Developing Characters (Stand By Me)

Stand By Me is a story of character development; of the transition from boy to man. There are 4 main characters: Gordie, Chris, Vern and and Teddy. Each of them changes and matures in their own special way.

The most noticeable is definitely Gordie. He learns that it's okay to be his own person. This is shown in the way that he holds the gun against those who try to take the body away, even when he's told it's not what his idolized brother would do. He also becomes the writer that he always dreamed of being, even though he knows that it's not what his dad would be most proud of. He develops both because he finally has the chance to face the death of his brother, and with encouragement from his best friend Chris. Chris' development is centered around the decision to one day leave their small town, and no longer be known as the boy who will someday go bad. His development gives the viewer a chance to see that he truly is a good kid. This is also apparent through findaing out who he one day becomes, a lawyer who after all those years is still breaking up knife fights; the "peace keeper", as Gordie calls him.

The development of Vern is less apparent, but sill there. He sort of discovers what is important in life, in my opinion. Originally he was some wimpy kid who followed Gordie, Teddy and Chris around. At the end of the movie, after a massive adventure full of dodging trains and finding dead bodies, he is the first to walk away from the three of them. The rest of them have rather complicated families, but he doesn't. I feel like he finally sees that, and after all they've been through, he accepts that he just wants to go home. And he accepts that it's okay to just want to go home. Teddy doesn't have a very obvious development. We get to know his character and his struggles. About his crazy dad who hurts him, and how protective Teddy is of him. But in the end, he's mostly the same character we were introduced to, as shown in the way he walks away from the adventure singing a traveling song, making the others laugh.

Whose to say what events truly make kids grow up. Apparently seeing a dead bodies is one. I think through seeing their old classmate dead, they all just learned to take life and death more seriously, and to face down their problems. It's rather sad that growing up meant growing apart, but I guess that's just life. They were 4 unlikely friends to begin with, with different life stories, and it couldn't last long past the age of 12.