Stand by Me

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...