Stereotypes In The Blind Side And Let America Be America Again

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Despite America being vastly diverse culturally, African Americans are still one of the most frequent racial groups stereotyped against. In today's society, African Americans have many obstacles that they must overcome and so must take action to achieve their goals and dreams. Stereotypes may be a part of daily life, but they show unrealistic expectations from people. These misconceptions are adhered to and are portrayed in the movie "The Blind Side" directed by John Lee Hancock and “Let America be America again” written by Langston Hughes. Both types of work highlight the negative stigma created by stereotypes onto black people by American Society and how the black society has been oppressed in the community. John Lee Hancock's film describes …show more content…

"The Blind Side" made in 2009 reinforces stereotypes of race and class in our culture. All the good and well meaning people in the story (Michael’s teachers, the Tuohy family, & the football coach) are white, and all the negative influences and people in need (Michael, his drug addicted mother and gang friends) are black. By asserting this stereotype the film ensures that its protagonists, the White, Christian Tuohy family, remain innately “good” while the black characters are associated with a lack of power and poverty. 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. Leigh Anne asks her husband “You don’t think he will steal anything?”. Her comment portrays Michael as a danger to the family. Throughout the film, it illustrates the struggle that African Americans have to go through to help provide themselves financially which is clearly shown when Michael Oher receives his first bed as he has never slept on one before as well as the time he meets his brother working as a waiter in the restaurant. This scene makes Anne Touhy see Michael Oher in another light due to the struggle he had to go through and overcome by getting to know him from the society he comes …show more content…

Hughes uses imagery and describes his dreams as "Bright like a sun" with the use of a simile. As he grew up, he experienced prejudice and racial discrimination, and his naive dreams were shattered. The point of the speaker's deepest despair is when the wall that shuts out his dream reaches its greatest height, leaving him to 'lie down in its shadow.' This wall can symbolize the racial barriers in society which deny people like Hughes their early hopes. However, as he becomes more mature, he once again takes up the dream, willing his 'dark hands' to take action and smash through the barriers of racial injustice and oppression and to once again let in the light, the 'sun.' The message of the poem is that we must take action against unjust society, deal with prejudice and rise above

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