The Blind Side Stereotypes
The Blind Side I have decided to do this reflection paper over The Blind Side. Not only does this movie have a great story, it also has many forms of dyadic communication. This movie is about Michael Oher who, in the beginning, was really struggling in school and with his life in general. All it took was one conversation with Leigh Anne Touhy on a cold night to change both of their lives for the better. With the Touhy family’s help, Michael succeeded in high school and college then eventually went on to play in the NFL for the Carolina Panthers. A couple of concepts I want to discuss in this paper on The Blind Side are stereotypes, and cultural imperialism. All types of stereotypes are used in today’s society, good and bad. Some examples of stereotyping are: “guys are
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better at sports”, “all blondes are dumb”, “all Muslims are terrorists”, and “all Blacks are lazy”.
Sadly, most stereotypes are offensive, insulting, and disrespectful towards different groups or cultures. In Where Bias Begins: The Truth About Stereotypes, Mahzarin Banaji, a psychology professor at Yale University said, “if anything, stereotyping is a bigger problem than we ever imagined” (Murphy, 1998, para. 2). The main problem with these negative stereotypes is that we let what certain people do, or how they act define their culture as a whole. Like the situation going on now that all white cops are racist and are being overly violent with black community. In Jost and Kay’s research the results were that when introduced to kind and compatible stereotypes of members of disadvantaged groups support for the status quo rises without the need for
victim-derogation (Stanford GSB Staff, 2003). Others also express cultural imperialism by having the mindset that their culture is dominant or better than other cultures. There are still some people who may show cultural imperialism but I like to think that society has moved on from being so close minded. Not one culture is better or more dominant than the other. We all choose what we want to believe as individuals, and we all have and deserve that right. It is wrong to push your culture on someone else just because they are different. Also, for African Americans to protest “Black lives matter” like they are the only ones who important is offensive to all other races. At school, Michael wrote that he looks around and sees white everywhere. White walls, white floors, and a lot of white people. Michael feels really out of place in school not only due to his rough childhood, but is also singled out for his size and the color of his skin. The other kids just stared at Michael and judged him without even getting to know him as a person. One afternoon Leigh Anne was out eating with her friends when their family’s most recent Christmas card with Michael got brought up. One of Leigh Anne’s friends compared her and Michael to Jessica Lang and King Kong because of their size difference and color. When the adoption of Michael is mentioned, Leigh Anne explained that Michael would be 18 soon so there was no point. After that all of her friends looked at her in shock, one even asked Leigh Anne if it was because of a ‘white guilt thing’. Dyadic communication is a vital tool in establishing successful relationships with people. In the movie The Blind Side, all it took was one conversation between Michael and Leigh Anne Tuohy to change both of their lives for the better. Perhaps if the other people in the movie would have taken the same time to learn and understand Michael, they would not have poorly misjudged him in the first place.
better at sports”, “all blondes are dumb”, “all Muslims are terrorists”, and “all Blacks are lazy”.
Sadly, most stereotypes are offensive, insulting, and disrespectful towards different groups or cultures. In Where Bias Begins: The Truth About Stereotypes, Mahzarin Banaji, a psychology professor at Yale University said, “if anything, stereotyping is a bigger problem than we ever imagined” (Murphy, 1998, para. 2). The main problem with these negative stereotypes is that we let what certain people do, or how they act define their culture as a whole. Like the situation going on now that all white cops are racist and are being overly violent with black community. In Jost and Kay’s research the results were that when introduced to kind and compatible stereotypes of members of disadvantaged groups support for the status quo rises without the need for
victim-derogation (Stanford GSB Staff, 2003). Others also express cultural imperialism by having the mindset that their culture is dominant or better than other cultures. There are still some people who may show cultural imperialism but I like to think that society has moved on from being so close minded. Not one culture is better or more dominant than the other. We all choose what we want to believe as individuals, and we all have and deserve that right. It is wrong to push your culture on someone else just because they are different. Also, for African Americans to protest “Black lives matter” like they are the only ones who important is offensive to all other races. At school, Michael wrote that he looks around and sees white everywhere. White walls, white floors, and a lot of white people. Michael feels really out of place in school not only due to his rough childhood, but is also singled out for his size and the color of his skin. The other kids just stared at Michael and judged him without even getting to know him as a person. One afternoon Leigh Anne was out eating with her friends when their family’s most recent Christmas card with Michael got brought up. One of Leigh Anne’s friends compared her and Michael to Jessica Lang and King Kong because of their size difference and color. When the adoption of Michael is mentioned, Leigh Anne explained that Michael would be 18 soon so there was no point. After that all of her friends looked at her in shock, one even asked Leigh Anne if it was because of a ‘white guilt thing’. Dyadic communication is a vital tool in establishing successful relationships with people. In the movie The Blind Side, all it took was one conversation between Michael and Leigh Anne Tuohy to change both of their lives for the better. Perhaps if the other people in the movie would have taken the same time to learn and understand Michael, they would not have poorly misjudged him in the first place.