Medicine River Audience

         I believe that this film was made for both a Native and general audience. I say this because most all the popular characters are Native American. However, because the main character, Will, comes from a “normal” fast-paced lifestyle in the city, the moviemakers try and relate to a more general audience through the struggles of his character.

         Now this may sound racist, but white people like to watch “white people doing white people things” (And this translates to any race as well; think Tyler Perry movies.) I believe that this movie crossed over into the general audience territory when they had Will doing “white people things” like hustling and bustling in the city in the beginning of the movie (perfect timing for catching an audience’s attention). It sounds harsh and maybe a little old school, but I believe it helped his character a lot when we saw that Will’s girlfriend is also pretty blonde, yet another thing we can connect with.

         I believe that if this movie followed the life of a struggling Native American on the reservation, a general audience would not have been able to make an emotional connection with the storyline because they know nothing about that lifestyle. I feel that because we could make an emotional connection with Will early on in the film, we were more open to learn more about his personal struggle about being a Native American.