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Stand By Me makes you long for moments spent with childhood friends, reminds you of bygone days, and makes you feel the pain of realizing we would never get those days back.
I’m not sure if I can entirely express in writing the experience felt while watching the movie Stand By Me, but I will try my best to put in words what I felt and how much I love it and why you should all watch it.
We all have had our friend gangs in childhood and some of us may even still be in touch with our childhood friends. This movie makes you long for moments spent with your dear friends, reminds you of the bygone days, and makes you feel the pain of realizing we would never get those days back.
The movie is about four friends – Gordie, Chris, Vern and Teddy, and the experiences they have as they decide to see a dead body and set off on foot. Rather than revealing too much of the plot to save you from spoilers, I will run you through the characters and what they mean to me, and how each of them appealed to me in their own ways.
Empathy and understanding are what define Chris, in my opinion. A natural leader and conflict resolver, he is caring and considerate, takes decisions and leads the team forward. The most heartening characteristics of Chris are his altruism and goodness, when he advises Gordie to join high school and pursue his gift of writing, even though he would miss his friend as he himself would enrol in shop courses because he cannot afford high school. That’s a true friend there – only wants the best for you, wanting you to do well in life, even better than himself, and guides you toward the right path always.
The protagonist, the story is narrated through Gordie’s eyes. The performance by Wil Wheaton is heartrending, especially in the climax, where he breaks down on remembering his dead brother and longs to be understood by his father (a tiny spoiler here which am sure wouldn’t stop you from watching the movie). We all have a bit of Gordie in us, where we yearn to be understood by our loved ones, been victims of our parents’ comparison to our siblings and other “smart kids”, cannot imagine parting with friends, etc. Perhaps it’s for all these reasons that I could relate to and empathize with him the most. And when Gordie decides to keep his secret (of sighting a deer in the forest) to himself, one takes to this wise kid a little more.
The innocent, bullied kid of every gang (attributed partly to his/her wit, mannerisms, or size), Vern certainly contributes to some humour and makes us wonder who his equivalent was in our own gangs. He surely earns our sympathy for the reasons above and for the constant intimidation he faces from Teddy. Overridden by his friends, he is the submissive one that is continuously on the receiving end of his friends’ jibes. And perhaps that’s why it’s satisfying to watch him give it back as determined punches to Teddy, sometime before the climax.
The crazy, brash, funny, live-for-the-moment, immature kid. If I were to pick the best performer among the four boys (which is a bit unfair), Corey Feldman would be my potential choice. The scene where he has an altercation with the junkyard owner is where he proves his mettle as an actor. If not for the character Teddy, the movie would certainly lose its charm. He steals your heart when he apologises for spoiling everyone’s good time after having a rough day himself. His mockery of his rival gang in the climax had me in splits despite the anxiety in the climax.
One of the best movie experiences I’ve ever had, it is an exciting ride of nostalgic reminiscences. May you feel the warmth of the rekindled memories, wallow in nostalgia and cherish the times ahead with your long-time friends. Do indulge in this masterpiece (It’s available on Netflix)!
Sukanya Raghunathan is a leadership trainer and a faculty of management. A mother of an eleven-year old girl, she also teaches Carnatic music and her hobbies include singing, dancing, playing keyboard, reading fiction/non- read more...
This post has published with none or minimal editorial intervention. Women's Web is an open platform that publishes a diversity of views, individual posts do not necessarily represent the platform's views and opinions at all times.
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UP Boards Topper Prachi Nigam was trolled on social media for her facial hair; our obsession with appearance is harsh on young minds.
Prachi Nigam’s photo has been doing the rounds on social media for the right reasons. Well, scratch that- I wish the above statement were true. This 15-year-old girl should ideally be revelling in her spectacular achievement of scoring a whopping 98.05% and topping her tenth-grade boards. But oddly enough, along with her marks, it’s something else that garners more attention – her facial hair.
While the trolls are driving themselves giddy by mocking this girl who hasn’t even completed her school yet, the ones who are taking her side are going one step ahead – they are sharing her photoshopped pictures, sans the facial hair, looking nothing less than a celebrity with captions saying – “Prachi Nigam, ten years later”.
Doctors have already diagnosed her with PCOD in their comments, based on photographic evidence. While we have names for people shamed for their weight – body shaming, for their skin colour- racism, for their age- age shaming, for being a female- sexism, this category of shaming where one faces criticism for their appearance has no name. With that, it also has zero shame attached to it.
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