Psychological theories are used to offer a model for understanding the human behavior, emotions, and thoughts. Psychological theories satisfy two roles including describing a behavior and predicting future behavior. The Blind Side was directed by John Hancock and produced by Broderick Johnson, Andrew Kosove, Gil Netter, and Timothy Bourne of Alcon Entertainment and released by Warner Bros 2009. The story is based on the book The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game by Michael Lewis. Michael Oher who is playing homeless child form a family of drug addict mother is given a chance to play football and acquire education. The purpose of this paper is to use psychological theory to exploit The Blind Side . some of the psychological theory theories the paper will use include developmental psychology which will cover adoption, behaviors and others, behavioral psychology theory, cognitive psychology which will help understand psychological needs and safety needs depicted by Michael. Some of the elements the paper will cover include stereotype, selflessness, prejudice, discrimination, aggression, stranger anxiety, and accommodation among others.
The Blind Side Summary
After being taken by a rich family and offered a second chance in life, Michael Oher, a homeless teen ends up becoming the football star with a chance to be selected by one of the best NFL teams. The film Blind Side is a sport-themed comedy-drama based on the true story of offensive left tackle Quinton Aaron referred in the film as Michael from the Baltimore Ravens. Michael grew in a small house located in the inner city with his mother in a place commonly known as “Hurt Village” in Memphis, Tennessee. His mother was a broke drug addict, and his father was never around when he was growing up (IMDB, 2009) . Due to the issues in his family, the Family Service took control of his life and as he was growing up, he would bound in and out of foster homes, and he was taking it up alone as a teenager who did not have a home. However, he was lucky admitted to a Christian school where the coach needed someone with Michael body size (IMDB, 2009) . When he started playing football, he did not know what his role was, but the coach could see he was a talented player although so quite to inquire about the rules. At the end of the film, it ends saying that Michael would be successful and play for S.J and this is evident where three universities interested in him, but he decided to talk to S.J. Regardless of the importance, the film played in giving the audience a sense where they have a different look of life; the movie receives criticism from different authors and scholars. For example, according to Melissa Anderson a Canadian top actress-model , “Blind Side peddles the most insidious kind of racism, one in which whiteys are virtuous saviors, coming to the rescue of African-Americans who become superfluous in narratives that are supposed to be about them.”
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Psychological theories Depicted in the Blind Side film
In the film The Blind Side, Behavioral Psychology is depicted in different placed. Behavioral Psychology is the scientific study of observable human behaviors, and it is explained by the learning principles. In the film, Michael faced different challenges when he was growing up, and this affected her childhood behavior because he was learning from people he met in the foster homes. However, in the middle of the story, we can see Michael learning to act like the Tuohy family which was civilized and doing well financially (Brunner, 2012) . This is a major example of behavioral psychology where Michael is changing his behavior and learning better things about himself which helps him in his new school and when with his new friends. On the other hand, cognitive psychology which is the scientific study of mental activities which is associated with thinking, communicating, remembering, and knowing is depicted in different scenes in the film. For example, Michael is not able to read as shown by some of the notes he takes in class, and thus, he is forced to take his exams verbally, hence helping him understand the concepts and give the answers. Cognitive psychology is depicted where being unable to read require Michaels’ teachers to come up with other teaching methods to help him.
Psychological needs are depicted in the film where Michael is in need to satisfy his thrust and hunger. In the film, he manages to satisfy his psychological needs which are in the Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs by going to sports games to get some food (IMDB, 2009) . This is seen in a scene where Michael attends a volleyball match, and after the game, he picks popcorns which were left by the spectators to satisfy his need of food. Also, safety need which is indicated in the Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs as the need to feel that the environment is predictable and organized hence creating the feeling of safety. In the film, when it was raining, and Leigh Anna picked Michael who was being rained on while going to the gym makes him feel safe to understand that there are people who care about him.
Through the social psychological theory, various elements of human behavior can be seen in the film. In the film, stereotype, which is sometimes true but often overgeneralized belief about a group of people, is depicted where Michael is stereotyped by Sean where he asks Leigh Anna if Michael will steal from them when he spent the first day in their house (IMDB, 2009) . This is stereotype where Sean is viewing Michael in a different way because he is black. On the other hand, through social psychology theory, altruism which is the element of being selfless or having unselfish concerns for other people’s welfares is depicted where Michael score 98 th percentile due to his protective instincts which helped him block they were in a car crash with SJ hence protecting him. Through this character, Michael indicated that he cares more about the needs of other people that he cares about his needs.
In the film, prejudice which is covered in the social psychology theory and described as an unjustifiable attitude towards people from a given group or even the entire group evident in the film (Altman, 2011) . In the Blind Side, prejudice is portrayed by a woman who asked Leigh Anna whether he was feeling safe with a big black teen boy in her home, yet she has a daughter living there (IMDB, 2009) . Prejudice is demonstrated where the woman is showing a negative attitude towards the innocent Michael by thinking that he might do something unpleasant to Leigh Anna daughter Collins. Also, discrimination behavior is demonstrated in the film where when Michael was kicked in the head on purpose during a match, the football referee did not call for a penalty but when Michaels’ coach displayed behaviors which the coach termed as unsportsmanlike conducts, he gave their opponents a penalty (Altman, 2011) . Additionally, using social psychology theory, we can see motivation, which is the desire or need which directs and energizes human behavior. When Michael was young, he had a desire to play football in college, and he wanted to leave to his family’s expectation of playing football in college and beyond. To achieve his desires, he had to pass on class, and thus he asked Sean for help in choosing a good topic to write in his final essay which he passed.
Through the application of psychological theories to exploit the Blind Side film, we can conclude that Michael faced major challenges in his life including stereotype, discrimination and so on, but he managed to overcome these challenges through learning and motivation. Although in the beginning people looked at him as a big black teen who was not attractive and who had a bad attitude making him incompetent to live with the white people, the act of altruism by Leigh Anna by giving him a place to stay and learn changed his life. Michael managed to show the people that a black man can be as successful just like the white people.
References
Altman, Andrew. (2011). Discrimination. IMDB. Retrieved from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/discrimination/
Brunner, Borgna. (2012). African-American History Timeline: A chronology of black history from the early slave trade through Affirmative Action. Info Please. Retrieved from http://www.infoplease.com/spot/bhmtimeline.html/
Internet Media Database. (2009). Full cast and crew for The Blind Side . IMDB. Retrieved from http://www.IMDBb.com/title/tt0878804/fullcredits
Internet Media Database. (2009). Plot Summary for The Blind Side. IMDB. Retrieved from http://www.IMDBb.com/title/tt0878804/plotsummary
