Topic > A comparative study of the four main characters of the film Stand by Me

Stand By Me is the coming-of-age adventure film adapted from Stephen King's short story entitled "The Body". The film follows a group of four young friends, all boys, who embark on a journey into the woods in search of the body that the brother of one of them constantly talks about. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay In the small Oregon town called Castle Rock, they were home to four boys who go on an adventure to discover a lost body. Three days before Labor Day 1959, Gordie Lachance, Vern Tesso, Chris Chambers and Teddy Duchamp decide to reap the glory that would entail bringing the missing body of a boy, Ray Brower, back to town. During the journey the four boys begin to understand how each friend is more different than they once thought. Gordie Lachance is newly a single brother due to a jeep accident that led to the death of his older brother Denis. At the beginning of the film Gordie struggles to get noticed by his parents and often finds himself at the receiving end of their comparisons to Denis. You often get questions like: "Why don't you have friends like Denis?" and if he plays football like his brother did both with his fellow citizens and with his father. This is a recurring theme throughout the journey and is a mystery if solved. He is often comforted by Chris Chambers, who is his best friend outside of the group. Gordie is also much quieter and more reserved outside of the group. This could be a sudden and big change of mood in the house, shown by flashbacks of dinner with his family, including Denis, where he repeats being ignored by both parents, but Denis is trying to share the spotlight with his brothers' writing minors. Only then is he recognized by his mother and promptly shut down by his father. According to Macionis (2014) Gordie may experience alienation due to isolation and misery due to lack of power. Even more so currently than in the dinner scene, simply because Denis is not present as the main support in the family. There is a possibility that he is starting to feel symptoms of depression over Denis' death. He feels guilty for not crying at his funeral and feels that he should be the one to die and not his brother. Sadness, apathy, loss of interest, mood swings, unusual agitation, restless sleep and discontent are shown throughout the film. Not much is revealed about Vern Tesso's family life, other than that he has two brothers, his mother cleans his room, and he is desperate to find a jar of lost change under the house's deck. And that's where he heard about the location of the body hidden from his unsuspecting brothers. At first glance, it's easy to write Vern off as a good-for-nothing who, more often than not, turns an anthill into a mountain. Getting angry at having lost a comb, jumping at the slightest noise and speaking before thinking. Upon closer inspection it might be plausible that Vern may have a mild case of panic, which in the textbook Macionis (2014), explains panic as a collective behavior by which people react to a threat with frantic or self-destructive behavior . When he meets the second train across the railroad bridge, Vern holds on to the railroad as the train travels at high speed toward Gordie and himself. After Gordie encourages him to go outside under his panic attack, they manage to get to safety. However, the fact remains that if Gordie had not been there, Vern would most likely have stayed there and died. Later in the film the boys have to guard the animals. Vern is very anxious about every sound, whatever it isharmless like that of an owl or a cricket, he perceives it as a threat. Vern is also seen as the one at the base of the food chain. His status or social position he holds. Often due to his lack of knowledge and cowardice. Seen several scenes but the most noticeable in his fight or flight response at the end of the film when his brothers and their gang show up unannounced and quickly flee. Chris Chambers is one of the most complex characters of the group. Gordie at the beginning of the film introduces Chris as the leader of the four. He is extraordinarily kind to everyone in the group and cares deeply about each member, it's easy to say he is the definition of an expressive leader. When the first train interrupts the friends' food conversation, Teddy decides it's a good time to play Dodge the Train. As the train races towards him, Chris pulls his friend out of harm's way risking Teddy's reaction and the others stand by and watch. Gordie finds comfort in Chris during his family crisis. Constantly throughout the film encouraging him to keep writing and saying that his father doesn't hate him. It's clear that Gordie is almost like an extended family. She also hugs Teddy after a meeting with Milo from the junkyard. Chambers always takes the initiative to make sure everyone is okay and that there are no hard feelings. However, outside the group he is known as a bad boy from a bad family. After a little thief of money for milk, which he returned after feeling guilty. Unfortunately, the teacher he stole from decided to use his family's bad reputation against him. Since the teacher and the police, if involved, had higher authority, thus portraying them as a legitimate and respectable power. Unable to demonstrate his remorse and the money returned, he is labeled throughout the city as a thief and expresses his desire to go somewhere he doesn't know. In a way, as Chamber is a victim of labeling theory, which is how Chris identifies himself as a bad and stupid person, because of the way the people of the town responded to the act of deviance. This little incident had influenced and followed throughout his residence in Castle Rock. It is fair to say that, although in an isolated area, he was subjected to discrimination, meaning that he was judged and treated unequally by the majority of the population (Macionis, 2014, p. 401). Although one scene never directly showed him, there is a conversation between him and Gordie where Chris is upset that he will be stuck in a stupid carpentry class and will never have the chance to prove himself smart enough to take fancy lessons like Gordie. It is possible that this is a situation you have encountered before. Eventually, under the encouragement of his best friend, he completes advanced school under the formal guidance of poorly qualified teachers to become a lawyer. Finally, there's Teddy Duchamp who was by far the craziest thrill seeker of the bunch. To the point where you wonder if he's suicidal, trying to see if he can dodge a train. He's the most unstable of the group, going from happy to angry at the flip of a switch and continuing to insult people when things don't go his way. He comes from a home where his father is essentially a crazy alcoholic. Those who unleash anger cause family violence, which is the emotional, physical and even sexual abuse of one family member towards another. It is unknown whether Teddy's mother was also hurt, but it is wise to assume that both she and Teddy were hurt emotionally. Teddy's father also burned his ear on a hot stove, well drunk. Causing permanent damage to vision and hearing. What.