The Blind Side: Difference between revisions

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Inspirational 2009 film adaptation (and 2006 book) of American football player [[Based on a True Story|Michael Oher's life]].

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{{tropelist}}

* [[Academy Award]]: Sandra Bullock is now an Oscar winner thanks to this.

* [[Accidental Athlete]]: Michael excels as a linesman only when he learns to tap his "protective instinct." After Leigh Anne Tuohy discovers his 98th percentile score on the 'protective instincts' category of an aptitude test, she helps him exploit his custodial nature on the gridiron. He imagines his team as his family.

* [[Based on a True Story]]

* [[Beware the Nice Ones]]: The coach has to find some way to make Michael aggressive enough to perform his position as left tackle. Even once he manages to become a brick wall, he still tries to inflict as little pain on the field as he can. Let's just say it is not a pretty sight to see Michael actually get angry.

* [[Big Fancy House]]: The Tuohys'.

* [[Big Guy, Little Guy]] / [[Fat and Skinny]]: Michael and SJ, respectively.

** Michael's size was exaggerated as well, the actor is actually four inches ''taller'' than the real Michael.

* [[Cheaters Never Prosper]]: A defensive lineman on the [[Opposing Sports Team]] [[Unnecessary Roughness|deliberately kicks Michael when he's down and after the play has already ended]], and the [[Deep South|racist referee]] not only ignores the kick, but penalizes the Wingate Crusaders when Coach Cotton complains. This triggers Coach Cotton's [[Papa Wolf]] moment, which motivates Michael to lead the [[Miracle Rally]].

* [[Dark and Troubled Past]]: Michael.

* [[Deep South]]: There are several racist rednecks in the film. On the other hand, the Tuohys are representative of [[Sweet Home Alabama]].

* [[GIS]]: Leigh Anne uses Google to find a picture of a young boy that looks enough like Michael.

* [[Groin Attack]]: '''Leigh Anne''': "If you impregnate a girl out of wedlock I will personally crawl into my car, come up here, and cut off your penis."

* [[Heartwarming Orphan]]: Michael, Michael, ''Michael''. A very...humongous example and a bit older than others, but capable of making the hardest heart to melt with his [[Gentle Giant|attitude]]...

* [[Holding Hands]]: The Tuohy children [[Holding Hands|offer their hands]] to Michael when saying Grace at Thanksgiving dinner.

* [[Instant Expert]]: Mike hadn't played league football before that season. He falls under the natural athlete category.

** Mike also took part in a few other sports during school, but couldn't make it to practices because of the time he spent either practicing football or studying. Didn't stop him from excelling at most of these sports, either.

* [[Jerkass]]: The guy in the first game, who keeps taunting him. Guess what happens to him...

* [[Kuudere]] / [[Tsundere]]: Leigh Anne. When Michael goes to Ole Miss she warns him that "if he gets a girl pregnant [she'll] hunt him down and [[Groin Attack|cut off his penis]]", then hides in the car so no one will see her crying.

* [[Lighter and Fluffier]]: The actor who plays Michael has a considerably gentler face then the real-life Michael.

* [[Parental Abandonment]]: Michael's biological father.

* [[Pitbull Dates Puppy]]: Leigh Anne and Sean's relationship, a pretty healthy example of this, actually.

** The book the movie is adapted from is part Michael Oher biography and part grand study of the evolution of football, especially the left tackle position. No one much thinks of the latter when thinking of the book, and Oher's story is certainly substantially more interesting and filmable than a history lesson on offensive linemen.

* [[Rags to Riches]]: Michael: from the projects to the wealthy household of the Tuohys to a multi-million-dollar NFL contract.

* [[Saintly Church]]: Christian charity is part of what motivates the Tuohys to help Michael.

* [[Scary Black Man]]: But despite his intimidating size, Michael is actually a [[Gentle Giant]].

** The very beginning of the movie starts with video of a 1985 [[Monday Night Football]] game which [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQ1iVRRu6w0 Lawrence Taylor breaks Joe Theismann's leg] to illustrate the point of the importance of the left tackle in protecting the quarterback's, well...[[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|blind side]].

* [[Shown Their Work]]: As many Mississippians can tell you, the filmmakers nailed their portrayal of life in the New South. They also nailed private school moms.

* [[Sweet Home Alabama]]: Well, it's actually Tennessee, but still. The film also has elements of [[Deep South]].

* [[Title Drop]]: Implied a few times, but not expressly said. The title refers to the reduced field of vision over the (right-handed) QB's shoulder as they are preparing to throw, where they put the biggest, strongest and fastest guy they can as left tackle to protect his blind spot.

* [[Trauma-Induced Amnesia]]: Michael has this; Sean mentions halfway through the movie about how "Michael's gift is his ability to forget" his [[Dark and Troubled Past]], and near the end, Michael explains how he would "close his eyes" when bad things happened.

* [[Unnecessary Roughness]]: The defensive lineman of the [[Opposing Sports Team|Lions]] deliberately kicks Michael when he's down and after the play has already ended, and the [[Deep South|racist referee]] not only ignores the kick, but penalizes the Wingate Crusaders after [[Papa Wolf|Coach Cotton complains]].

* [[Urban Segregation]]: Contrast the wealthy suburban community of the Tuohys and Wingate with the housing projects of Hurt Village.

* [[Villainy-Free Villain]]: The NCAA investigator is only doing her job. And for that matter, she's [[Broken Aesop|kind of right]] about how the Tuohys manipulate Michael into going to Ole Miss.

 

=== Tropes found in the book include: ===

* [[The Big Guy]]: Michael. Literally '''''everyone''''' who sees him can't help but comment on his size (when he and Sean are at a college football game, Sean notices that the players -- all future NFL stars -- are ''smaller'' then Michael), and then they see how fast he is. When Leigh Anne tries to find new clothes for him, she searches every Big & Tall store within driving distance, including ones in the worst part of Memphis (to Michael's horror). She eventually gave his sizes to an ex-NFL friend hoping he might have some spare clothes that would fit him, and ''he'' can't help either (naturally, he's dumbfounded by Michael's ridiculous measurements).

** Also Michael's friend, a coach nicknamed Big Tony. Michael ''hates'' being called "Big Mike", but when you're ''bigger at age 14 then a full-grown man named Big Tony'' what do you expect?

* [[Book Dumb]]: Michael, although he has an amazing memory. When he's classified as Learning Disabled it actually helps him get into college.

* [[Boring but Practical]]: The Left Tackle position. Left tackles are almost invisible during a football game, but they're so important that they're one of the highest-paid players on the field.

* [[Cool Car]]: ''Too'' cool: When Sean shows up at his first football practice, he immediately notices that he's the only one in a BMW ("I need to get a pickup truck").

* [[Dark and Troubled Past]]: Oh boy, Michael. He's so reluctant to reveal ''anything'' about himself and will say whatever it takes to make to conversation go away that Leigh Anne worries he might be ''gay''. Speaking of which...

* [[Depraved Homosexual]]: While none actually show up, the story ''does'' mainly take place in a conservative Christian private school in [[The Deep South]] (a graduation speech warns against homosexuality). At Ole Miss the football team is freaked out by the sight of "an actual ''tranny!''".

* [[Embarrassing Nickname]]: "Big Mike" for Michael - he wanted to be a basketball player, and basketball players aren't supposed to be quite that big.

* [[Enfante Terrible]]: Sean Jr, in a good way: he uses his closeness to Michael to see what he can get from the various college coaches. He later points out that his, Michael, and Collins' futures are basically secure so they wouldn't need their inheritances, planting a seed in Leigh Anne to do more.

* [[Limited Wardrobe]]: Michael, at first, with a grand total of one shirt. To Leigh Anne's confusion and annoyance, he's extremely picky about his clothes, especially his shoes, mainly due to the fact he does not want to be seen as [[The Big Guy]].

* [[Loads and Loads of Characters]]: Michael's family: thirteen siblings by several different fathers, along with his siblings' kids.

* [[Picture Day]]: Michael is positively mystified when someone, possibly his bio-mom, finds a photo of him as a child; given Michael's very poor upbringing the fact that it even exists is a miracle.

** Presumably, the past couple years were probably excruciating ones for an intensely private person like Michael, but it also led him to write his own book about his experiences; The Tuohys have also written their own book.

* [[Screw the Rules, I Have Money]] / [[Screw the Money, I Have Rules]]: While under investigation by the NCAA, Sean Touhy points out that Michael ''couldn't'' have been bought by the other colleges because they're ''already'' very wealthy (Sean and Leigh Anne's absolute loyalty to Ole Miss notwithstanding).

* [[Two Lines, No Waiting]]: The other half of the book is about the development of Michael Oher's future position.

* [[The Unintelligible]]: The University of Mississippi's Coach O. The only person who can understand him is fellow Louisianan Sean.

* [[Wrong Genre Savvy]]: When Leigh Ann notices that Michael only has one set of clothes, her first thought is to take him to ''Brooks Brothers''. After Michael's been officially adopted into the family she starts teaching him to be [[Genre Savvy]] about the privileged world he lives in (paraphrased: "I know that knowing the difference between Chanel and Banana Republic seems silly, but it's something you need to know now that you're one of us").

** Sean, sort of: He volunteers to help coach the school's football team, and Leigh Anne is the first to point out that the ex-college basketball star doesn't know a thing about football.

[[Category:Sports Stories]]

[[Category:The Blind Side]]