I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?

PLOT: The movie Stand by Me stayed true to The Body. However, the pace of the story changed dramatically. Gordie only narrates through some of the story, so it seemed to go quicker. For example, the beginning scene in the movie shows Vern running towards the club house with his news and the rest of the crew playing cards. The narration does not get in the way of Vern revealing his secret. Even through the journey to see the dead body, their path is shortened. The creek in the movie was used as a short cut, instead of just a relaxing swim. They also did not include the ending, where the four boys were beaten up by the older boys. I can't help but think that these details were not included to help make it a more "kid-friendly" film. Although they used the "F" word a few times, it was much less than in the story.

POINT OF VIEW: The movie is still narrated by an adult Gordie, but he only interrupts a few times. So it is still in first person point of view. Because most of the story was shown, not told, it was much easier to follow and understand. Gordie's story about Chico in Stud City was not included, which took away from the relationship he shared with his family. But the story about Lard Ass, The Revenge of Lard Ass Hogan, was still included. This is probably because Lard Ass was actually told around the fire, but Stud City was only a part of the narration in the short story. It was also very inappropriate.

CHARACTERIZATION: First of all, in the story, Teddy's hair was long enough to hide his deformed ear, but it was obvious in the movie. I think this helped make Teddy a more sympathetic character. In the story, I kind of forgot about his family history, but in the movie, his ear never let anyone forget who his dad was.

Also, the relationship between Gordie and Dennis was dramatically different between the film and the story. In the film, Gordie says he didn't cry at all at the funeral, but he was much closer to Denny when he was alive. In the story, "[he] cried when [he] heard, and [he] cried more at the funeral" (page 298), but he really just felt disconnected to Dennis while he was alive. But it is much easier to sympathize for a character if he actually misses his dead brother.. and Hollywood only wants to draw in people.

SETTING: The biggest difference in the setting between the movie and story was Maine versus Oregon. I really don' t understand why they had to make this change, other than the fact that Oregon is more rural than Maine, which actually fits the plot better, I think. Stephen King was from Maine, so I think that is why he based some of his stories there. I read that the film was actually set in 1959, and the movie in 1960, but no where in the movie was this mentioned. Either way, it had no real impact of the movie. The time is really important to maintain what the story is really about. Gordie and Chris "grew up" on the journey to see the dead body in ways I couldn't have as a twelve year old. I would have been on the back of a milk carton by the time we reached the junkyard.

THEME: The theme definitely did not change from short story to film. It was still very much a coming to age story. However, Hollywood dramatized the ending quite a bit. Chris and Gordie shared a closer relationship in both the story and the film, but they didn't have the heartfelt conversation in the story that they had in the movie. But I think this change was actually important for the theme. It not only strengthened the relationship between Chris and Gordie, but it also helped in explaining the transformation that Gordie made in his relationship with his parents. This moment in the movie is where we actually see Gordie grow up. He finally understood that he really can't take into consideration what his parents thought of him. It is more awkward to get inside a character's head in a film than in a written piece, so this scene is a perfect way to reflect "coming of age".