The Movie The Blind Side: Psychological Analysis
The Blind Side was my film of choice because it hits many topics related to issues within our society, and can be easily related to social psychology. This is exactly what we will talk about in "The Movie The Blind Side: Psychological Analysis" paper. It’s about Michael Oher a football player who grew up homeless, and was in and out of foster care/school until a wealthy white family took him in and eventually adopted him. Throughout the movie the adopted parents had to deal with judgment from their community for taking a homeless black boy into their home. Themes such as self-fulfilling prophecy, discrimination, and unconditional positive regard are all clearly portrayed in the movie.
Self-fulfilling prophecy was a reoccurring theme throughout the movie. Michael came into a Christian school with a 0. 6 GPA, his previous teachers didn’t care to teach they just passed him along so he could be someone else’s problem. The teachers at his new school were quick to judge and had no interest in trying to educate him. In the beginning Michael didn’t start of on the best terms either; he failed everything and didn’t participate in class. They all thought he was stupid and too far-gone. But his science teacher saw potential and started investing more time outside of the class to help him understand the material better. His adopted parents also got him a tutor. In the end Michael graduated with a 3. 5 GPA proving self-prophecies within some of the faculty wrong. Because Michael was intimidatingly large and had darker skin he was discriminated against right of the bat.
During his first football game one of the players on the opposite team kicked him in the head after a tackle and the referee didn’t call a penalty. The same kid also made comments about Michaels race and size and the referee continued to stay silent. As soon as Michael made a play and his team scored the ref called an unfair penalty. It was clear the ref was discriminating against him because he was bias towards the other team and giving them special treatment. Michaels adopted parents Leigh Anne and Sean loved Michael unconditionally even when he got into sticky situations. Michael and SJ his brother, got into a serious car accident while taking his new F-150 for a spin. During the accident Michael stopped the air bag from hitting SJ saving his life. Leigh Anne and Sean comforted Michael and made him feel safe rather then getting mad and blaming him for almost killing their biological son. This is where unconditional positive regard most prominent. Another example of this was when Michaels biological mother told him she still loves him even though he would rather live with the adopted family.
I believe it’s important to view history from a social psychology perspective. It can change your perspective on certain behaviors and situations allowing us to have a deeper understanding and give us the ability to categorize information. I have seen The Blind Side before and loved it but seeing it through a social psychological lens was different. I was able to point out specific behaviors and label them and this is important when looking back at history. Knowing why humans interact the way they do can reveal true intentions or motives.
