A Cultural Inspiration

Sometimes there are stories that take a cultural issue and show the audience how this issue should never be there in the first place. The movie “The Blind Side” is one of those stories. This movie is a true story about Michael Oher, an African American boy who did not have much going for him in his life growing up. His mom was addicted to crack and Michael moved back and forth between foster families growing up. He did not do well in school and actually repeated 1^st and 2^nd grade and attended multiple different schools. Eventually, Michael made his way to Briarcrest Christian School where he met a boy and his family who took him into their home and adopted him. They made him part of their family, no questions asked, and got him on his feet to succeeding in life. Michael Oher brought up his grades, graduated high school, and now is the starting offensive tackle for the Baltimore Ravens!

This movie brought on many cultural issues that were addressed and it showed and taught the audience positive things regarding those issues. Michael Oher was an African American while the family that took him in was white. This family did not see his color but instead saw a boy who needed the opportunity to succeed in life, who hadn’t been given this chance before. They took him into their home and adopted him as he became part of the family. This movie did a good job of showing our society that it didn’t matter what race you were, everyone should have the same chances, and the same opportunities to excel in life. Additionally, this movie touched based on the cultural issue of “class”. The Tuohy family that adopted him was definitely in a higher class in society than Michael Oher had been. This family saw past this and showed how an upper class family made a difference. This movie taught us good things about looking past race and class, and was an inspiration to say the least. “The Blind Side” addressed the issues we deal with in our culture today and showed one of the many true stories that have helped our culture to continue to help those all around us.