Blog Directory CineVerse: 1957 meets 1986 meets 2016

1957 meets 1986 meets 2016

Thursday, July 21, 2016

The film "Stand by Me" is a trip down memory lane to a simpler time, but this sentimental journey isn't designed to be exclusively enjoyed by men who shed their childhood skins in the late 1950s, which is time period depicted. It has a story and characters that resonated in 1986--the year of the film's release--and that can be appreciated today, too. Here's our CineVerse group's take on this memorable movie and what it has to say to modern audiences:

WHAT DID YOU FIND INTERESTING, DIFFERENT OR UNIQUE ABOUT THIS PICTURE?
It falls into several categories: it’s a coming-of-age film, a road movie, a buddy picture, an adventure tale, and a nostalgia film. 
It also has the best of all worlds: an absorbing plot, well-developed characters, and quality dialogue and voiceover narration.
Different from other coming-of-age and road trip stories, however, it occurs over only two days and by foot—not machine or over a vast distance. Additionally, many coming-of-age films feature more female characters; here, the only one of consequence, and in a small part, is Gordie’s mother. By removing any female peers as characters, the filmmakers avoid any sexual complications and let the four boys’ experiences and innocence stand out on their own.
It’s well cast with talented young teenagers who make us believe what they’re going through.
It’s told in voiceover flashback by the main character, now an adult writer, which offers perspective and context on what can be learned from childhood experiences.
There’s a great “tale-within-a-tale” sequence, told around the campfire that provides comic relief in the middle of the film.
It’s wistful and sentimental, but in a bittersweet way that doesn’t try to glorify/whitewash the late 1950s when the main story occurs: each boy has challenges and problems that they hope to overcome; some do, others don’t.
It’s based on a novella written by Stephen King, who is more known for his horror tales; this movie showcases King’s talent for writing across genres, as it also demonstrates director Rob Reiner’s skill at crafting movies across genres, too (he’s done comedies, romances, thrillers and fantasies, as well).
It stands the test of time as an evergreen feature, due in no small part to the fact that it’s a period piece removed from the time the film was released; even though future generations won’t be able to relate to what it was like to be a preteen in the late 1950s, any viewer of any future time period who survived adolescence can appreciate the movie’s themes, conflicts and characters.
Curiously, this movie is rated R, despite not showing any nudity or graphic violence. Arguably, it deserves no higher than a PG-13 rating so that it can be seen by more teens and preteens for the wisdom it can impart on adolescent viewers.
It’s a picture that’s not afraid to show preteens smoking, swearing, using homophobic slurs, and talking about sex. Today, smoking in films and homophobic slurs are seriously frowned upon by Hollywood, especially among child characters.
WHAT THEMES ARE EXPLORED IN “STAND BY ME”?
Living life to the fullest in a very mortal existence; as reviewer Martin Liebman put it: “Theirs is a quest that will reveal what it means to be alive, even as they willfully seek out death.”
Liebman further suggested: “It's how the characters learn to live not only in the good times but with the bad in life that's the real purpose of the story, and it's that honesty about how life works -- for these characters through the meshing of youth, experience, discovery, and death -- that makes Stand By Me one of the all-time great movies that deals with the realities of the world at large but here discovered through the small-town experience.”
The loss of childhood innocence as we mature into young adulthood and, later, adulthood.
The strong bonds of friendship and camaraderie; the film’s title was changed from the novella’s title, “The Body”, to “Stand by Me”, to accent this point.
Social and familial alienation: These boys each cannot count on the support of parents or siblings; they can only rely on each other.
The mythic journey of a hero who must travel and undergo different challenges to be able to return home as a new or reborn man. King said he was influenced by Joseph Campbell’s book “A Hero with a Thousand Faces”; Campbell noted that the prevalent template for the mythic quest and the narrative driving the hero’s journey follow the pattern of separation, initiation and return/redemption.
Like legendary stories from Greek mythology, including “The Odyssey,” our protagonists must travel away from home and confront dangers and threats that will help them develop into fully actualized adult heroes: First, they venture across the dump and its Cerberus-like canine guard; next they must traverse the treacherous train bridge; next, our storyteller shares a myth within a myth around the campfire; then, this lead character encounters a deity or spiritual presence in the form of a deer; next, they must cross a pond filled with monsters (leeches), during which the main hero’s manhood is threatened; eventually, they must confront death (the dead body) and the forces of evil (the gang of older boys); finally, they return home, forever changed by their experiences and destined to live out their fates—some will survive and thrive, others perish or acquiesce.
EVEN NON-HITCHCOCK FILMS CAN HAVE A MACGUFFIN. WHAT IS THE MACGUFFIN IN THIS MOVIE?
The dead body itself, which drives the action and characters, but which by itself proves to be relatively inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. 
FILMS AND TV SHOWS THAT STAND BY ME BRING TO MIND
A Christmas Story
The Wonder Years
American Graffiti
The Goonies
The Outsiders
The Sand Lot
OTHER FILMS HELMED BY ROB REINER
This is Spinal Tap
The Princess Bride
When Harry Met Sally
Misery
A Few Good Men
The American President

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