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  • Essay / An in-depth look at the movie The Blind Side through the lenses of educational psychology

    In John Lee Hancock's movie The Blind Side, the true story of Michael Oher and his interesting journey to NFL stardom helps to shed light on many subjects. related to educational psychology. Michael is a 17-year-old African-American boy, from a broken home and now homeless, who is seen one night walking around town with just a bag of clothes by the Tuohys, an upper-class white family. The family decides to take Michael in after Michael tells them his story and places him in school with their own children at a private school. At first, Michael is not the brightest student, but his size and passion for others begin to stand out from Tuohy's other adults, such as Miss Sue, who becomes Michael's tutor, and Mrs. Boswell, his the only teacher who takes care of him. him and his work seriously. It is with the help, perseverance and willingness to let go of the attitude of the Tuohy, Miss Sue and Michael that help show that this film is a psychological lens and shows that when placed in the right situation with people who will support your every move, this impossible becomes possible. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay In this film, the subject of Nature vs. Nurture almost becomes the central question. Because Michael came from a place where he was taken from his mother who was a drug addict and in foster care, many believed that Michael could not be capable of doing good or even living with a rich person. white family like that of the Tuohys. They believed that Michael's instincts and beliefs all came from nature's perspective and that he could only be a bad outcome, since his past was not good. This is seen when Mrs. Tuohy goes out with her friends and they say that Michael is a "big black boy" and that he could pose a threat to the safety of the family, especially the girl. But this statement only infuriates Ms. Tuohy and pushes her to be a better mentor and guardian to Michael. To help him become the best version of himself possible. The Tuohys' motivations and actions with Michael are based on the belief that "primary/basic emotions have different functions with respect to survival and reproductive behaviors." It was Michael's need to survive that made him the way he was. He came from a place where his mother was a drug addict and became estranged from her. I was in and out of foster homes. Michael never really had that sense of belonging or family, and that's why he distanced himself from everyone and acted differently. It was his nature, as seen when he scored 98% in the protection section of his school's aptitude test. He cared about people, but he didn't really have anyone to truly care about until the Tuohys came along. In the article by Montag and another researcher, they talk about a “search system.” They say that this system in every human “energizes human beings and helps them not only be energized by “enthusiasm” and “interest,” in an exploratory/investigative way in daily life.” This search system is more precise at Michael. Once he has that reason to be better and try harder thanks to the Tuohys, the many options available to him can be seen. He plays football, improves in school, cares about his new family, but most importantly, he has become the best version of himself. By analyzing Blind Side, insights and flashes of Vygotsky's theory canbe seen everywhere. Vygotsky's theory is that it is not only Michael who plays a role in his learning and development, but also his caregivers, peers, siblings, and educators who play a role in learning and development by Michael. In an article written by Irina Verenikina of the University of Wollongong, she explains how, regarding Vygotsky's theory that "development is, in this case, co-constructed". With this co-constructed development concept, the blind side can be seen in a better light. Without the help of the Tuohys, Miss Sue or Mrs. Boswell, who knows where Michael Oher would have ended up. He was homeless and had no place to go. But when all of these individuals came into Michael's life and pushed him to become the best version of himself, magical things happened. But rather than just seeing what Michael accomplished, you need to understand why he wanted to accomplish it and how he did it. It was thanks to “externally mediated activities, actions that involve the use of external means” that allowed Michael to achieve his goals. Michael wanted to make his new family proud, especially his new little brother SJ. He wanted to be a better person than the environment he came into portrayed him. But he only achieved this thanks to his own motivation and the help of others. Without Miss Sue spending countless nights tutoring him and pushing him in his studies, without Mrs. Tuohy pushing him to be the protector of his new family at home and on the soccer field, without Mrs. Boswell only understands Michael and pushes him in the classroom, and without Coach Cotton pushing him on the football field, Michael would never have had these external motivations to do better and better internally. It is very evident throughout this film that Vygotsky's theory is what helped Michael Oher become the caring and selfless human that he became. Another psychological aspect that plays a vital role in Michael Oher's story is prejudice and discrimination. Throughout the film, prejudice and discrimination against Michael is seen almost everywhere. From her own mother who says that Michael will always come back to her, from people in her old neighborhood who see Michael as just another helpless guy, from Mrs. Tuohy's friends who believe that Michael is not safe and that we cannot not trust him, teachers at his school who see him as unintelligent with no chance of success, a parent at a football game who utters very racist and inappropriate slurs towards Michael, a college football investigator who believes in Originally, the Tuohys only helped Michael because of his size. What all these people have in common is that they never tried to get to know Michael or give him a chance. People seem to be afraid of Michael because of his size and the color of his skin. In an article written by Stuart Oskamp, ​​he refers to "aversive racists are people who sincerely believe themselves to be free of prejudice, but who nevertheless harbor negative feelings toward ethnic minority groups." This aversive racism and misunderstanding of Michael's is shown in a better light when we see exactly where this story takes place, Memphis Tennessee. As many know, the South is well known for its beliefs in the Civil War and its desire to create slavery, and regardless of what others say, this sense of racism is still visible in the South to this day. This is where this aversive racism towards Michael is based. These people I referred to above see Michael as a big black kid who is intimidating because of his size and judge him by.