Stages of Development: a Review of the Movie, the Blind Side

Michael Oher life changed so much that he became a football player. Other being part in a wealthy family have changed his experience on what he thinks on school. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, it is useful Other life, how he was and how he is now, comparing how much his life changed. But Oher in school showed to this teacher that he was intelligent all Other needed was a tutor

As infants grow up to be adults, they succeed and surpass phases in their development that prove mental growth has occurred. These phases, such as learning to be independent and being able to make decisions on their own or being persuaded by others, are well explained within theories created by theorists and psychologists such as Jean Piaget and Erik Erikson. These theories were created to show a unique psychological outlook on ones’ personal developmental growth. One of the most crucial phases is the adolescent stage; this stage sees a growth and development in the biosocial, cognitive, psychosocial and moral aspects of an adolescent’s life. The Blind Side’s Michael Oher is a great example of someone who is experiencing the adolescent stage. Michael Oher is a seventeen-year-old African American who grew up in the housing projects in Memphis, Tennessee and was separated from his drug-addicted mother. As a result, Michael went from foster home to foster home until he was adopted by the Touhy’s. Throughout the movie, Michael demonstrated various cognitive and psychosocial developments. Even through his struggles and experiences, he was able to overcome the obstacles and become successful as a student and as an athlete.

“Based on a book by journalist Michael Lewis chronicling the real life Oher’s experiences, “The Blind Side” manages to inspire despite its broad-strokes approach to characterization.”(VLM, 2010) The Blind Side is based on a true story, the story of Michael Oher, a homeless boy with a traumatic past until one women, Leigh Ann, took him in as her own son and changed his life for the better. Michael is now known as an American football player, that was drafted by the Baltimore Ravens. The film, “The Blind side”, produced by John Lee Hancock, demonstrates that a tragic childhood does not necessarily mean one is destined for defeat, as long as there are those who care enough about you. “The Blind Side” uses rhetorical appeals by illustrating ethos, logos, and pathos to teach the audience moral lessons on learning and coping with traumatic life experiences and defining oneself socially through personal actions.

Through the use of low-key lighting, long-shot and dialogue, Hancock made me recognize the significance of friends and family by revealing to me the positive influence one young teenager can have on a range of people - in this case Michael is having a positive influence on Sean, his football team/coach and Leigh Anne. Not only did Michael influence these characters in a positive way, but they influenced him as well and changed him for the better. I'm concerned about the fact that our society is not improving instead it is becoming much worse with all the stereotyping that is rumoured. Avoid stereotyping others because you are not going to receive anything from it apart from putting others down. A million people did not believe in Michael at the start, but I am certain they changed their view on him

Michael’s dad was sent to jail frequently and while Michael was in high school, his father was thrown off a bridge and murdered. Michael’s mother was a drug addict and was in and out of rehab centers. During Michael’s childhood he lived in many different foster homes. Michael was such a horrible student that he even flunked weight lifting class. Michael didn’t care about going to school, in fact in the fourth grade he didn’t show up for about fifty days of a single term. Michael’s teacher described his career as, “He was sensationally absent: forty six days of a single term of his first grade year for instance” (Lewis 46). During his middle school career, Michael was tested for his IQ to see his academic potential. The testing showed that Michael had limitations to his academic potential: The testing proved that, “The boy had measured IQ of 80, which puts him in mankind's 9th precinct tile” (Lewis 45). This showed his teachers how severely learning disabled Michael was to his teachers. Since Michael had failing grades, he was often transferred to different schools. The public school system failed him since, “In his first nine years Michael Oher was instituted in eleven different institutions and that included a whole of eighteen months” (Lewis 45). In Michael’s early life he had no family support and little education and when Michael couldn’t do something for school, he would just give up. Michael had little motivation to succeed due to his

Unfortunately, his father was murdered in prison so he could not overcome that obstacle. However, he was taken in by a foster family named the Tuohy’s who made him happy and treated him like real family. Biography.com says, “The young boy was finally taken in by Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy when he was 16, and the Tuohys became Oher's legal guardians when he was 17”. In his junior year of high school, Oher began to excel in football. By the beginning of his senior year, Oher was the starting left tackle on the varsity football team. He quickly became a top football prospect in the state of Tennessee, which led to multiple scholarship offers from Division 1 schools.” This means that when he was taken in by Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy and they became his legal guardians he began to excel at school and football. His mother was taken into a rehabilitation center, but this was an improvement since at least Michael was able to see her sometimes. His other siblings were all taken to foster care. It’s amazing that while he had all of these obstacles he still overcame them with a determined attitude and the help of some special people.

At the time Oher was a senior in high school. His mother, Denise Oher, was always on crack cocaine, at times Denise would tell Michael to close his eyes so she can put a drug in her body. Later, Oher was taken by Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy. At the time, Oher was seventeen and soon the Tuohy´s were his legal guardians. Sean and Leigh both write books and does motivational speaking. The Tuohy’s have two sons and a daughter including Michael. They both attend ‘Briarcrest Christian School’. Leigh Tuohy had an interview and she stated, ¨I love Michael Oher as much as I love my two biological children. There's no difference between them.¨ (Peters). The Tuohy’s are able to provide very much of everything Oher has needed. For example, love, a home, family, and support. “If you know where your next meal is coming from, are you not poor.” ("Michael Oher Biography." TheFamousPeople.com).

As a young child Michael suffered abuse and enforcement to succeed by his father. Michael has said that this has affected his physical development as there had been times when his father would come to see him and he would be sick. This was just from the fear he had of his father hurting him if he did not do well.

Although Michael Oher was born into poverty, he still managed to become an extremely successful multimillionaire and leave the ghetto, proving that an individual can overcome poverty. As a child, Oher was very independent, and in order to survive, he had to be, because he grew up in a neighborhood called, Hurt Village, which is one of the “worst in the nation” (Cherner). What most families had, his did not: permanent home, income, consistent source of food. The little income that his family got from the government was almost always used by his mother for drugs.

A young Black male adopted by a family with the last name of, Tuohy, Michael Oher. He plays for a football team, and is recognized in a video by many universities who want Ohre on their football team because of his skill and technique. The video shows Oher on the field in a real game representing those skills and techniques. After all these scholarships and interviews with Football coaches, he is focused on what he needs to do to stay on the Football team, and what scholarship he is going to follow through with in the near future. But there are some troublesomes.

One of the many scenes that evokes emotion from the audience is also one of the opening scenes where the Tuohy family meets Michael. They see him beforehand scanning the high school gym after a volleyball game searching for leftover food. Eventually, coming back from their son S.J.’s play, they see him on the side of the road on a cold, rainy night. Leigh Anne tells her husband Sean to pull over so she can ask Michael where he is going. Michael responds that he is going to the gym, but Leigh Anne catches on to the lie and recognizes that the gym is closed at night.

“I don't even remember the season. I just remember walking between them and feeling for the first time that I belonged somewhere.” ― Stephen Chbosky, the Perks of Being a Wallflower. After meeting Michael, Leigh Ann, a high class rich woman, whose kids also attend Briarcrest Christian School, sheltered him and took care of him in her house. She treated him as if he was her own son. In one quick scene, the director indicates that Leigh Ann grew up a racist house through her high social class friends. But despite that, Leigh Ann did not let that shape her, in fact, she was very happy when she was taking care of Michael “I am happy; it has everything to do with Michael” she said one in the movie. On the other hand, for Michael, meeting Leigh Ann was probably the biggest life changing event during his life. When she took him in a took care of him and ensured that he has a happy life just like any of her children do, Michael felt something he has probably never felt before. Belonging. Leigh Ann provided him with things that he did not have the ability to have as a kid such as bedtime stories from children’s books, having a person that he could talk to and having a person who greatly cared about him. Furthermore, Leigh Ann greatly influenced his football career and she was his biggest supporter. She provided him with a tutor to raise his academic performance so he can attain a scholarship. She encouraged him, protected him and taught him the value of family and the importance of protecting them. Towards the end of the movie, Leigh Ann decides to adopt Michael legally. She was surprised that when she got to a government official, they said that she would only need to sign some papers without consulting his biological mother. She decides to look for Michael’s biological mother and request her permission to legally adopt Michael. Additionally, Leigh

The mother formed a significant bond with Michael Oher, becoming emotionally invested in his state of mind and immense bravery, to survive

Correspondingly, the principle of the high school insisted that he participated in a homeschool program because of his poor academic records, but luckily for Michael, the school football coach, Hugh Freeze, saw potential in him and egged his colleagues to take in Michael’s application because he saw the toughness in his eyes. "I 've always had that fire and passion in me on the field," says Michael. "You can 't put aggression into a person. It 's impossible. Either you have that toughness and aggression or you don 't." 15 year old, Collins Tuohy went home and told her family about Michael and his situation. When Sean Tuohy, her father, heard that we wasn’t getting fed properly, he decided to pay for his lunch, in which Michael was thankful. Later, the Tuohy family was driving down the streets of Memphis Tennessee and saw Michael, in the cold, wearing only cut-off jeans and a t-shirt, which is the same outfit he wore, everyday.

Michael Oher’s mother was into drugs and he does not have remember his father. Oher went to a religious school and he couldn’t read and write. Oher would sleep in uncle’s couch but his uncle’s wife wouldn’t show love or