Cross Cultural Understanding in "The Blind Side" Movie

 

The Casts:

·         Sandra Bullock as Leigh Anne Touhy

·         Quinton Aaron as Michael Oher

·         Tim McGraw as Sean Touhy

·         Jae Head as S.J. Touhy

·         Lily Collins as Collins Touhy

·         Kathy Bates as Miss Ssue

 

The Director:  John Lee Hancock

 

Synopsis:

Michael Oher is a homeless African-American teen. He lived in the projects and was moved from one foster home to another. Because of his big size, he gets into a Christian school by the football coach begging to other teacher to let him in. On night, while he was walking in a rain, Leigh Anne Tuohy and her family drive past him. The kids are schoolmates of Michael's, so Leigh Anne offers him to stay the night at the house. Leigh Anne takes pity on him, and gives him a room to stay indefinitely. Michael is a quiet, shy teen. He doesn't adapt well in school but he likes interacting with the kids, and is protective at times. Seeing this as a strength, Leigh Anne applies this to his football game, and teaches him that this is what he's good at. Michael gets better at football, and to play at a more advanced bracket, he needs higher grades. He is hired a tutor and moves his prospects further along. Leigh Anne and her family standby Michael as he is wooed by top universities. He chooses the Tuohy's Alma matter. He later becomes a successful offensive player for the Baltimore Ravens.

 

Review:

The review of this movie that I can get is:

 

Nonverbal communication

The nonverbal communication in this movie can be seen from Michael. Michael is a quiet person, he did not talk much, but he communicate use gesture sushi as smiles in this movie. Even though he did not communicate so much with other people, he can easily understand the situation he was in. That’s the reason why he keep quiet because he does not want other people to be disturbed because of him.

 

Personal relationship

It is hard for Michael to make friends because other people think he is odd. But, once Michael know Touhy family, he have real brother and sister, he have friends, he have family that accept him and he want to protect them. As the movie goes, we learn that Michael have friends from his past, but he did not really communicate with them as he communicate with Touhy family. He also make friends from football.

Circle of friends

There are three circles of friends in this movie. The first one is the circle of Michael, S.J., and Collins. The second one is the circle of Leigh Anne and her friends. And the last one is Michael and his teammates.

 

Family value

In this movie we don’t know how Michael childhood was, but we know that his childhood is he lived in the bad environment, his parents were divorced and his mother is sick. Michael is a very protective person when it comes to family, he would never let bad things happen to his family. One part in this movie shows us that he really care about S.J., he even protect S.J., when he had a car accident, with his arm that makes his arm bled and S.J. fine. Near the ending in the movie, he even fought his old-friends to defend his family. That shows how much he love his family.

 

Space

Actually at the earlier part of the movie, Michael is a quiet person, he keep his distance from other people. But as the movie goes, he did not keep his space anymore, he accept other people and he became a nice and friendly person.

 

Table manners

One part in this movie show a lunch situation when they want to know Michael and Anne tells S.J. to keep his elbows from the table when they eating. This situation shows us that Americans are use the table manners and try to correct other people if they do wrongs.

 

Cultural adjustment

The cultural adjustment that happens in this movie is how Michael change and adapt to new environment. At first, he have difficulties to adapt to the new environments, school and Touhy family, he had problems in communicating with other people, problems in being accepted and problems in learning. But as the movie goes, he able to change and adapt. And in the end of the movie, he get a scholarship and become a professional football player and he became a successful lineman offensive player.