Stand by me

Stand by me

The film stand by me is about four twelve year old boys who are good friends. They learn about a boy who has gone missing for many days and head out to find his body. On there journey they learn more about themselves and there friendship.


The main characters in the film are Gordie, Chris, Teddy and Vern who are very close friends but they are all very different. Gordie is from a family that have never hurt him in any way but after the loss of his older brother Danny they start to block him out. They ignore his existence and the mum,  especially acts as if Gordie isn't even around. This has in turn caused Gordie some damage. He tries to give up on his dreams of being a writer because his dad thought it was stupid, 'Fuck writing, I don't want to be a writer. It's stupid. It's a stupid waste of time... I'm no good. My dad said it. I'm no good ' You see later on just how much he likes to write and make up stories when he is around the camp fire with his friends and is telling them a story about a fat kid named Davie. You can see how he really gets into the telling of this story and how he likes watching his friends grip on his every word. You can also see how his closest friend Chris can see how much his family has messed Gordie up, 'I know how your dad feels about you. He doesn't give a shit about you. Denny was the one. He cared about and don't try to tell me different. You're just a kid, Gordie.' Chris can see that Gordie's parents just don't care about him and were always only ever interested in Danny. You also see this on a flash back that Gordie has of a meal that his happening around the table with the family and Gordie's dad is only interested about Danny's football game. Although Danny tries to tell his parents about a story Gordie has written, they just dismiss him and go back to talking about Danny's big game. This shows us just how important it was for Gordie to find the body. He wanted to find it so he had a feeling of accomplishment and wasn't just the failure that his family thought he was. He wanted to do something that would amaze his parents and actually get them to notice him for once and move on from the death of his brother.


Chris also has issues that he thinks finding this body would over come. He had been accused of stealing the milk money, which he had done but nobody would listen to his side of the story, they just all thought he was a thieve and that's how they decided to label him, 'Yeah, I took it! I mean, you knew I took it. Teddy knew I took it. Everyone knew I took it. Even Vern knew it, I think. But maybe I was sorry and I tried to give it back.' You can see here that although he took it, he was sorry about it and he did feel guilty. He even tried to return it but people still labelled as a thieve. 'Yeah. So let's just say that I stole the milk money, but Old Lady Simmons stole it back from me. Just say that I told this story. Me, Chris Chambers. Kid brother to Eyeball Chambers. Do you think that anyone would've believed it?' Because he is the brother of Eyeball (a menace in society) everyone just presumes he will turn out the same so even though he tried to return the money, people still saw him as a menace and a thieve. This shows why he wants to be part of the group that finds the body, he wants to be known for something else other than stealing the milk money. You can tell that he hopes that by finding the kids body people will forget about the fact he is a thieve and that they will remember his name for something else instead, something better than a thieve.

Teddy is the next character that also has a bit of a messed up family. You see from the film that his dad is a little messed up in the head and often took things out on his son, 'I know who you are. You're Teddy Duchamp. Your dad's a looney. A looney up in the nuthouse in Togus. He took your ear and he put it to a stove and burnt it off.' You learn that Teddy's dad is no longer around with him but despite this he still cares deeply for his dad and tries to defend his honour, 'My father stormed the beach at Normandy...You call my dad a looney again, I'll kill you.' This shows that even though his dad has physically and probably emotionally hurt him, he still defends him in front of others. You can also see how proud he is of his dad by the number of times he mentions the fact he 'stormed the beach at Normandy' during the movie. He brings this up a lot as a way to remind others that he was a good, brave and honourable man once and that people need to remember this and not just the fact that he is now in an asylum because he is a little looney. I think he wants to find the body so people stop thinking that he will turn insane like his dad. Many people think he will end up like his dad, 'No wonder you're acting the way you are with a looney for a father.' and maybe he feels finding the body will make people stop thinking these things. Maybe he feels that finding the body will make him seem like a hero and not just the looney mans son.

Finally the character Vern also has a reason to find the body, but his motive isn't as strong as the others. Through out the film you see that he is the one that gets messed about by the other boys, they always pick on him in a joking manner, '(after dropping his hamburger in the campfire by accident) This isn't funny! What am I supposed to eat? You could cook your dick'. You see here that they are only messing about with him because he is there friend, but through out the whole movie they seem to pick on him a little more than the others. 'Ha-ha! You flinched! Two for flinching! Two for flinching! (Teddy punches him twice in the arm) ...B-but... you flinched'. This could be because out of all of them he is seen as the most vulnerable and the easiest target. Seeing this though it does make you wonder if because he is such an easy target for his friends, maybe he is an easy target at school too and maybe he gets bullied there. This could explain why he wants to find the body because maybe he feels that if he does people may respect him more and not pick and tease him as much. The other thing you see in the film about Vern is that although he is friends with Gordie, Chris and Teddy he doesn't seem to fit in with them that much. He's kind of like the out caste in there friendship group. 'Shut up, Vern...There's one thing I didn't understand. Did Lardass have to pay to get in the contest? (Chris and Teddy sighs) No, Vern. They just let him in.' This show how he doesn't understand things easily and because of this the others pick on him, but despite all this all the boys support each other and stand up for one another. Like at the end of the film where you see them all standing up to Ace and the other older boys.