Audience Classification!

My Left Foot 

A media text that I have consumed over the past week is quite an old film called, 'My Left Foot' which is a biographical film portraying the difficult life led by the poet and artist, Christy Brown. The film was originally released in 1989, starring Daniel Day-Lewis as the protagonist. Christy was diagnosed with cerebral palsy as a young child and was practically paralysed unable to do anything for himself. His mother was warned that he would never amount to much, advising that she gave up on him from then on. Despite his physical disability his mind was thriving, giving him knowledge and wisdom well beyond his years. Unfortunately nobody knew this because he could not express his thoughts, constantly living with the frustration of knowing answers and not being able to tell anyone. The only part of his body that still functioned was his left foot- hence the name- which he used to his advantage, teaching himself how to paint and write poetry using his foot. The film tells his inspiring story of how he battled through the adversity and became one of the most successful poets in Irelands history. It is a popular film with critics and audiences alike with 97% of its reviews on 'Rotten Tomatoes' being positive. 

The film is mainly targeted at a Mainstream audience. The main actor is Daniel Day-Lewis who- even during the late 80's- was a famous mainstream actor who has since appeared in films and television programmes such as Lincoln and There will be Blood. The film is quite typical of a British comedy which provides the audience with a sense of security and familiarity because they know what to expect with the young boy overcoming the adversity. The fact that the story is based on the reality also allows the audience to form an understanding of what will happen, even before they have seen the film. It also allows them to build up an expectation of how it will be shot, as close to real life as possible. This will also create a sense of familiarity which is perfect for The Mainstreamers because their core need in life is security. Even though it was aimed at the mainstreamers which is the largest of the 4C categories, the box office of $14.7million surpassed everyones expectations from a film with a budget of $600,000.