Stand by Me Essay
Samantha Ballard Professor Huelsman ENC1102 26 October 2011 Adventure What can be considered dramatic and life changing? In a small town in Oregon on Labor Day weekend four preteen boys see another boy’s lifeless body lying under some dead tree branches. It changes their lives forever. In the movie Stand by Me by director Rob Reiner and producer Bruce Evans; Gordie, Chris, Teddy, and Vern go on an adventure to see a dead body, and they learn a lot along the way. Evans shows experiences in friendship, growing up, stereotyping, and life and death as being crossroads in their own destinies.
Adult Gordie types the last lines of the film on his computer, and they write, “I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone? ” This quote conveys a message about friendship. Evans exhibits the boys playing poker for money, using foul language, and smoking cigarettes in the beginning of the movie. Children at that age are starting to understand life, and they need each other in the process of growing up. Many people do not continue being friends with the same people they were friends with when they are young.
As people mature, they go different ways. Evans shows this at the end of the movie when the narrator explains what happened to all of the boys. As twelve year old boys: Vern is the loyal friend that everyone in the group picked on, but they would not be the same without him; Teddy is the one that has no regard for his life, and has an abusive father that was put in a psych-ward; Chris is the leader, and comes from a bad family; and Gordie is the smart and creative friend.
As mature adult men: Vern is married to his high school sweetheart, and operates a forklift for a living; Teddy cannot get into the Army, so he is in and out of jail; Chris becomes a lawyer, but dies by being stabbed in the throat while braking up a fight in a fast food line; and Gordie becomes a writer with a loving family. Stereotyping is another big issue Evans conveys in this film. Stereotyping is evident in the scene where the Teddy and Vern are sleeping by the campfire, and Chris and Gordie are by the tree talking. Chris tells Gordie that he stole the milk money, but he returns it to Ms. Simons.
Unfortunately, the teacher he returns it to is dishonest, and keeps the money for herself because everyone assumes Chris is a bad child, that comes from a bad family, so he definitely stole the money. Life and death is a message seen throughout Evans’ film. For example, Teddy stands on the tracks while the train is coming trying to cheat death because life does not matter to him. Later, when the boys find the dead boy’s body, they encounter their older brother and his older teenage friends. This is the scene that Ace pulls a switchblade on Chris, and Chris’ older brother Eyeball stands there and lets his little brother die.
That goes along with the idea that death can ruin families. An additional example of this is with Gordie and his family. His older brother Denny is killed in a car accident, but his family cannot get over this tragedy. Gordie has dreams about his dad telling him, “It should have been you. ” Experiences in friendship, growing up, stereotyping, and life and death as being crossroads in their own destinies are shown in Evans film Stand by Me. At the age of twelve children do not have many responsibilities, so they can go on adventures and live carefree. Children grow up fast, and learn so much about friendship.
