Stand_by_Mer

The film Stand By Me directed by Rob Reiner is about four best friends Gordi Lachance , Chris Chambers, Vern Tessio and Teddy Duchamp who go for an adventure to find the dead body of the missing local boy Ray Brower. Through their journey they discover their true identity. Reiner presents four main themes in the film Death, Masks, Growing up and Friendship. Death is presented through many ways like Gordi’s reaction to the death of his brother Denny. It is also presented through the ways each of the four boys reacted about finding the body of Ray Brower. Masks in the film were exposed through all the characters in a way of hiding who they really were, and their feelings. Growing up is presented with each four boys in the film, and it changed each characters personality and their perspective of life. Friendship was the most important theme in the film it is shown through each the four boys, and how they have grown closer throughout their journey in the film. Death is presented through many ways like Gordi’s reaction to the death of his brother Denny. The impact of Denny’s death was huge for Gordi, because his relationship with Denny was strong. It also had an impact on his parents. Before the death of Denny, Gordi’s parents portrayed Denny to be the star of the family the sporty one. Whereas Gordi was the one in the family which kept to himself, and he was the one who wrote stories. His parents never paid much attention to Gordi. An example of this was when the whole family was at the dinner table talking about Denny’s football game and how there was going to be scouts coming to watch him. When Gordi asks his father for the potatoes he just ignores him. Reiner has a close up shot to show the expression of Gordi’s face. Denny then tries to include Gordi into their conversation and tells his parents about the stories Gordi had wrote. But they just ignore him and keep talking about Denny’s football career. When Denny died his parents felt as if they had nothing left for them. “That summer at home I became the invisible boy” says Gordi. Another way that death is presented in the film was the finding of Ray Brower’s dead body. At the start of the film the boys were excited to find the dead body, but through their journey they understood that finding the body should not be something to be excited about. “None of us could breathe somewhere under those bushes was Ray Brower” says Gordi once they have found the dead body. Reiner uses and over shot to give the audience the perspective of what the four boys were looking at. When Gordi saw the body of Ray Brower he started crying because he was thinking about his brother, and how much he missed him. He kept saying”Why did you have to die'” Throughout the film Stand By Me each of the four main protagonists realised how death is a part of growing up, and life. Masks in the film were exposed through all the characters of a way of hiding who they really were. Gordi wears a mask to hide his feelings about his recently dead brother Denny. He acts as though Denny’s death did not have an impact on him when it actually did. Another mask that he wears is pretending as though he doesn’t care that his parents do not pay attention to him. At the camp fire Gordi has a nightmare when he was at Denny’s funeral, and his father telling Gordi that is should have been him that died. Reiner uses a low angle shot of Gordi’s father show higher authority. Chris who is portrayed to be the leader of the group wears few masks in the film which were that he acts tough and as though he does not really care about what is happening around him. But really he is the one that is soft and cares for most about his friends. He always tries to protect his friends whenever they are in trouble. In the film Chris is judged by the community to be the local bad boy, just because of his families’ behavior in the past. “I’m just one of those low life Chamber kids. I just wished I could go some place where no one knows me” cries Chris at the camp fire while speaking to Gordi. In that scene Reiner uses nature noises to further represent that the boys are camping out. The mask the character Vern puts on is the tough and not scared mask. He wears this mask to try to fit in with his friends more, because he is the one that is labeled to be the person that is always on the safe side and never takes risks. Due to that reason his friends love to pick on him, “Great make fun of the fat kid” Vern always says when they pick on him. Teddy’s masks that he wears in the film are pretending like everything is ok and that his father wasn’t a mentally sick person. He tries to look up to his father like he was the most amazing person. He purposely puts himself in danger to try to live up to what his father did in the army and how he stormed the beach of Normandy. An example was when he tried to dodge the train he says “Just like the beach in Normandy” pretending like it was mission he had to complete. When Milo the junk man calls Teddy’s father a loony he gets very furious. A panning shot is used to show the emotional expression bout Teddy and the junkyard man’s face. Growing up is presented with each four boys in the film. It changed each characters personality and their perspective of life. The beginning of the film when Vern had told the boys about the dead body all they had thought about was being on TV and the heroes of the town. But through their journey they discovered that finding a dead body is not supposed to be a reward. They realize this when they were in conflict with the “Cobras” ”You get way man we’ve got dibs” says Chris. They then understood that finding this body shouldn’t be about getting money, because they were practically bargaining on a dead body. Another way growing up is presented in the movie was when they had realized they couldn’t always rely on each other , because they all need to grow and mature their own way. Also to learn their own mistakes by themselves. Friendship was the most important theme in the film it is shown through each the boys, and how they have grown closer together throughout their journey in the film. They riley on each other when ever the need help. In the film what the boys were in the junk yard and listening to a song on the radio the lyrics went like this “Come on baby and let the good times roll”. Reiner was trying to portray the enjoyment the boy had in that scene. In their friendship away of forgiving each other was “Skinning it”, this happens when Teddy forgives Chris because he didn’t let him dodge the train. By the end of the film each protagonist realizes how much they need each other. At the end of the movie the audience fined out that the boys relationship didn’t last, “As time went on we saw less of Vern and Teddy”. At the end of the film older Gordi is finishing writing his story he says “I’ve never had friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve, Jesus does anyone'” Stand By Me is predominately about self discovery. Rob Reiner presents four themes death, masks, friendship and growing up to present each characters personality , perspective of life and their relationship throughout the film and how they have grown closer through period of the film.