Stand by Me Analysis

Stand by Me

First Treehouse Scene

At the beginning of the 1986 movie Stand by Me, we see a man reminiscing about his childhood. He tells the audience when the movie takes place and what age he was, this allows the movie to have two different target audiences, adults (nostalgic of the 50's) and children (can relate to the characters). Narration in this film is done well as it makes sense because the man is telling a story and this immerses the audience because they can relate to telling a story.

After the boy walks through the town, he then goes into his treehouse. At this point, the audience is introduced to all of the main characters and the audience can gather that they are all friends because of this treehouse. The treehouse could represent their friendship and depending on what state their friendship is the treehouse would show it subtly. Right now the treehouse is well kept and tidy. This could show that their friendship is fine right now.

In the treehouse the audience see that the three boys are playing cards and two of them are smoking, this is a very adult thing to do, which could show their maturity or their desire to be men. This could represent the time they live in where they don't really have a childhood and all they do is mimic their fathers. The boys also swear casually which could also show that their parents weren't strict. This swearing immediately alienates younger audiences therefore attracting teenagers because of its more edgy and somewhat more "grown up".

The boys names are introduced during natural conversation and their characters are introduced during narration. Teddy is called 'crazy', Chris has had a bad childhood and Gordi seems to be the all round, normal kid in which the audience can project themselves and relate to him. The lighting in the treehouse is bright which reflects the tone of the movie. A lot of simple shot reverse shot is used as the film is focusing on developing the characters and giving a well paced introduction.

A new character, Vern, is introduced. Vern is presented as slow but kind, he doesn't know the secret knock. Vern is a great character for the audience as like him, the audience don't know a lot so his stupidity comes off as charming and relatable. Vern has something to tell the rest of the boys but they constantly and purposefully ignore him. This reinforces their child-like attitude showing that they aren't fully grown-up yet and also keeps the comedic and light hearted tone going at a steady. The audience sympathises with Vern as they want to know the information more than the kids. This also establishes the hierarchy in this friend group as we can see that whatever Chris does others follow.

The boys finally let Vern talk but the card game interrupts him which creates an unknown tension that leads into the climax that Vern can show the boys a dead body. Once this is brought up, the tone shifts dramatically and the once bright and lively treehouse falls silent. We are given close up shots of the boy's reactions, this helps the audience relate to what they are feeling. At this point the audience are given the main plot of this story and a reason to why the man is retelling it.

This opening sets up the story perfectly, it sets the target audience using dialogue and visual clues such as swearing and smoking. The audience are introduced to all of the characters and the audience are shown that the setting is also a character. This intro is very simplistic and minimalistic to give more time to the characters.