Stand By Me vs The Body


Thanks Chris
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4 comments:

  1. PrisonerNumber6March 10, 2015 at 8:55 PM

    There are at least several points where I think some elements of both novella and need to be pointed out that were sort of missed in this review.

    The first is that in the novella, the audience is given a greater idea of Castle Rock as a town, and how it's social dynamics inform the events of the story.

    Specifically, King paints the Rock as place with a lot hypocrisy problems that bleed into the daily social dynamics of all the town. So it's not just a case of four kids with isolated problems, but rather at least two of them are self-aware enough that something is rotten in their own little Denmark.

    In this way, the story of The Body is a much about the struggle of a small group against larger, corrupt social forces that tend to drag both parents and children down, and which is exemplified in both Ace Merrill, and the teacher who stole the lunch money (King says something like this happened to a classmate of his).

    In that sense, The Body is as much a social satire as a kids on an adventure story. I'm actually willing to argue that this element is in the film, only the volume is turned down just a bit, but it's there. This helps explain the brief side excursion about the Pie Eating story, as it deepens the theme of small town hypocrisy. Also, the reason King kills off more of the characters plays into this theme too. The implication being that Vern and Teddy eventually play along with said hypocrisy, and as a result pay for it (which makes the source material rather Old Testament when you think about it). Hence the reason why only Gordy and (to an extent) Chris get out alive.

    That said, even King admitted putting Gordy front and center made the story better.

    ChrisC

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  2. shannon wolfeMarch 10, 2015 at 9:28 PM

    I loved this! Wanted to say to the comment about how all the good kids died and all the bad kids lived... Ace does eventually die in a wonderfully horrific way. I only choose The Body because Stephen King's written words are some kind of magic serum that keeps me alive, I drink them with my eyes. Stand By Me is a truly lovely movie, I watch it every single time even if it's the chopped to shit TV version, but nothing compares to absorbing those images... like the scene describing just how dead that kid truly was.

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  3. shannon wolfeMarch 10, 2015 at 9:31 PM

    I loved this! Wanted to say to the comment about how all the good kids died and all the bad kids lived... Ace does eventually die in a wonderfully horrific way. I only choose The Body because Stephen King's written words are some kind of magic serum that keeps me alive, I drink them with my eyes. Stand By Me is a truly lovely movie, I watch it every single time even if it's the chopped to shit TV version, but nothing compares to absorbing those images... like the scene describing just how dead that kid truly was.

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    1. PrisonerNumber6March 11, 2015 at 2:39 AM

      One final thing to note in regards to the movie.

      When Kiefer Sutherland asked about his character motivation, Rob Reiner explained that Ace is the force that impels the other four kids further towards their goal.

      That is an interesting way of looking at the character, because as well as being the summation of everything that's wrong with the town, he also becomes a symbol of possible change.

      In a way, this probably does tie into what happens to Merrill in "Needful Things".

      Also, about his so called "revenge" in The Body. What's tacitly acknowledged in the novella and then later spelled out in "Things" (by Ace himself, no less) is that even though he beats Gordy and Chris up, in a sense they've already won, making anything he does to them a useless gesture.

      Also, in a sense, Needful Things does carry on the themes of The Body, only this time bringing them to the literal breaking point.

      ChrisC

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