The Racial Mountain: Too Difficult for Michael Oher to Tackle

“The Blind Side,” novel turned mega Hollywood hit, not only depicts a family that adopts, nurtures, and saves a young, black, male’s life from being a part of the street life he was born into, but it also portrays Langston Hughes’ idea that “this urge within the race towards whiteness, the desire to pour racial individuality into the mold of American standardization, and to be as little Negro and as much American as possible” (1192). Of course on the outside, as one can see from the movie trailer, Michael Oher was indeed saved from a life of violence, poverty, and struggles by this kind hearted family who welcomed him into their home. However, most Americans might fail to see the larger implications of watching a movie like this. They might fail to see how the movie perpetuates a master slave relationship between whites and blacks; how “The Blind Side” screams out, just as Langston Hughes claimed even the “high-class Negro” does: “Look how well a white man does things” (1193).

In the trailer Leigh Anne Touhy’s grand, upper class, white status is immediately juxtaposed with Michael’s downtrodden, impoverished, gang and violence-ridden life. Thus, the audience automatically feels that this family has the opportunity, even the obligation to help poor Michael. In this movie, it is evident that “the word white comes to be unconsciously a symbol of all the virtues. It holds for the children beauty, morality, and money” (1193). Because the Touhy lifestyle is placed right next to Michael’s less than safe lifestyle, it becomes a natural transgression for one to think that this white family has it all. The Touhy’s have beauty, morality, and money; Michael, being black, has nothing.

Another element to note in the trailer is that the focus of this movie, Michael Oher, has very few lines. He speaks a total of three small phrases throughout the trailer, while Leigh Anne Touhy (played by Sandra Bullock) speaks nearly the entire two and a half minutes. This implies that despite being adopted by the Tuohy family, Michael is still the other in the relationship; he is “still Negro enough to be different” (1193). Once again, this movie perpetuates the stereotype of the poor, uneducated, silent black person.

One could argue that there are many implications to tease out of this trailer alone, let alone the film in its entirety. It could be argued that “The Blind Side” is simply a portrayal of one of the few kind families left in America who would be willing to open their home to a complete stranger. It could be argued that this movie depicts the harsh and growing gap between classes as well as races in modern America. It could be a commentary on Hollywood, and how they will capitalize on any story that comes their way; commodify the story and change it to fit what the consider to be marketable even if the end product is completely different from the story it was originally based off of. And this very fact is what makes “The Blind Side” such a great platform to discuss the Racial Mountain that Langston Hughes writes about. When the media “chooses to touch on the relations between Negroes and whites in this country with their innumerable overtones and undertones, surely, and especially for literature and drama, there is an inexhaustible supply of themes at hand” (1194). This array of themes available to tease out of “The Blind Side” allow those who don’t want to admit to the racist and stereotypical elements of the movie, to not have to do so. They can be completely ignorant of the larger implications of this movie, and regard the Tuohy family as loving, and Michael Oher as simply lucky.

This intersection between accurately portraying the story at hand, and giving the public what they want to see is where things become difficult. The movie should, “ ‘be respectable, write about nice people, show how good we are,’ say the Negroes” (1195). But at the same time, “ ‘be stereotyped, don’t go too far, don’t shatter our illusions about you, don’t amuse us too seriously. We will pay you,’ say the whites” (1195). Caught in the middle of this junction is “The Blind Side.” It shows the negative aspect of poor black communities, while showing the potential a young black man can have if given the right opportunities. However, it also shows the stereotypical way some people view blacks, as uneducated, silent when faced with people of a higher stature, poor, and violent. In this way, the movie fails to reveal truth about humanity; it only extends the idea of white supremacy.

Something important to consider when thinking about how this movie affects the United States on a larger scale, is seeing how the actual person this story was based on, reacts to the movie.



Based on that interview, it is evident that Michael Oher was uncomfortable, even annoyed by the questions being asked. He could only say that the movie is, “a great story, it gives people hope.” When asked about Sandra Bullock and her awards, it seemed evident that Michael Oher recognized the focus on the Tuohy family in the movie; he only played the role that allowed the family to be seen as a grand savior. It’s also interesting to consider that Sandra Bullock, the person playing his adoptive mother in the film, never met him. Actors and actresses often meet the people they play, or are supposed to be related to in movies as to make sure they get the part just right. The question comes to mind then, why have these two not met? Michael Oher and Quinton Aaron (the actor who played him in “The Blind Side”) supposedly haven’t met either. These facts raise the question, was the entire movie based on the Tuohy family’s impression of Michael Oher? Perhaps, the movie is just a simulacrum of double-consciousness… Now the entire country gets to view Michael Oher through the eyes of the white family who saved his life.

Works Cited

Hughes, Langston. "The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain." Ed. Vincent Leitch. The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. Second Edition. New York: W.W. Norton & Company Inc, 2010. Print.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJ3kwMq18-8&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tz5C9D-bPqk