The Blind Side: John Lee Hancock's Life

How many of us can say we have truly helped someone? How many of us can say that we transformed someone? I bet not many of us have an answer for these two questions. There is people though who truly can say they changed someone's life. In the movie, The Blind Side, director John Lee Hancock paints a perfect picture of of how someone can do this. According to TCM.com,” John Lee Hancock Jr. was born in Longview, Texas in 1956. His all his family ever knew was football. Hancock’s dad, John Lee Hancock Sr.,played football at Baylor University. His brother Joe, played a center at Vanderbilt University. Finally, his brother Kevin played professionally for the Chicago Bears. Growing up, Hancock’s family was not very well off. Many struggles with sending

Hancock viewed his brother as a very generous person for helping the family out during times of need.This impacted Johns outlook on how generous people should be. ”(par.2-3) Humans are naturally generous. We as a species, are breed to help one another during times of need. When a mother sees a baby crying, instincts kick in and the mother feels responsible for the baby when it may not even be their own child. Hancock noticed this as a young director and wanted his films to describe the emotions behind the people that are willing to help. Iain Blair from PostPerspective states,”Director, writer and producer John Lee Hancock has carved out a successful career with his ability to tell unlikely but true stories and bring them to life on screen”

The movie starts out with a story told by Leigh Anne Tuohy. The story talks about how in football there was a huge shift in the way recruiters looked for left tackles. Leigh Anne Tuohy gave an example of when Lawrence Taylor in 1985, sacked Joe Theismann, quarterback for the Washington Redskins at the time, and broke Joe’s leg. This caused a huge momentum shift in the National Football League to find huge left guards to cover the “Blind Side”. The “Blind Side” refers to the left side of a right handed quarterbacks body. While in the pocket of the Offensive Line the quarterback’s body is facing toward the right side of the field so he cannot see the left side of the field. Big Tony was a man who loves football in the city of Memphis. He sponsored two players to get them into Briarcrest Christian Academy. The players he sponsered were his son Steven and a kid named Michael Oher. Michael had very low testing scores but despite that the administration at Briarcrest admitted Michael because of his great football potential. Michael's early life at Briarcrest was very difficult. He couldn't even play sports or attend events for football because his grades were so bad. He was also very shy and lonely. Being from the inner city Michael lost a lot of experience that other kids, who grew up in wealthy families, got compared to him. Sean Tuohy was a basketball coach who notices Michael watching the team during practice. He is intrigued