Describe at least ONE event that was a turning point in the text(s).Explain how the event was a turning point in the text(s), using examples of visual and / or oral language features to support your ideas.

1. The pivotal scene where Leigh Anne picks Michael up in the rain

- Before the turning point: Michael in Hurt Village, not belonging, vulnerable. Features: costume, body language

- Turning point: Pivotal scene – Dialogue, camera shots (close ups), blue filter

- After the turning point: Michael becomes football player, university, belonging with Tuohys. Features: costume, body language, shown through David’s death, “It could have been anyone. It could have been my son, Michael.”

In the film The Blind Side directed by John Lee Hancock, an event that was a turning point was when Leigh Anne Tuohy decides to take Michael Oher home with her. Michael is a poor, large, homeless black teenage boy who is admitted to a wealthy Christian school because of his athletic skills. He is taken in by the Tuohys, who change his life for the better in many ways by giving him opportunities to change his life – not only by making sure he wins a football scholarship but also by giving him confidence in himself and a place where he belongs. The event where Leigh Anne Tuohy takes Michael Oher home with her is shown to be a turning point by the contrast in Michael’s life before and after this event.

Before he met the Tuohy family, Michael Oher was vulnerable, not belonging anywhere, and worn down by his rough life that had seemingly no escape. He lived in an area called Hurt Village, populated by the poor and controlled by local gangs. Michael is shown to not belong in this life through an extra-long shot near the beginning of the film where he is walking down a street in Hurt Village. He is wearing a pale blue t-shirt, that contrasts with all the other people on the street who are wearing dark colours. This colour blue is linked to Michael’s vulnerability as he also wears this colour during other scenes where he is feeling upset, lonely and vulnerable. This is especially shown in the flashbacks where Michael is being taken away from his mother. Michael also contrasts with the others in Hurt Village through camera composition. He is the focus of the camera shot, whereas everyone else is in the background and out of focus. This gives the illusion that Michael is in his own world, separate from everything and everyone else. This is true, as he has nowhere to belong and nobody to “protect his blind side” - that is, to look after him. The director wants us as an audience to see Michael’s vulnerability and isolation from everyone around him, which foreshadows the changes that occur after the turning point of his meeting with the Tuohys. This is important to the text as a whole as it creates an even more apparent contrast with his life later on in the film, where he finds the Tuohys and therefore a place where he can belong and grow into his full potential.

The turning point in the film The Blind Side was the scene where Michael Oher is taken home by the Tuohy family. He is walking in the cold rain, with nowhere to

go, when the Tuohy family drive past and recognise him from school. Leigh Anne Tuohy is shown to be the center of this turning point as when she sees Michael, she orders her husband to “stop the car” and “turn around.”