asks Burt Cotton (Ray McKinnon), the coach of Wingate Christian school, to help enroll his son and Mike. Impressed by Mike's size and athleticism, Cotton gets him admitted despite his abysmal academic record. At his new school, Michael is befriended by a boy named Sean Jr. "SJ" (Jae Head). SJ's mother Leigh Anne Tuohy (Sandra Bullock) is a strong-minded interior designer and the wife of wealthy businessman Sean Tuohy (Tim McGraw). Leigh Anne notices Michael walking on the road, shivering in the cold; when she learns he intends to spend the night huddled outside the school gym, she offers him a place to sleep at her house. The next morning, when she sees Michael leaving, she asks him to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with her family. Slowly, Michael becomes a member of the Tuohy family, even as Leigh Anne's rich friends wonder what she is doing. One even suggests that her teenage daughter Collins (Lily Collins) is not safe around him, much to Leigh Anne's disgust. When Leigh Anne seeks to become Michael's legal guardian, she learns he was separated from his drug-addict mother when he was seven and that no one knows her whereabouts. She is also told that even though he scored low in almost every category in a career aptitude test, he is in the 98th percentile in "protective instincts". After his grades improve, Michael is allowed to join the school football team. He has a shaky start due to his polite and gentle nature, yet after some encouragement by Leigh Anne to tap into his "protective instincts" and regard his teammates as he would members of his family, Michael dominates on the field. SJ sends out videos of the games to college coaches around the country. Leigh Anne discovers that to get an NCAA Division I scholarship, Michael needs a 2.5 GPA, so they hire a tutor, Miss Sue (Kathy Bates). Some of the teachers help out as well, and Michael ends up with a GPA of 2.52. When coaches come to recruit Michael, Leigh Anne makes it clear that she prefers the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) as both she and her husband are alumni. Miss Sue, another Ole Miss alumna, tells Michael (who dislikes horror films) that the FBI buries body parts under the University of Tennessee's Neyland Stadium for research; Leigh Anne particularly loathes that school. Michael commits to Ole Miss. Subsequently, Michael and the Tuohys become the subject of an NCAA investigation. The investigator tells Michael that the Tuohys and Miss Sue are fervent Mississippi boosters, who are subject to special restrictions, and his high school coach got a job at Ole Miss after Michael chose the school. Michael confronts Leigh Anne, asking her if she only took him in so he would play football for her Alma mater. Michael then goes to his birth mother's apartment in the projects. His old friends welcome him, but their leader makes crude remarks about Leigh Anne and Collins. Michael becomes angry and in the ensuing fight subdues his former friends and then flees. Leigh Anne searches for Michael. He finally calls her, and they meet. Leigh Anne tells him she will support any decision he makes. Michael satisfies the investigator by explaining that he chose Ole Miss because his whole family has gone there. Later, Leigh Anne and her family take Michael to the Ole Miss campus to begin college. The film ends with an emotional goodbye between Leigh Anne and Michael. The closing credits show the 2009 NFL Draft with the real Michael Oher being drafted by the Baltimore Ravens in the first round. Photographs of Oher and the real Tuohys follow, with Oher's success in the NFL detailed. The credits include a dedication to director John Lee Hancock's father, a football player and coach who died in 2009.

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The Blind Side Essay

Michael Oher, an unassuming young man from a poor family in Memphis, was taken in by a wealthy white family, the Touhys. The Touhys saw potential in Michael and decided to help him achieve his full potential. They provided him with a comfortable home and access to the best schools and opportunities.

Michael’s life changed dramatically when he starred in the 2009 film The Blind Side. The film tells the story of Michael’s journey from poverty to NFL stardom. The Blind Side was a critical and commercial success, and Michael was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor.

Today, Michael is one of the most successful players in the NFL. He has played for the Baltimore Ravens, the Tennessee Titans, and the Carolina Panthers, and he currently plays for the Atlanta Falcons. Michael is a role model to millions of people around the world, and he continues to use his success to help others. Thanks to the Touhys, Michael was given a chance to achieve his dreams, and he has never forgotten where he came from.

To illustrate this, consider the case of a man who is able to have healthy relationships; he avoids conflicts and preserves himself by avoiding seeing things from other viewpoints. The view(s) we have of our life is directly impacted by our own perceptions (or views) regarding particular situations (or events) in which we are placed or have experienced throughout our lives.

Michael Oher’s amazing true story serves as an example of how one person’s view (or perspective) on adversity can lead to success. Lee Hancock, the film’s producer, decided to make the film The Blind Side in honour of this courageous male and his family who loved him like their own.

The Blind Side is about Michael Oher’s journey to becoming a first round NFL draft pick and the challenges he overcomes with the help of the Touhy family. The Touhy family took Michael into their home when he was a sophomore in high school, providing him with food, clothing and most importantly, love.

The Tuohys helped Michael focus on his education and athletics, which led him to play football for The University of Mississippi. Despite being one of the top players in college football, many teams passed on drafting Michael because of his size and poor grades. The Baltimore Ravens finally drafted Michael in 2009 as the 23rd player overall and this true story has an amazing happy ending.

While the film The Blind Side is based on a true story, it is important to remember that it is still a Hollywood production. The film does exaggerate some points for the benefit of making a good movie, but the general plot and most of the characters are based on reality. Michael Oher has stated that he was very happy with how the film turned out and thought that Sandra Bullock did a great job playing his adoptive mother. The Blind Side provides an excellent example of how one family’s love can change the course of someone else’s life.

The Tuohys showed unconditional love and support for Michael when nobody else would and this is a powerful message that can be applied to many different situations in life. As humans, we all have the ability to make a difference in someone else’s life, even if they seem like they are too far gone. The Blind Side is a must-watch film for anyone who wants to be inspired by the power of love.

This film is rated PG-13 for thematic elements including some violence. The runtime is 129 minutes. The Blind Side was nominated for Best Picture and Sandra Bullock won Best Actress at the 2010 Academy Awards. The Tuohys were also nominated for Best Family Film at the 2010 Kids’ Choice Awards. Michael Oher was drafted by the Baltimore Ravens in 2009 and is still playing professional football today.

The film “The Blind Side” didn’t impress NFL player Michael Oher, who was the real person behind the role in the film. It wasn’t that he had a problem with actor Quinton Aaron, who played him in the movie. He just felt that the picture did him and his personal life justice.

“The Blind Side” is based on the true story of Michael Oher, an underprivileged young man who was taken in by a wealthy family and given a chance to make something of himself. The film doesn’t shy away from the hardships that Michael faced early on in his life, but it also doesn’t focus on them as much as some might have expected.

Michael Oher has said that he was actually “a little disappointed” in the film. He felt that it didn’t show the real him – the side of him that is funny and loving. The movie instead focuses more on his struggles, which Oher admits were there, but says he doesn’t want to be remembered only for those things.

Despite his misgivings about the film, “The Blind Side” was a major success, both commercially and critically. It won numerous awards, including an Oscar for Sandra Bullock’s portrayal of Leigh Anne Tuohy. The film also helped to increase awareness of the issue of homelessness in America. Michael Oher has said that he is grateful for all that the Tuohys did for him, and he remains close friends with them to this day.

The film is, in fact, based on a true story, as Michael Oher is a real-life member of the Baltimore Ravens and the book tells his tale from a poor boy to one of an NFL star.

The movie also stars Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw who play Leigh Anne Tuohy and Sean Tuohy respectively. The Tuohys adopt Michael when he is a teenager and help him to develop his skills in football, eventually leading to a college scholarship and then to the NFL. The Blind Side highlights the importance of family, support systems and opportunities in helping disadvantaged individuals to achieve their dreams. The story is heartwarming, inspiring and definitely worth watching.

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The Blind Side: Book and Movie Comparison Essay

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About the Game

About michael oher, similarities, works cited.

The differences and similarities of the book and movie version of The Blind Side can be understood by looking at how the author – Michael Lewis – and the director attempted to inform and entertain their respective audiences. It can also be explained by the strengths and limitations of the medium that they used. There is a big difference in how a writer can talk about the details of a particular subject matter and how a movie director can fit everything and tell a good story in just two hours of film.

But when simplified even further the movie version differs from the book because the author wanted to show the evolution of how American football is played and conducted using the story of Michael Oher the protagonist as some sort of a case study while the movie version wanted to showcase the extraordinary story of Michael Oher and how his life can be used as a model to inspire others to live life and reach one’s potential even if the odds are stack against that person.

The focus of the book was the evolution of the game. The movie’s focus was on the triumph of the human spirit and understandably so because the movie was marketed as an inspirational movie. It was created to make the audience feel good. This does not mean that the movie completely strayed far from the spirit of the author’s work. It is simply about the need to focus on one story.

The author can tackle a major issue and then have enough space to talk about an example of how the game has totally been transformed by including the inspiring and yet true-to-life story of Michael Oher. On the other hand director, John Lee Hancock cannot afford to totally copy the format of the book and adapt everything to the screen because as mentioned it is impossible given the limitations of the medium used.

The book had a lengthy introduction about a football hero named Lawrence Taylor and why he was a terror in the football field (Lewis, p. 16). The author even claimed that Jerry Sizemore, an NFL professional who played for the Philadelphia Eagles quit because of fear as to what Taylor will do to him during an actual game (Lewis, p. 16).

And this framed the introduction as to why the game has evolved – football has always been known for the grace and athleticism of the quarterback working in perfect unity with the receiver and the rest of the team. But Lewis pointed out that when Taylor arrived at the scene, he changed the way football was played because of the strength, speed, agility, and violence he brings with him.

The game had to evolve not because of Taylor’s prowess but due to his effectiveness to disrupt play, intimidate opponents, and most importantly to win games. He was so successful in fact that football coaches began to scout for athletes that have the same profile, height, body weight, etc. Lewis summed it all up by explaining how a defender should play according to Taylor’s point of view and Taylor said: “I’ll drive my helmet into him, or, if I can, I’ll bring my arm up over my head and try to ax the ‘sonuvabitch’ into two.

So long as the guy is holding the ball, I intend to hurt him … If I hit the right, I’ll hit a nerve and he’ll feel electrocuted, he’ll forget for a few seconds that he’s on a football field” (Lewis, p.17) If not for the word football field at the end of that statement one can be forgiven if he or she thought that the author was talking about martial arts, not the game that America loves.

The brutal language appropriately used to describe the heightened violence in American football could never find its way to the movie because the vision of the director with regards to the target audience and what portion of the material to emphasize in the film version was about the miracle of Michael Oher’s rise from extreme poverty to football stardom.

The goal of the author was not only to tell about the inspiring story of Michael Oher but more importantly to tell about the evolution of the game and how it had become one of the most dangerous games in the planet.

While Lewis wrote a great deal about the offense, defense, Lawrence Taylor, and the business side of football in the introductory portion of the book, the movie version spent less time talking about the NFL and even college football, however the director was able to combine everything and provided the backdrop for the story by showing a documentary film about the importance of a good offensive unit because a quarterback can be vulnerable in his blindside.

The short clip provided a much better way to understand what Lewis tried to explain about the so-called blindside. This is one of the few examples why an audio-visual presentation like a movie is much better than reading a book, but in other aspects, the author was able to talk more about the details of football and why Michael Oher was an extraordinary story in the world of American football.

Lewis saw the life of Michael Oher as an example of the best and worst of college football, U.S. athletics, and football as a game and as a business. So the book was not all about Michael Oher but also about football. The author wrote several chapters about the marketing of football players, coaches, and how the game is currently being played.

He wanted to use the story of Oher to show that a football scholarship is something that can be seen as a blessing and sometimes a tool used by schemers who do not really care about the welfare and the future of the athletes they recruited, for they simply wanted the glory that is associated with it.

In the book, Lewis highlighted the fact that Briarcrest Christian School looked the other way when they knew without a doubt that Michael Oher could not maintain the high academic standards that the school requires.

They decided to ignore this very important aspect of his enrollment because an athletics coach of Briarcrest saw the potential of Oher to dominate the competition (Lewis, p.331). This, of course, an unethical thing to do, a dilemma that the school had to deal with and provided another backdrop to what would happen next to Oher’s life as a football player.

But in the movie version, the ethical problem regarding recruitment was not highlighted, in fact, it can be said that the producer of the movie did not want to get deep into the controversy. What the producer and the director focused on was the struggle that Oher had to face with and deal with as an oversize black student studying in a highly competitive and predominantly white school.

The book also trained the spotlight on how coaches and the staff of some of the most popular college football teams had to employ what can be considered as tactics reserved for the professional leagues. They behaved like pirates in the high seas and treated the recruitment process as if they are on war.

This was also evident in the movie version but it was toned down. The impression of the audience of the selection process was intense but at the same time exhilarating. The movie did not touch on the more controversial aspects of the recruitment process. This is why it is called a feel-good movie.

It has now become clear that the movie version was unable to stay one hundred percent true to the original intent of the writer. Nevertheless, there were many similarities and many times the storyline of the movie and the information that one can come across by reading the book has intersected and most of it has something to do with the extraordinary character of Michael Oher and of course the members of the Tuohy family.

The way these people’s lives were celebrated was obvious in the book and in the movie version. The way the movie portrayed the life of Michael Oher and the way the author wrote about him has the same effect on the reader of the book as well as the audience of the film.

The most important feature of the film and the book was in describing how multiple foster homes and the experience of not having to have stability in life has shaped the worldview of Oher. The book also highlighted the fact that Oher’s talent and even determination would never be enough without the Tuohy family.

As extraordinary as Oher is, his early failures and troubled past could have brought him to the depths of despair where his physical prowess cannot help him. The book and the movie were able to show very clearly that the poverty and gangs related violence found in inner-city Memphis was like a deathtrap that no orphan can ever conquer.

It must be expected that the movie version can only focus on a small part of the book. The producer and director of the movie had to contend with the limitations of film. The author intended to talk about the evolution of the game, both the good and the bad effects, but the movie was content to talk about the triumph of Oher and the Tuohy family. Nevertheless, there were similarities such as the moving story of how Oher was able to overcome against great odds.

Lewis, Michael. The Blind Side (Movie Tie-In Edition). New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2009.

The Blind Side . Dir. John Lee Hancock. Perf. Sandra Bullock, Tim McGraw, Quinton Aaron and Kathy Bates. Warner Brothers Pictures, 2009. Film.

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IvyPanda. (2020, April 13). The Blind Side: Book and Movie Comparison. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-blind-side-book-and-movie-comparison/

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Bibliography

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The Blind Side

96 pages • 3 hours read

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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.

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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.

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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: 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 Blind Side Movie Review

This review will analyze “The Blind Side,” a film based on the true story of Michael Oher, a homeless teenager who became an American football star. It will evaluate the film’s storytelling, character development, and its portrayal of themes such as family, adversity, and racial and social issues. The piece will discuss the performances of the actors, the direction, and how effectively the movie blends sports drama with a heartwarming narrative. Moreover, at PapersOwl, there are additional free essay samples connected to Fiction.

How it works

 When life gives you lemons, well, you become a football star. I can relate to the film in many ways so I feel that I can connect to this movie on a personal level. The film The Blind Side touches base on the concept that despite your circumstances, success is still in your journey. It’s the matter of ‘getting there’.

In the biography drama film The Blind Side, directed by John Lee Hancock, Michael Oher (Quinton Aaron), a homeless black teen, has drifted in and out of the school system for years.

Leigh Anne Tuohy (Sandra Bullock) and her husband, Sean (Tim McGraw), take him in. The Tuohys eventually become Michael’s legal guardians, transforming both his life and theirs. Michael’s tremendous size and protective instincts make him a formidable force on the field, and with help from his new family and devoted tutor, he realizes his potential as a student and football player.

After reviewing the writing elements of the movie, a few things are apparent. For one, I feel as though the plot was unpredictable. Aside from a few cliche moments, the overall theme sneaks up on you in such a way where you see that the “success” factor is bound to happen, but you are unsure of how it will happen.

As for the characterization, Sandra Bullock did a phenomenal job in playing the role of Leigh Anne Tuohy. Her sincerity and credibility just goes to show the enormous amount of respect that she has for the Tuohy’s family triumph. Quinton Aaron was also devoted to his character Michael but, I must say, not on the same level as Sandra Bullock. He had several moments where I was not feeling convinced as a viewer.

The costume design within the film played a huge role. Due to the overall contrast between rich and poor, the costumes were expected to be up to par. It is clear that the Tuohy family was well dressed, decked from head to toe in designer. As for character Michael Oher, he began dressed in the bare minimum, carrying only an extra t-shirt within a grocery bag. I was truly drawn in and attentive to the different levels of outfits as the movie progressed.

Quinton Aaron is an American actor. He made his film debut in Michel Gondry’s Be Kind Rewind. His first lead role was as Michael Oher in the 2009 film The Blind Side. At 6ft 8in, Quinton Aaron had spent much of his life struggling to fit in. Quinton’s mom is the one who saw the casting call for The Blind Side and submitted her son’s name for an audition. ‘She read what size they were looking for, and told me this was it, this role was mine,’ Quinton said. At the time of his audition, Quinton was a security guard in real life and he ended up giving his business card to the movie’s director. Fortunately, he landed the role and his world would forever be changed. In 2010, Aaron guest-starred in an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. In 2015, Aaron shot the film Busy Day in Albuquerque, New Mexico. As of 2018, Aaron is working on a new film, Best of Me: The Quinton Aaron Story, a documentary of himself which highlights his upbringing.

Overall, this movie was truly eye-opening. The fact that it is based on a true story makes it even more emotional. Although my mother was never addicted to drugs, I can relate to growing up without a father, as well as not being born with a silver spoon in my mouth. Therefore, I understand where Michael Oher’s anger derives from and how it could affect his well-being. This film is worth the watch. Ages twelve and up would be able to develop an emotional connection to the plot. You’ll find yourself engaged in the lifestyle of Michael, rooting for his success. Without a doubt I’d rate this movie five out of five stars.   

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The Blind Side Movie - Free Essay Examples and Topic Ideas

The Blind Side is a movie based on the real-life story of Michael Oher, an Afro-American football player, and his struggles from being an abandoned kid growing up in a foster home to an NFL (National Football League) player after being adopted by the family of the Tuohy’s. The only reason why ‘The Blind Side’ is such a great story is the fact that it narrates the true life story of an Afro-American boy with little or no prospects. It is a movie full of relationship maintenance; it is a movie about believing in oneself and following one’s convictions even when the whole world might be against you but most importantly, the need to reach out to the less fortunate ones instead of despising them.

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Home — Essay Samples — Psychology — Nature Versus Nurture — An In-depth Look Into The Movie The Blind Side Through Education Psychology Lenses

An In-depth Look into The Movie The Blind Side Through Education Psychology Lenses

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