BLACK MOTHERHOOD IN "THE BLIND SIDE"

By: Madison McNerney

The construction of black motherhood in comparison to white motherhood is an apparent theme present in the film “The Blind Side.”  The film is inspired by the true story of Michael Oher, a poor black teenager that was adopted by the Tuohy’s (a wealthy white family). 

“The Blind Side” situates Denise Oher, a poor, black, single, crack-addicted mother in opposition to Leigh Anne Tuohy an upper class, white, married and educated mother.  And while the movie is based on true events and real people it is still important to look at how the movie depicts each of the mothers in relation to each other.  Films have the tendency to embellish certain character traits and events in order to create a “better” storyline and in doing so often place black mothers into various controlling images.  ‘The Blind Side’ places Denise Oher into the ‘crack mother’ controlling image and exaggerates various events that took place in her and Michael’s life in order to create a more dramatic film.  In doing so, the movie portrays Denise Oher as the “bad” mother who is not able to support and care for her children, whereas Leigh Anne Tuohy is depicted as the perfect, pious mother who is able to not only support her own two biological children, but is also willing and able to adopt another son.   

            An example of a over embellishment added to the movie to make it an even better coming of age story, and to depict once again, Leigh Anne as being the better mother is the ‘bedroom scene.’  In this scene Leigh Anne shows Michael his own bedroom that has been put together for him in the Tuohy house.  Michael tells Leigh Anne that he has never had one before, she says, “what a room to yourself?” to which Michael responds, “a bed.”  Leigh Anne’s character becomes very emotional in this scene because she is instantly struck by the fact that she can provide Michael with something as commonplace as a bed and it is a big deal to him.  Audiences are immediately struck by this scene and see Leigh Anne as being a savior in Michael’s life because she was able to successfully help Michael from move away from “Hurt Village” and the poverty that surrounded him there.

            In an interview (link posted underneath this blog post) with the real Denise Oher, conducted in 2013, Denise shares her side of ‘the blind side.’  She states, that the often talked about ‘bedroom scene’ in the film was not true.  She states, “If I had to put a bed in my kitchen, my children would have somewhere to sleep.  See I’ve been portrayed as the worst mother in the world and that wasn’t it.” (The Untold Blindside)  From this interview it can be seen that not all aspects of this movie play out exactly as they did in the real lives of the individuals.  Denise feels that she was depicted as the worst mother in the world, and audience members can see where she is coming from when looking at the comparison of her character as a mother to Leigh Anne’s character. 

            The film portrays Leigh Anne as going beyond what is expected of your average mother and instead is portrayed as a “heavenly figure” who is takes care of not only her biological children but also adopts another son and in doing so saves him from his previous horrible life. She is depicted as the perfect mother who is always supporting her children in every way possible.  She drives them to and from school, cheers them on at their various athletic activities and provides a large home for them to live in comfortably.  Denise Oher, on the other hand is portrayed as a poor “crack mom’ who is incapable of supporting her children. While in the interview, Denise admits to having a drug addiction during Michael’s childhood that does not mean that she should be characterized in the crack mom stereotype that carries with it a number of connotations.  Gurbium defines the ‘crack mother’ characterization as, “the mother-as-monster image evident in media portrayals of women who use crack cocaine; African American users living in the inner-city neighborhoods especially depicted as grossly irresponsible mothers” (510). 

She also adds, “the mother on crack is seen as wholly unfit to properly care for her children and is not aware of their needs” (Gurbium, 511).  While it is obvious that Leigh Anne was able to provide for Michael in a number of ways that Denise could not, we should not assume that Denise did not provide the necessities for Michael or that she was unaware of her children’s needs. 

            I think one of the most important points to take away from this critique of ‘The Blind Side’ is that the movie too simply portrays the white mother as being a savior and the black mother as being wholly incapable of being a parent without spending any time delving into the historical forces that have allowed for such portrayals of such racialized mothers to come about.  There are a number of factors in play that have led to controlling images such as the ‘crack mom’ coming about that were not discussed in the film and therefore too easily make it seem as though there is a good and a bad mother. 

Leigh Anne meets Michael's mother 

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Gubrium, Aline. 2008. Writing Against the Image of the Monstrous Crack Mother. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography. 37(5). 511-527.

Oher, Denise. “The Untold Blindside.” Only On 5. AMERICA NOW. Feb. 3. 2013. Television.

http://www.americanownews.com/story/20953196/only-on-5-denise-oher-shares-her-side-of-the-blind-side

Madison McNerney is the Women and Gender Contributor to the Hollywood Race Report