By: Zara Jiwa
When we watch popular news outlets, such as CNN or Fox News, it is highly probable that the face of a criminal that is attached to a broadcast about a recent shooting or robbery will be black. Black masculinity is also often linked with ideals of the “well-endowed” man who possesses an immense sexual desire that is inherent and cannot be curbed. Both these stereotypes work to continue the subordination of the black man by trapping him in an image of brutality, violence, and barbarism. In his chapter “The Spectacle of the Other”, Stuart Hall discusses the process of stereotyping as it involves the use of splitting and closure. A stereotype must “split” the good from the bad, establishing boundaries to close off what has not been labeled as “normal”. Keeping this in mind, we will now look into the ways in which The Blind Side perpetuates stereotypes of black men as inherently criminal and hypersexual beings. Following this, I will attempt to connect these two themes to the depiction of black men and sports. We will look at the ways in which the movie demonstrates a need to “train” the primitive black male body for a more “productive” cause, football. Hopefully by the end of this section we will have gained a more critical lens to use with regards to analyzing how black men are constructed in Hollywood films.
There were numerous incidents in the film
where I found the characters aligned themselves with the stereotype that all black
men are criminal and dangerous. By asserting this stereotype the film ensures
that its protagonists, the White, devout Christian Tuohy family, remain
inherently “good” while the black characters are associated with a lack of
power and a life doomed to impoverishment. For example, in the start of The Blind Side, Leigh Anne invites
Michael to stay in her home after finding him walking on the street without a
place to go. After setting up the couch for Michael, Leigh Anne has a
conversation with her husband, Sean, about how long the boy will stay with
them. Following this conversation Leigh Anne asks “You don’t think he will
steal anything?”. Her comment in this scene situates Michael within the
stereotype of danger.
I especially thought the ending of the movie that showed
newspaper clippings of young black men involved in shootings was quite
interesting and fits well with our theme about the assumption of all black men
as inherently dangerous.These images were meant to show the life that Michael
avoided by playing football as he cut off ties with his previous friends in the
projects. However, these headlines only worked to reinforce controlling images
of black men: they are all poor, involved in violence, and lack a proper father
figure. By establishing a difference between Michael, the boy involved with a
good white family, and other black men, the film traps them in a stereotype of
violence and delinquency.
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| Newspaper clippings in the ending scenes of The Blind Side |
Black
male sexuality is something that has developed through years of colonialism and
subordination of the “other”. For centuries, black men have been reduced to
being completely driven by their biological desires and the craving of the
black man has always been the white woman. For example, in some colonies,
racialized rape laws were put into place as a means of “protecting” white women
from the dangerous, and well-endowed, local black man and assisted with keeping
the gene pool pure and white (Stoler 2002). These ideas of hypersexuality are
evident in the various scenes of the movie that took place in the more
impoverished areas of Memphis, which were, not surprisingly, occupied by
predominantly black people. In these moments Leigh Anne was continually taunted
by men on the streets who would call her “sexy” and urge her to come closer. A
character in the movie that epitomized this hypersexual being of black
masculinity is Alton, Michael’s acquaintance from the projects. Alton makes
comments about Leigh Anne’s appearance, focusing on her skin tone and her slim
body.
This is reminiscent of the colonial stereotypes previously discussed as
Alton’s character is used to play up the idea that black men desire white
women, the representation of purity and supposed bearers of the white race. By setting
up this idea of hypersexuality, The Blind
Side, once again, creates a splitting between the “good” and “bad” or the
“white” and “black”. The men in the projects are constructed as devilish and
“horny” while the white men in the film possess seemingly stable careers and
families. Once again, this racialization of sexuality allows the film to keep
its protagonists in a position of superiority and doom its antagonists (Alton
and other character’s of Michael’s past) in a position of inferiority.
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| Alton, Michael's acquaintance from the projects |
In
order to properly understand the depiction of black male masculinity in The Blind Side it is necessary for us to
look at how it is portrayed in relation to the use of these black bodies in
sports. In Black Sexual Politics, Patricia Collins chronicles the history of the
black male athletic body stating that: “Historically,
African Americans men were depicted primarily as bodies ruled by brute strength
and natural instincts, characteristics that allegedly fostered deviant
behaviours of promiscuity and violence” (Collins 2005: 152). These ideas are
reminiscent of our discussion of hypersexuality and black male criminality.
Collins continues by saying “Athletics constitutes a modern version of
historical practices that saw Black men’s bodies as needing taming and training
for practical use” (Ibid: 153). This point is echoed in the scenes where
Michael is taught how to play football for his high school team as it is
portrayed as if he is completely unaware of the sport itself. His character
does the opposite of what he needs to and is easily distracted, which is
evident from his pointing out balloons to his teammates as it floats over the
field.
Not only is Michael viewed as helpless in these scenes but he is also
made to be unintelligent, in need of “training” and “taming” from his white
coach. After doing some background research, I discovered Michael Oher, the
real NFL player, was disconcerted with these portrayals of him as not aware of
football. Contrary to The Blind Side,
Oher actually did know much about the sport and did not need to be taught how
to play the game. The filmmaker’s decision to depict Oher in this way demonstrates,
once again, this striving to portray the white protagonists as all knowing and
“better” than the black characters. The scenes of the film that showed the
process of Michael learning the rules of football demonstrates an effort to rid
any bit of barbarism or primitiveness from his past. Michael is assumed to be
initially “rough around the edges” and it is the job of the other characters to
“fix” him for “practical use”.
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| Michael becomes distracted by a red balloon |
Overall,
I really enjoyed watching The Blind Side,
however it did seem to reinforce stereotypes of black masculinity, such as
criminality and hypersexuality. Although the film, at times, confronted topics
of race and racism in predominantely white communities, it failed to take this
one step further by moving into a discussion about how Michael, the main black
character, deals with issues of racism himself. Hopefully after reading this we
can all watch movies with a more critical eye and not allow Hollywood to skew
our view of others or dictate our opinions.
Meeting Alton in the Projects, his "hypersexuality" is apparent thorough his interest in Leigh Anne
Hall, Stuart. 1997. Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices [Chapter
4: The Spectacle of the Other”]. London: Sage Press.
Hill Collins, Patricia. 2004. Black
sexual politics African Americans, gender, and the new racism New York: Routledge Press.
Stoler, Ann Laura. 2002. Carnal Knowledge and Imperial Power: Race and the Intimate in Colonial Rule Berkeley: University of California Press.
Zara Jiwa is the Masculinities Contributor for the Hollywood Race Report.
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