# The Blind Side -- the racial contraversy



## Bullgrit (Mar 10, 2010)

I've seen some complaints about how _The Bind Side_ is racist because it shows a white mother/family taking in and helping a black kid. The complaints target on the idea that it takes benevolent whites to take care of a poor black.

"begs us to feel sorry for black people and feel grateful that there are white people in the world who can take [care] of them."

"peddles the most insidious kind of racism, one in which whiteys are virtuous saviors, coming to the rescue of blacks who become superfluous in narratives that are supposed to be about them..."

Mark Blankenship: Should We Want Movies Like Sandra Bullock's The Blind Side?

The Blind Side: What Would Black People Do Without Nice White Folks? - Page 1 - Movies - Dallas - Dallas Observer

Now, I find this kind of complaint strangly interesting. First off, the movie is based on a true story. Second, I wonder how differently people would take the movie if:

White mother/family takes in and helps a white kid.

Black mother/family takes in and helps a black kid.

Black mother/family takes in and helps a white kid.

This wondering made me try to think of movies with such stories. But my knowledge of movies is not that broad or deep. So I'm asking here:

What are some movies where a family (or family-like group) takes in a kid? What races were the family and kid? Would changing the races of the people have made the movie seem racist?

And for those of you who have seen _The Blind Side_, could the race of the family and kid have been changed without any change to the script? (Ignoring, for this, the fact that the story is based on real people.)

Bullgrit


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## Crothian (Mar 10, 2010)

I've seen the movie and read the book.  I've seen interviews with the real people the book is based on and the author.  I really think this is a case of people just complaining to complain.  It uis a good story and enjoyable movie.


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## Mark (Mar 10, 2010)

Bullgrit said:


> First off, the movie is based on a true story.





In this particular case, that's the bottom line from my perspective.


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## Pbartender (Mar 10, 2010)

Bullgrit said:


> White mother/family takes in and helps a white kid.




Annie.


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## Thornir Alekeg (Mar 10, 2010)

Bullgrit said:


> Black mother/family takes in and helps a white kid.



 The Jerk - oh, wait, he was born a poor black child.  



> could the race of the family and kid have been changed without any change to the script? (Ignoring, for this, the fact that the story is based on real people.)
> 
> Bullgrit




Have not seen the movie, but my impression is that part of the impact of the film is that it was a well-off white family who really were blissfully ignorant of the idea that there are poor black children who have nothing, and the kid they take in opens their eyes.  It is about race, class, and the oblivion that many people have as they walk through life.  Race adds to the contrast between their lives and keeps the family, and more importantly their peers, from being able to continue to live in that oblivious place.  A poor white child taken in by the family would be able to be mostly ignored by their white friends - he would just become another one of them, blending in once he begins to show the outward signs (i.e clothing) of becoming part of their society.  A black child prevents that from happening - he is always noticed as being different from everyone else.


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## Bullgrit (Mar 10, 2010)

> Have not seen the movie. . .



Bullgrit


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## Banshee16 (Mar 15, 2010)

Bullgrit said:


> And for those of you who have seen _The Blind Side_, could the race of the family and kid have been changed without any change to the script? (Ignoring, for this, the fact that the story is based on real people.)
> 
> Bullgrit




I kind of think it's a matter of the people doing the complaining getting a life.  I mean, revising history now, just to fit their view of how things should be?  It wouldn't be the first time history was revised, but usually it's been over something more "important" than the colour of someone's skin....which in actuality is really the most minor reason of all.

Banshee


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## Dannyalcatraz (Mar 16, 2010)

I think a portion of the complaints are from people who are reacting to Hollywood's history of such storylines without the realization that The Blind Side is based on a real- and truly great- story.

There are also many among our people who have gone beyond being activist and become "radioactivists."  The merest hint of something racial attracts their ire.  Where I live, a black councilman felt that the term "black hole" was racist...and didn't back off of that position when told what a "black hole" was.

Those in the community who already knew what the term did the obligatory facepalm.


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## Mark Chance (Mar 16, 2010)

Bullgrit said:


> "begs us to feel sorry for black people and feel grateful that there are white people in the world who can take [care] of them."
> 
> "peddles the most insidious kind of racism, one in which whiteys are virtuous saviors, coming to the rescue of blacks who become superfluous in narratives that are supposed to be about them..."






So, she should've just let the kid sleep outside in the cold and rain?

I think I've got a pretty good idea where the insidious racism can be found in this case, and it ain't in the movie.


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## Bullgrit (Mar 16, 2010)

Bullgrit said:
			
		

> What are some movies where a family (or family-like group) takes in a kid? What races were the family and kid? Would changing the races of the people have made the movie seem racist?



Pbartender brought up _Annie_ -- White family takes in a white kid.

I still can't think of any movies, but I have thought of a couple of TV shows:

_Diff'rent Strokes_ -- White family takes in black kids.

_Fresh Prince of Bel-Air_ -- Black family takes in a black kid.

Bullgrit


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## Mark (Mar 16, 2010)

Dannyalcatraz said:


> There are also many among our people (. . .)





Gamer-Lawyers?


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## Rykion (Mar 18, 2010)

Bullgrit said:


> Pbartender brought up _Annie_ -- White family takes in a white kid.
> 
> I still can't think of any movies, but I have thought of a couple of TV shows:
> 
> ...



If you include TV shows there's at least a couple more for your list.

_Webster_ -- White family takes in a black orphan.

_Punky Brewster_ -- Old white man takes in a white kid.


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## Mark Chance (Mar 18, 2010)

Off the top of my head:

_Good Times_: J. J. and family more or less take in a young Janet Jackson.

_Glee_: White single mother takes in white son's pregnant, white girlfriend.

_Silas Marner_ and that movie version of the same starring Steve Martin: Rich white man takes in white girl.

_Harry and the Hendersons:_ White suburban family takes in Bigfoot. 

Wow. It's almost like there's a variety of options out there.


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## Deset Gled (Mar 18, 2010)

That 70's Show: Eric's white family takes in Hyde, who they later learn is half black.

King of the Hill: White family takes in a white teen (Luanne, a niece).  Also, white cuckolded dad takes in a native american son without realizing it.

Maniac Magee: White kid is taken in by a black family, two different white families, a deer family, and an old white guy at different points of the book.

Babe: Dog family takes in a pig.

Land Before Time: Swimmer family takes in a ... whatever Spike is.  I believe a Sharptooth gets taken in by some group in the sequels.


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## Darth Shoju (Mar 18, 2010)

Mark Chance said:


> Off the top of my head:
> 
> _Good Times_: J. J. and family more or less take in a young Janet Jackson.
> 
> ...




You forgot My Favourite Martian: man takes in alien.


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## BrooklynKnight (Mar 18, 2010)

Dont forget  Ice Age 2, possums take in mammoth.


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## Rackhir (Mar 19, 2010)

I can understand where the complaints are coming from, I mean this sort of plot has it's own entry on TV Tropes.org

Mighty Whitey.

Calling it racism is going overboard, but how would you like it if your ethnic group/gender/what ever, was very often portrayed as being unable to solve problems without some white person to help/lead/guide/educate you.

I doubt our Canadian friends (or european friends) would like being portrayed as being unable to solve any of their problems without the help of the US.

Do any of the women around here like watching movies where the women are helpless and need a man to do anything important for them?


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## Dannyalcatraz (Mar 19, 2010)

The reason it gets labeled "racism" in America is the history of slavery, "The White Man's Burden," and post-slavery/pre-Civil rights America and the continued diminution of blacks by whites, right down to one of their favorite terms for us..."Boy."

So when we get repeatedly get stories depicting blacks as being dependent upon the kindness of wealthy whites, there's a knee-jerk reaction (by some, not all) that this is just more of the same old same old.

Again, oversensitivity to that trend tends to blind some to the fact that, sometimes, its a true story that a white person can be kind to someone of color and give them a chance.


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## Bullgrit (Mar 19, 2010)

> So when we get repeatedly get stories depicting blacks as being dependent upon the kindness of wealthy whites, there's a knee-jerk reaction (by some, not all) that this is just more of the same old same old.



Interesting, though, that we can only come up with one example (_Webster_). And even looking at the TV/movies tropes page, the only examples that aren't weak stretches, are actually true stories.

It kind of seems like this is an example of a commonly believed concept, (there are many examples of "it takes benevolent whites to take care of a poor black"), that, in truth, doesn't actually exist.

Sort of like the old commonly beleived concept that D&D led to satanism, murder, and suicide. It was a known and accepted "fact" by many, (and we still get journalists trying to make the connection), but when actual evidence was looked for . . . 

Bullgrit


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## Dannyalcatraz (Mar 20, 2010)

Well, we actually also pointed out Diff'rent Strokes as well as Webster on TV.

The other examples are less common in film/TV and more common in literature or society.  Twain and his contemporaries often depict whites who firmly believe that they are the saving grace of the non-white world.  (Note: different authors did so for different reasons- mockery and satire; mere descriptions of real societal norms; espousing this as truth.)


"The White Man's Burden" was only partly about justification of American/European imperialsim (or in the case of Kipling's poem, the possible satire of it), bringing Christianity & Civilization to savages, etc., it was also practiced at the local level.

For example, there were the "enlightened" slave owners who baptized and educated their slaves (to a point) but fell short of actually manumitting them, for instance, claiming that without their largesse, the blacks would revert to savagery or indolence.

By the time we get to_ Webster_ and _Diff'rent Strokes_, some view those shows as just watered down versions of that same mentality.  In their view, the fact that the series' main stars both had medical conditions that permanently rendered them childlike in stature and appearance provides a disturbing subtext in that they were black men who would forever be perceived as "boys."


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## ShinHakkaider (Mar 22, 2010)

Dannyalcatraz said:


> By the time we get to_ Webster_ and _Diff'rent Strokes_, some view those shows as just watered down versions of that same mentality.  In their view, the fact that the series' main stars both had medical conditions that permanently rendered them childlike in stature and appearance provides a disturbing subtext in that they were black men who would forever be perceived as "boys."




It amazes me, that to this day, this stuff needs to be explained and that the first reaction to any sort anxiety about this boils down to "there those people go again, making a mountain out of a molehill, crying wolf,or whatever." 

The simple fact that people miss or downplay the racial component here really shouldnt be all that surprising considering where we are I guess but still. Damn.


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## Mark (Mar 22, 2010)

ShinHakkaider said:


> It amazes me, that to this day, this stuff needs to be explained and that the first reaction to any sort anxiety about this boils down to "there those people go again, making a mountain out of a molehill, crying wolf,or whatever."
> 
> The simple fact that people miss or downplay the racial component here really shouldnt be all that surprising considering where we are I guess but still. Damn.





The Blind Side is based on a true story.  It's about a person who needed help and some people who did the helping.  It seems to have turned out to benefit the person being helped and the people who did the helping.  The racial component is only as important as people choose to believe it is, IMO, and it is certainly not required that it be the focus for everyone.  Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.


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## ShinHakkaider (Mar 29, 2010)

Mark said:


> The Blind Side is based on a true story.  It's about a person who needed help and some people who did the helping.  It seems to have turned out to benefit the person being helped and the people who did the helping.  The racial component is only as important as people choose to believe it is, IMO, and it is certainly not required that it be the focus for everyone.  Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.




Race relations, especially between blacks and whites in this country, is NEVER just a cigar...


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## Mark Chance (Mar 29, 2010)

ShinHakkaider said:


> Race relations, especially between blacks and whites in this country, is NEVER just a cigar...




Speaking for yourself, of course.


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## ShinHakkaider (Mar 30, 2010)

Deleted.


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## Dannyalcatraz (Mar 30, 2010)

Sometimes it really IS just a cigar...but it is rarely perceived that way.

Classic example- my fraternal aunt is a racist.  She has trouble ascribing anything BUT racial motives to the actions of whites.  When my Dad was stopped for speeding on our way home from a holiday gathering, her first words were "I bet its because we're black."

My Dad was doing 53 in a 35, basically because he was just going with the flow of traffic and forgot to monitor his speed.  And when he admitted this to the (white) officer, he said "You're the first person who's been honest with me all day" and let him go with just a warning.

Besides which, since we're originally from Louisiana, we don't look like the blacks in Texas- we look more like the hispanics.


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## Orius (Mar 30, 2010)

Dannyalcatraz said:


> Sometimes it really IS just a cigar...but it is rarely perceived that way.




And that's really part of the problem.  When a big stink is raised over nothing, people tend to ignore when serious race problems come up.


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## Dannyalcatraz (Mar 30, 2010)

Agreed.


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## Aurora (Mar 31, 2010)

IME some people are just so jaded and negative that they ascribe anything that even barely hints at having a racial element, as racist. I have known a few in my time (a couple black, a mexican or two, quite a few white people, and believe it or not, a Jewish person), who pulled the race card, literally, any time it was possible. This type of behavior drives me crazy from ANYONE. One such person at work accused everyone around her of not liking her because of the color of her skin. I had to correct her.

One thing I can say though, is I don't recall seeing any truly positive black characters in the Blindside (besides Michael), but we saw many negative. So, I can see where some people were set-off by it. I only saw it the one time though, and it is possible I am not remembering correctly. Of course, it is based on a true story, and to keep it as real as possible, you can't just add in characters that may not have existed. The dad in the beginning that was trying to get them into the school to begin with was obviously a good guy though.....I need to re-watch it.


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## Mark Chance (Mar 31, 2010)

Aurora said:


> One thing I can say though, is I don't recall seeing any truly positive black characters in the Blindside (besides Michael), but . . . . The dad in the beginning that was trying to get them into the school to begin with was obviously a good guy though.....I need to re-watch it.




I felt one of the faults of the movie was the way the father at the beginning just sort of faded away after his narrative role was done with. It jarred the story's realism for me. I also found the depiction of Michael's mother to be enormously sympathetic. Homes broken by violence, drugs, et cetera, are a serious social blight in the U.S., and I think the movie took the high road by not soft-pedaling the mother's problems while at the same avoiding the low road by not portraying her just another ghetto-living crack addict. Her pain and shame for her failings, and her love of and hope for her son's future were palpable.


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