How much more White Savior can it get than this photo--Bullock reading a children's book to her young kid, and the grown-up Mike Oher?
Monday, March 3, 2014
A3 Blog #1: White Savior in The Blindside
The film I chose to examine is The Blindside, directed by John Lee Hancock, shows the characteristics of a typical White Savior film. Sandra bullock serves the role of a White Savior by literally grabbing a young black teenager, Michael Oher, off the streets and taking them into their home. She does everything in her power to keep "Big Mike" out of trouble and off the streets. She is even portrayed as extremely brave, fearless, and strong when she goes into the ghetto to take Mike away from the gangs he was previously associated with. Mike is a massive human and Leigh Anne, Sandra Bullock, decides to put him on the football team to get him involved in activities. At first he isn't doing well in football, then Bullock once again is the "savior" and even begins coaching him and telling him to get "tough" and "mean". Mike begins to excel in football and begins garnering scholarship offers from major college football programs. Bullock helps him in his recruiting process so much so she even sways him to commit to Ole Miss, her Alma Mater. This poses the question about her motives, did she really care about saving this kid from the streets, or was it a ploy of hers to improve the Ole Miss football team. Of course, Bullock is seen this child's savior and a saint of a woman, especially when she fights off questions from her friends who tell her not to do this. Bullock essentially takes Mike off the streets when he has no hope, no direction, and no purpose in his life and transforms him into a highly coveted recruit who is able to play college football and ultimately turn pro--all attributed to Bullock. At every stage of "Big Mike's" success, it is because of the essential role of the White Savior.
How much more White Savior can it get than this photo--Bullock reading a children's book to her young kid, and the grown-up Mike Oher?
How much more White Savior can it get than this photo--Bullock reading a children's book to her young kid, and the grown-up Mike Oher?
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In association with To Kill a Mockingbird, Big Mike is almost like Tom Robinson in the sense of his personality. Both of them seem childish. Big Mike is constantly being guided in the right direction and Sandra Bullock is the key to his hope and success. Atticus Finch, similarly, was constantly reassuring Tom Robinson that they had a chance to win the trial. In both cases the white figure guided the child-like ethnic figure in the right direction, ultimately reaffirming the image of a white savior. On a side note, it frustrates me that the ethnic characters have so much potential, but these movies make it seem like the only way they can access that potential is by someone initiating it for them.
ReplyDeleteWhat an incredible portrayal of a White Savior. I agree that Sandra Bullock was really blatantly the savior in this film. I wondered if there was any situation that this could be compared to, but honestly, the situation was so incredible, it was just one of those cases where films would have a better depiction of the perfect situation. In other situation, I feel like it would be similar to the reaction of Jean-Valjean in Les Miserables, when the priest took him in, there was the initial gratitude, followed by immediate betrayal. People would just end up trying to escape the hospitality for fear that it was some sort of trap. Of course that's thinking very pessimistically, people are probably better than that, but I feel like that could be a potential result if this stunt had been tried out in another situation.
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