There are a few movies that I have watched as an adult that have an even bigger impact on me years later, whether it be Lilo and Stitch and my love for Nani or an anime film like Spirited Away. But there's one movie I saw as a young child and hadn't had the chance to re-watch for some time – and that was Stand By Me.
The Stephen King adaptation, based on the novella “The Body”, follows a group of boys whose morbid curiosity to discover the dead body of a missing kid brings them on an adventure. So, now that I'm older and (hopefully) wiser, I decided to check out the film that I fell in love with as a kid, the one that made me love Stephen King all the same.
And now, I'm starting to realize how much I connect with the main character, Gordie, played by Wil Wheaton. And honestly, I just felt the need to talk about it.
His Curious Mind Reminds Me Of When I Was A Kid
As children, we all have curious minds. And as I've gotten older, I realized I also had a super curious mind as a kid. Granted, you could blame it on my love of whimsical movies such as Harry Potter, but I was constantly questioning things – I was living in my head and wondering what the world was really like.
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That’s sort of what Gordie is like to me. You can always spot him reading or writing and diving right into his imagination because he enjoys the escape from reality. But he’s also not afraid to speak to others. His curiosity reminds me of my own - always asking questions, watching others, and staying quiet when necessary.
Watching him made my inner child smile a little because the reprimands I would get as a kid for that curiosity were constant. It's sweet to see something like that shown in a film, where his curiosity is cherished by his friends. As a young girl, I wish I had understood this better.
He Is Exposed To Death All Too Soon In His Life, Which Changed Him
Death changes a person, and we see that all too well with Gordie in Stand By Me.
While I will say I've never seen a freshly dead body, I was pretty young when I was first exposed to death, only seven when my grandmother died. Since then, I've never quite been the same when it comes to thinking about the afterlife or mortality or any of that. And you can see how much it has changed Gordie too.
Losing his brother was the catalyst. We can see how he tries to keep up his guard around his friends, trying not to show his emotions. Even around his parents, we understand that he's just the "Invisible Boy" to them because they're lost in their grief. But it's upon finding the body he begins to show just how much his brother's death has affected the young boy.
I Love How He Always Finds Ways To Keep Up With His Friend’s Jokes
Preteen boys are always crazy in any coming-of-age movie. I swear, I have heard the absolute dirtiest jokes leave their mouths, and I wonder where on earth did they learn to talk like that?
But as quiet as Gordie can be, he can keep up with his friends, specifically Teddy, who always seems to joke around with them and make pretty insulting comments to the boys. But even so, the friends find ways to match his jokester attitude.
My favorite scene, especially, was them in the junkyard, joking with and taking digs at each other because it's just so innocent – even if what they're saying is not. It's the calm before the storm, boys being ordinary before everything changes the moment they see that body. And for that time, we see Gordie simply being a kid with his buddies.
The Conversations Between Gordie And Chris Remind Me Of My Own Self-Doubt As A Child
Chris and Gordie probably have one of the most realistic best-friend relationships I have seen in movies because they are honest with each other, even at a young age. That's the kind of friend you want – the person who doesn't lie to your face.
And their conversations remind me so much of the self-doubt I had as a kid. Chris always tries to encourage Gordie to pursue his passion for writing, while Gordie assures Chris that he would leave the town they lived in, Castle Rock – a very familiar town in the world of Stephen King.
Of course, towards the movie's end, we see they both accomplished that, even if Chris' death was tragic. But before then, we see the doubt in their eyes – that even though their best friend is telling them that everything is going to be okay and that it's alright to follow their dreams, they still don't know if that's the right decision. Man, that hits deep in my core.
I Too Question What The Heck Goofy Is
This is silly, but Gordie is right – what the heck is Goofy? He's not a dog, that's for sure.
I need to find an adult Gordie and have this conversation because I'm still questioning that to this day. To be honest it just makes me want to watch A Goofy Movie more.
His Emotional Breakdown Towards The End Hits Me Hard
There are many moments in films like Stand By Me where the characters break down, and from the moment they discover the body, you know it's coming. Unsurprisingly, Gordie is the person to do it, breaking down in front of his friends and Chris, crying about his brother dying and why his father hates him.
As a kid, I didn't quite understand the scene as much, just because I didn’t recognize the emotions Gordie was feeling. But now, as an adult, I was bawling – because I've had those moments too. Everyone has wondered where exactly their lives went wrong when everything feels as if it is piling on top of them. And truthfully, Gordie's breakdown was something that would inevitably happen.
But from that breakdown, we see him beginning to grow and change, that he needed to let all his feelings out. We finally see him smile through his grief with his friend at his side. And man, I could have used someone like that during my darkest moments. It's the support that matters the most.
The Fact That The Friends Grow Apart Is Super Realistic And Something Many Kids Go Through
The traditional happy ending that I'm sure plenty of fans would want from Stand By Me is that the friendships last their whole lives, but having them grow apart is the most realistic. Sometimes, we don't have friends that last our entire lives – and sometimes, we have ones that do.
My life is a perfect example of that, where only one of my high school friends is still actively involved in my life, so seeing Gordie and Chris still relatively close in their adult years makes sense. Seeing Vern and Teddy walk off was bittersweet, but it was another thing that made me relate to Gordie – how sometimes, friends come and go out of your life and constantly change it, for better or worse.
Stand By Me is a movie I won't forget, and now I appreciate it more than ever when Gordie and his friends go on their adventure. I don't know how I still felt so much anxiety seeing them get chased by that train. Anyhow, I'd suggest checking it out if you haven't seen it in a while – it gets better with age.
