The Other

After reading bell hooks’ article, “Eating the Other: Desire and Resistance” I immediately thought of the movie The Blindside.  The Blindside is a movie about a white family that takes in a young and unfortunate black boy, named Michael, into their home.  The mother of the family, Leigh Anne, treats and raises him the same as her own children.  The family supports him in playing football and by the end of the movie Michael is playing for a professional team.  Throughout the movie it seems that the white family is doing a charity for Michael by giving him a home and helping him improve his future.  However, throughout the movie Leigh Anne mentions that Michael has changed her life more than she has changed his.  I think this is a perfect example of what bell hooks’ mentions in her article about white people interacting with The Other not to have dominance over them, but to gain an experience or be changed.  In the movie, the family did so much to change Michael’s life by taking him off the streets and giving him a sense of home.  Without the help of the family, Michael probably would have never played professional football.  Yet, by having Leigh Anne say that he has changed their lives in a positive manner suggests that by doing this for him, the family was able to have this experience or change that bell hooks discusses.