Blog 10: Amberley Snyder in Walk. Ride. Rodeo.

The Netflix film Walk. Ride. Rodeo tells the story of a successful barrel racer Amberley Snyder who flips her car on the side of the highway. As a result of the accident she is left wheelchair bound and told time and time again that she will never walk or ride again in her life. Post surgery and when she is moved into recovery the goals she creates for herself, leave many and the doctors and nurses wondering if she understands the extent of her condition. Time and time again she tells the doctors, the nurses, and the physical therapists that her goals in recovery are to learn to walk again, ride again, and participate in the rodeo. At this point, she has already missed the big show that she was supposed to star in and win, yet this does not deter her from the noble goal of getting back to the head of the competition in the barrel racing competition. As Amberley goes through numerous phases of depression and anxiety in balancing her goals with her reality at last she manages to succeed. The key to her successful recovery is a bit of pressure and pushing from her parents to try for her second goal, to ride because it is evident by her paralysis that walking again is simply out of the question. The entirety of the story of her life and the way the events played out was authentic to the story of Amberley Snyder’s life. The movie features Spencer Locke who plays the character of Amberley Snyder during the movie. Actor Spencer Locke does not have a condition that requires her to be in a wheelchair in real life and therefore only uses the wheelchair for the purpose of the show. However, it is a bit of a unique situation because she is quite connected with Amberley Snyder who gives her tips and tricks on living with a wheelchair and being successful at being authentic. One thing that Amberley Snyder does is Wheelchair Wednesdays where she makes inspiring social media videos with tips and tricks for surviving life from a wheelchair. One Wednesday, Amberley included Spencer in the video addressing the wheelchair trick of spinning in the chair. The video can be seen

here. While Amberly Snyder did not play her own character in the film because of the need for the individual to be an experienced actor for the drama elements of the film, she did play a part in the film about her life. Aside from interviewing about the various aspects of her life and the feelings, she “is the stunt rider for Spencer Locke for all of the post-accident riding scenes” (source). Therefore, while one could argue that the actor should have been Amberley herself or another wheelchair bound actor, the situation is complicated by the fact that Amberley was not paralysed for the entirety of the film. The issue as a viewer that I had the most trouble with was actor Spencer playing Amberly during the scenes where she was riding and competing after the accident. However, my research demonstrates that it was not the actor who was doing those scenes, but rather it was Amberley herself. This makes me feel better about the production and authenticity of the inspiring message that the film portrays.