A coming of age film is enjoyable to watch and something people of all ages can relate to. It allows adults to reminisce and kids to understand they should enjoy their freedom and friendships. Stand by Me is directed by Rob Reiner and based on the book ‘The Body’, by Stephen King. This film focuses on the relationships of four boys and how they change throughout the film as they embark on a journey to find a corpse. Film codes are used to create a better film and give deeper meaning. The filmic codes used in the three scenes of Stand by Me are symbolic codes, written codes, audio codes and technical codes. Symbolic codes allow us to understand characters. Written codes give us messages with meaning or explain things we may not know. An audio code usually sets the mood and atmosphere. Technical codes give us expression and emotions. The main filmic codes used in Stand by Me were the technical and symbolic codes. The technical codes used were low and high camera angle, close up and long shot. The symbolic codes used were setting, props and objects. The audio codes used were music and dialogue, while the written code used was the computer screen. In this essay I will discuss the rites of passage experienced by the four boys and how film codes encourage us to view characters in certain ways throughout the three scenes of Stand by Me.
The first scene, ‘Gordie’s Hat’ is of the confrontation between the protagonists, Gordie and Chris with the antagonists, Ace and Eyeball. The rite of passage shows to the boys, friends stick together, no matter what. ‘Close-up of Gordie playing with the gun (prop)’. In this example Gordie is shown to be childish and immature. A gun isn’t something to be played with but feared and dropped. He is shown to be enjoying the hand held gun. ‘The black hat (prop)’. The black hat was a gift to Gordie from his brother who is deceased. This shows a bit of Gordie’s mental state, which shows he still hasn’t moved on from his brother’s death. He is shown to be young and not know what death really is. ‘Long shot of Gordie and Chris walking away with the music (Stand by Me by Ben E. King) on’. In this example, the long shot of Gordie and Chris walking together expresses their friendship. To emphasise their friendship the music is played to set the happy atmosphere and the song lyrics also match the scene perfectly. As Gordie learns from the rite of passage experienced, he slowly begins to understand life. The film codes encourage us to view Gordie as an immature and childish boy making the first step into adulthood.
The Essay on Stand By Me and The Body
In the novella _The Body_ and the movie “Stand By Me”, we see a story of four young boys who embark on a journey to find the dead body of Ray Brower, a boy about the same age as the four boys: Gordie, Chris, Teddy, and Vern. Gordie, is generally seen as the most intelligent of the four boys, giving guidance and answers to the other boys. Then there is Chris, the peacemaker of the ...
Scene two ‘The Junkyard’, is of the encounter between the four boys, Gordie, Chris, Teddy and Vern with Milo who lives in the junkyard. The rite of passage shows to the boys, friends back each other up and also that language and violence is not the answer. They also learn about the ugly side of the world. ‘The fence (object) and junkyard (set)’. The fence is there to show the boundary and separation. Milo is a portrayed as the antagonist in this scene. As Milo is on the opposite side of the fence to the boys, he is shown to be stuck and trapped in this own depressing world. The junkyard was dirty and a mess which emphasised his poor world. ‘Dialogue of Milo’. In this example, Milo used abusive and terrible language. It is shown once he begins attacking Teddy’s weak points with words such as ‘loony’, he isn’t much of an adult. He is a child mentally and hasn’t moved into the adult world. ‘Low camera angle and close up of Milo’. The low angle used in this scene was to emphasise the difference of the growth and size between Milo and the boys. The close up of Milo gave us an ugly expression. These film codes were used to continue the examples before and give more of Milo’s inner self. As the boys experience the rite of passage, they begin to learn of deeper friendship, peace and the ugly side of the world. The film codes encourage us to view Milo as an antagonist, yet pity him for his failure, jealousy and lifestyle.
The Essay on Adult Development and Life Assessment
1. Summarize the main ideas from the video and article in one paragraph each. A. Video – “The Science of Willpower: An Interview with Kelly McGonigal”* In this video Kelly McGonigal speaks about what willpower is to her and gives examples of what it could be. Kelly also speaks about reaching goals and how you need willpower to reach them. At last, Kelly talks about how technology plays a big part ...
The third scene, ‘Finding the Body’ is about the four boys discovering the corpse of Ray Bower and being confronted by Ace and his gang. The rite of passage shown to the boys is that life isn’t something to be messed with. Life can end at any moment, so life should be treasured. They also learn friends will always be precious memories and that adults have different decisions because of the way they see things in life. ‘The sunset (setting)’. In this example, the sunset is used to show the end of the day and beginning of another. It shows the boys have finally begun in their stage of adulthood. The point they became adults was when they decided not to use the body to publicize themselves. ‘low camera angle of the four boys and high camera angle of the town’. The boys are made to look bigger by the low camera angle. It is made to say that they’ve matured, grown up. As this is shown it is compared to the town made smaller by the high camera angle. The town used to be bigger but now they are, this emphasised their growth and maturity. ‘Computer screen message by adult Gordie’. In this message it showed the world of adults. It is a message which recounts the past and how it was the best of all times. Only adults understand this feeling as they have experienced it and grown up. As the boys experience the rite of passage, they learn about adult decisions, friendships and life. The film codes encourage us to view the boys as young adults, which know what life is.
In Stand by Me, the boys mature as they experience rite of passages. Film codes encourage us to view characters in certain ways by showing us different angles of the person and how they change. In the first scene, ‘Gordie’s Hat’ Gordie is depicted as childish and immature by the film codes such as, the close up where Gordie plays with the gun (prop) with a joyful expression. They slowly understood the ugly side of the world in the second scene, ‘The Junkyard’. It was shown by film codes such as the fence and junkyard, which emphasised Milo’s poor world. In the last, ‘Finding the Body’, they are finally adults developed from children after finding the true meaning of life. This was portrayed by the technical film codes, the low camera angle which was put on the four boys and the high camera angle on the town. This gave us the final conclusion to the adulthood, as it showed their growth and maturity increase after all their rite of passages experienced.
The Essay on Black Boy Wright Bigger Life
Throughout history, many talented authors writings have reflected the time period in which they lived in. Often the overall tone, and attitude of the novel is due to factors, that they have been born with, such as the environment they grew up in, who raised them, or moral ethics were instilled into their way of thinking. Richard Wright is an African-American author whose writings greatly reflected ...
