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The Blind Side Ethos

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“Families don’t have to match. You don’t have to look like someone to love them.” This was said by one of Michael Oher’s legal guardians, Leigh Anne Tuohy. This feel good story of bringing in a troubled, homeless teenager and watching him prosper led to a book and a movie to be made about it. The book, The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game, was written by Michael Lewis and was produced in 2006. The movie, which was also entitled The Blind Side, was directed by John Lee Hancock and aired in November of 2009. Since both the book and movie evoke strong emotions, pathos is perhaps the most important and best used pillar since there were many scenes in the movie and book that can tap into the emotions of the audience. The use of logos is also used …show more content…

But, however, the movie seemed to have done a better job. The last pillar, ethos, is not as strong as the other two in the movie because Michael Oher has publically talked about how he is not a big fan of the movie, The Blind Side, and how a lot of the stories and content in the movie are false or made up to make things more “Hollywoodized.” This paper will review the use of ethos, pathos, and logos in the book and movie and point out some of the strengths and weaknesses in how they are used. The movie has some very powerful scenes that use the aspect of pathos to its fullest extent. One of the many scenes that evokes emotion from the audience is also one of the opening scenes where the Tuohy family meets Michael. They see him beforehand scanning the high school gym after a volleyball game searching for leftover food. Eventually, coming back from their son S.J.’s play, they see him on the side of the road on a cold, rainy night. Leigh Anne tells her husband Sean to pull over so she can ask Michael where he is going. Michael responds that he is going to the gym, but Leigh Anne catches on to the lie and recognizes that the gym is closed at night. She then asks what is the real reason why, to which …show more content…

It (the movie) was more of an inspiration porn than it was a story about what happened. Elizabeth Heideman of Salon wrote an article about how inspiration porn is not okay. Heideman was displeased with the use of disabled people in Super Bowl commercials to inspire people. She says that these people shouldn’t be looked upon as a source for inspiration, and that is exactly how Michael Oher feels. He is upset that he was used as an object to make people feel good, and he feels that he should be looked at as much more than just an object for inspiration. Also, in a radio interview with Talk of the Nation, Oher speaks about his childhood and growing up and how he looked up to NBA legend Michael Jordan as his role model and as a source for inspiration. It can be seen that Oher wishes people would view him in the same way as people see Michael Jordan for inspiration. They have both gone through several hardships in their life, but still persevere and move forward. When Michael Jordan is brought up, people automatically think of the great player he was, but when Michael Oher is brought up, the movie The Blind Side is the first thing to pop in to many minds. Some of the reason why is because he doesn’t play a glamorous position in football and doesn’t get much recognition. Oher wishes he would be viewed as more than just a source for inspiration, and be looked at as role model the same way Michael Jordan was and

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