Stand By Me• “Based on Stephen King's Short story "The Body",

Stand By Me tells the tale of Gordie Lachance, a writer who looks back on his preteen days when he and three close friends went on their own adventure to find the body of a kid their age who had gone missing and presumed dead. – The stakes are upped when the bad kids in town are closely

tailing - and it becomes a race to see who'll be able to recover the body first” (IMDB).

• Film opens with a shot of the protagonist, Gordie Lachance, in the mid 1980’s, and then flashes back to his life during the late 1950’s (different than in novella)

About the Film

• Released in 1986• Directed by Rob Reiner• Adaptation of The Body- a novella written by

Stephen King• 1997 Academy Award Nomination for Best

Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium– (Note - Best Picture that year was Platoon)

Cast• Will Wheaton as Gordie Lachance• River Phoenix as Chris Chambers• Corey Feldman as Teddy Duchamp• Jerry O’Connel as Vern Tessio• Keifer Sutherland as Ace Merrill

The Differences

Who is the protagonist?• Chris (as the tragic

hero)• vs. Gordie (as a more

traditional one)• Setting “Books and movies are

apples and oranges– they’re both delicious, but they don’t taste the same at all.”

–Stephen King

Themes• Self-Discovery (Coming of Age) & Loss of Innocence

– The standard plot of the hero’s adventure involves the processes of separation, initiation, and return

– Traditional coming-of-age stories usually emphasize the sexual aspect of the maturation process: the first kiss, etc.• The theme of love is present it remains an equally powerful and

sustaining force-- it does not manifest itself in male-female relationships; instead, we learn about the love that exists between friends, and that special bond which connects children of the same age and gender.

– What they never consciously face is that they are going to meet death “face to face.” A confrontation with mortality awaits them, all the more emotional for them because the victim is a child of their age.

separation

• Lying to their parents• Leaving their homes– The dump and encounter with Milo – Teddy’s breakdown

initiation

• Smoking• Crossing the bridge• Chris and the story of the Milk Money• Gordie’s conversation with Chris – his dream• Finding Ray Brower’s dead body• Firing the gun

return• The boy’s plan

to return—without “the body”

• How are they changed?