One of the most iconic movies of the 80s, Rob Reiner help me is the main content of its genre. This coming-of-age adventure tells the story of four boys searching for dead bodies, just like in a Stephen King novel, BodyAlong the way, they bond with each other in new and unexpected ways, giving their childhood friendship a whole new meaning.
The film is narrated by the main character, Gordie, who recalls the events in the film many years into adulthood. This gives the story a lens of reminiscence, reflection, and nostalgia. Youth begins to take on more meaning as the audience is continually aware of its ephemeral. The older Gordy also made many comments about how he changed his mind about friendship as a child.
“One day you’ll be a great writer, Gordy. You can even write about us…”
Gordy dreamed of becoming a writer and grew up from his small hometown, unhappy family life and lack of wealth and prosperity growing up. However, throughout the movie, he begins to think that his dreams are “stupid”. Chris tries to reassure him that it’s not true and that it’s his dad’s words. Gordy talks a lot about his father, even though he insists that he doesn’t care about him, which leads to a lot of insecurity and self-doubt.
In Boys’ Adventures, Chris specifically encourages Gordy to follow her dream because it’s a worthy dream and one that can actually lead to a better life. He joked that if he ran out of ideas, he could write about them, but of course, it was one of the most important experiences in their lives, so of course Gordy wrote it and spent his life. to think about it.
“That’s how they look at me. I’m just one of those kids who live in Low Chambers.”
Like Gordy, Chris feels pressure to be worthy of them. Gordy tells him that they might one day go to college together, but Chris says they will never accept him because of his reputation.
Even when he told Gordy that he didn’t have to listen to his father, Chris still felt pressure from his own father. The four boys have different relationships with their respective fathers, but that relationship is central to them all and shapes their personalities.
“You want to see the body?”
The adventure begins when Fern asks his friends if they want to see the corpse. The body is that of Ray Brower, a missing local boy who was found by Fern’s brother and his friends. Fern overhears them talking about it at the beginning of the movie, but the big boys are afraid to report it because they recently stole a car.
Fern decides to start his own quest, hoping he and his friends will become local heroes. The courage it takes to hit the road alone without an adult or proper gear speaks to the recklessness and fearlessness of youth, which is the driving force of the whole story.
“We’ve only been gone for two days, but somehow the town seems different, smaller.”
The boys were looking for Ray Brower over Labor Day weekend in 1959, but to them it felt like an eternity. Gordy’s narration alludes to him taking himself seriously at the age of 12, an experience common to many children and adolescents.
Gordie, Vern, Chris and Teddy feel like they’re changing the world with their little quests, but in reality, they’re the ones who really do it.
“This is my age. I’m at my prime, and I’m only young once.”
Teddy, like everyone else, tends to exaggerate and dramatize every situation. However, in this case, he summarizes the main theme of the movie while joking.
As they trudged through the swamp, Chris asked him to show his age, and Teddy retorted that he was showing his age. Sometimes boys forget they are as young as other children, especially due to the harsh circumstances that brought them together on this journey, which sometimes makes these kids a lot of fun.
“Even though I haven’t seen him in over ten years, I know I’ll miss him forever.”
The film begins with Gordy, as an adult, reading about Chris’ death in the newspaper. Of course, by this point the boys were already apart, but their shared experiences always held them together.
This reflects real life; At twelve, most friendships feel like they’ll last forever, but that rarely happens. But even though Gordy hasn’t seen Chris in a while, he still loves him and their relationship will always be important to him — and that shapes Gordy’s personality.
“We know exactly who we are and where we’re going. It’s amazing.”
In addition to the boys’ exaggerated egotism, they are also very sure of who they are – a sense of self that, of course, rapidly disintegrates with their age. In the film, the boys are too young to doubt themselves; they are naive, ambitious, straightforward and they have big dreams for their future.
Gordy recalled the feeling of certainty he once had. “This is amazing” implies that he no longer feels that way, and probably hasn’t since that Labor Day weekend.
“He doesn’t know you.”
Children and adolescents often behave differently to their friends than to their parents, and so do Gordie and his friends. When Gordy broke down in front of Chris, wishing he could die for his brother, Chris was quick to reassure him.
“I’m not fine,” Gordy said. “My father said – I am not good.” But Chris tells Gordy that his dad doesn’t really know him. This seems like an interesting thing, as parents often know more than their kids think, but on the other hand, Gordy’s dad might not know the side of Gordy that Chris saw at the movie’s premiere event.
“Everybody’s weird.”
Gordy sometimes feels insecure about who he is, which in a way sets him apart from his peers and contradicts his earlier remarks about defining him. who was when he was young. He asked Chris if he was weird, and Chris said yes.
However, Gordy also reassured his answer: “Everybody is weird.” As children, everyone feels like an outsider, but children are the easiest to judge their peers and call them “weird” or something. It’s a strange paradox that perplexes anyone who grew up in a social environment.
“I’ll never have a friend like the one I had when I was twelve. God, anyone?”
What Gordy always remembers throughout his story is how things have been different since Labor Day weekend in 1959. Right now, he doesn’t have any hindsight to reflect on the past. this event, but as an adult, he can see more clearly.
He also understands that what he is going through is special and that the loyal friendships he shares with Chris, Fern and Teddy are once in a lifetime. Of course, none of the boys realized this when they were children, and it wasn’t until many years later – after Chris died – that Gordy realized the importance of these childhood friendships. If the boys were older when Ray Brower’s body was discovered, they probably wouldn’t have embarked on this search out of fear, suspicion, and pragmatism.