How do friendships help the boys on the journey towards adulthood?

The film Stand by Me is a film about friendship; Four 12 year old boys on a journey together, just before they start junior high. There is a strong sense of friendship between the boys, highlighted in this scene where they discuss light-hearted topics important to twelve-year-old boys.

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However, there is one friendship that stands out amongst the rest.  The friendship between Chris and Gordie is one that is supportive and encouraging. Ultimately, they two boys help one another grow into the adults they become (text with tooltip) Here is a direct reference to the task question .

Chris and Gordie

The film itself is narrated (text with tooltip) Using relevant meta-language by naming film features. At this stage there is not analysis of the features, which is where we are aiming to go, but using the language is a good start.  by Gordie after Chris’s death. The opening scene is of an adult Gordie holding a newspaper article.  A close up shot of the article shows that it is about Chris Chambers murder, and it is this that prompts Gordie to start narrating the flashback that forms that majority of the film. This is the first indication that this friendship is important. (text with tooltip) The analysis of film features begins here, where there is a statement that shows how the use of the techniques (narration and flashback) help the audience understand the intended meaning about the role of friendships.

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We learn why this friendship is so important, even ten years after they last saw one-another.
Gordie is a writer- a job his father didn’t value at all, as shown in the dinner table scene below, where Gordie’s Dad dismisses Denny’s attempts to tell him how good Gordie is at writing.

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His horror when Denny mentions Gordie’s story is clear from a close up shot (text with tooltip) Another example of there is analysis of how the close up shot helps us to understand the relationship between Gordie and his father. At this stage, this is about father-son relationships, and not directly answering the question about the role of friendships. Read the next paragraph to see how it is tied in.  (00:26) of his father’s face, which shows that he does not value writing.  In the clip Gordie also asks his Dad for the potatoes 3 times, all of which are ignored by his father, until his mother hands him the potatoes.

So, in the absence of a support home life (which worsens when his brother dies), Chris supports Gordie (text with tooltip) This shows how the family dinner table scene, and the fathers reaction to Gordie's writing, help to show the role of friendships- because they are filling the void left by the father's lack of interest in Gordie. in his aspirations to become a writer.

In this clip, when Gordie threatens to take ‘shop’ courses, instead of academic courses, Chris says

You could be a real writer one day Gordie.

and also

(1:40) (text with tooltip) You don't necessarily have to transcribe the key quotes from the scenes, but it is important that you clearly identify what you want your audience to see, hear or understand from the clip, usually with some sort of reference to the moment you are analysing. Alternatively, you might want to cut the clips so that they only show the moment you want- however, you then might need to give a bit of context so that the reader is able to work out which part of the film it is from. God gave you something man. All those stories that you can make up. And he said ‘This is what we got for you kid, try not to lose it”  but kids lose everything unless there is someone there to look out for them.

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Because the story is being narrated and ‘written’ by an adult Gordie, the audience know that Gordie did not lose his writing ability that God gave him, which helps us understand that, through his support, Chris played a role in Gordie holding onto his gifts that became his career.