The Gentle Giant: Race and The Blind Side

So surprise, surprise, Sandra Bullock won an Academy Award for Best Actress in her role in The Blind Side.  I almost wrote a post yesterday about how I would poke my eye out if she won.  However, we all saw it coming, since Bullock won a SAG Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a People's Choice Award, in the lead up to the Academy Awards.

As expected, it was pretty much another "great white hope" movie. Truth be told, I liked the movie more than I thought I would.  It was a "feel good" movie, with that classic "rags to riches" story, that most Americans are partial to, including me.  But I could not ignore some of the racial overtones in the movie. My major issue with the film was that Michael Oher (who the movie was based on) was portrayed as a big, black oaf--a "gentle giant," if you will.  That portrayal of black men is pretty cliche in my opinion.

Also, according to the movie, Oher had neither interest in, nor aptitude for the sport of football.  Yet, he was encouraged/pressured to play football, because he was big and black.  I really don't like when black males are geared toward stereotypical career choices, and their potential in other areas goes untapped.  That too was cliche.  It's like there is an expectation that if you're big and black, then you should play sports.

"But it's a true story," you say.  Yes, the movie is based on a true story.  And yes a rich white family really did adopt Michael Oher, a homeless black teenager, and yes, eventually he became an NFL star.  However, just because the movie was based on a true story does not mean that we cannot be critical of how this true story was told.

This is the kind of the movie that makes people feel good about themselves and race relations in American, without forcing people to think deeply about systemic inequality. For example, where the hell was the social safety net that should have prevented a MINOR from ending up homeless on the street?   What were the circumstances that led Michael's mother to abuse crack or his father to commit suicide?  Granted, one movie cannot do everything.  But this movie just might cross the line between "true story" and a "caricature," chock full of stereotypes about the pathologies of black people.

I could go on, but I'll stop here.  It wasn't the worst movie, and it wasn't the best movie.  Sometimes I wish I could just turn my brain off, and just enjoy a movie.  Leave a comment and let me know if you think Bullock's performance was in fact Oscar worthy.