Plot
The plot of the short story "The Body" and the film Stand By Me were relatively consistent. Both recounted the adventure of four friends in search of a young man's corpse. In fact, there were very few differences between thew two. The most noticeable difference between the film and the book would probably be the grocery scene. In the story, Gordie enters the grocery store to purchase some hamburger and buns for dinner. When he pays for the food the owner of the store tries to rip Gordie off by charging him extra. Because Gordie is very intelligent, he catches onto the scam and defends himself. In the film however, the owner of the grocery store is very kind to Gordie. Obviously this is not a huge difference. The only effect this tiny change in the story line has is that it hides a bit of Gordie's character.
Point Of View
Both the story "The Body", and the film Stand By Me were told from the point of view of Gordie LeChance. Obviously this impacted the story because it allowed the reader to get a feel for how Gordie was thinking. The film was narrated in the same way the story was. The voice of the older Gordie spoke throughout the movie; explaining things or revealing the characters' feelings. One difference between the film and the book, with regards to the point of view, is that some parts of the film were focused on Ace, Eyeball Chambers, and their crew. These guys were the older guys in the town who liked to cause trouble. Two of the members of the group were brothers to Chris and Vern. The film had a few scenes of these boys causing trouble- hitting mailboxes, drinking beers, and tattooing each other..?. These scenes were added in the film but not mentioned in the story because the film audience was not told much background information as the readers were. Therefore, in the film they actually showed how the older guys caused trouble rather than having Gordie explain it. I don't feel that this really impacted the film very much because although the way the audience gets information about the guys is different, the idea is still the same. The point of view in the short story as well as the film was from the point of view of Gordie LeChance- ultimately making the story seem more realistic.
Characterization
I felt that the characterization between the film and the story was the source of most of the differences. Both films contained the same main characters: Gordie, Chris, Vern, and Teddy. All of these characters seemed the same way they were described in the book, however, there were several things that were inconsistent that I felt affected the overall story. As previously mentioned, the grocery store scene was not consistent between the story and the film. I felt that this really affected the story because I felt that it inhibited Gordie from revealing his true intellect. In the story, I was really impressed with the way in which Gordie caught the store owner trying to rip him off. I was a little disappointed in the movie because Gordie did not need to defend himself. This, I felt, hid Gordie's "smarts" from the film audience. Another difference I noticed was in the character Chris. When I read the story The Body, the character I admired the most by the end of the story was Chris. The speaker (Gordie) talked very highly of Chris throughout the entire story always describing how he was the peacemaker. In the story I felt that the reader was provided with plenty of evidence of this, but I did not feel the same way after watching the film. I was not impacted as much by the character of Chris in the film as I was in the story. One example of this is when Chris tells Gordie about the time he stole the lunch money. In the story Chris never actually tells Gordie that Old Lady Simons really bought herself a new skirt with the milk money; he only implies it. However, in the film Chris cries hysterically and accuses the teacher of buying the new skirt. I believe that the story portrays Chris as a more noble and proud person than the film does.
Setting
The setting between the book and film hardly changes at all. In the book the boys live in Castle Rock, Maine whereas in the film they live in Castle Rock, Oregon. Besides the names of states, there are very few differences between the two. I felt that the town described in the story was not portrayed as well in the film because the audience was rarely ever introduced to characters other than the main four. In the story Gordie provides a brief biography of almost every character and their families. In the film we hardly see any of the characters parents or learn anything about them. I feel like this affected the setting slightly because it made the town in the movie seem bigger and more distanced than that of the close-knit, everyone-knows-everything type of town described in the book. I don't believe this affected the story or the film in any major way.
Theme
I think the theme of the story was probably the most consistent element throughout both the film and the short story. Theme is really the purpose and meaning behind a story. In this case, The theme of the story could not be altered or lost in the film or the story would have been completely different. The theme, I believe, was still that friendships may fade away, but the memories will last forever. In the film this idea was emphasized at the beginning and end of the movie. At the beginning of the movie Gordie is alone in his car reading about the sudden death of his old friend Chris Chambers. That is when he begins to reflect on his best friend from when they were twelve years old. In addition to the beginning, at the end of the story Gordie watches his son and his friend as they play together. Gordie thinks to himself- "I never had any friends later on, like the ones I had when I was twelve...Jesus....does anyone?"
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