IRP - Stand By Me

PLOT
There are multiple differences and similarities between the book, The Body, and the movie, Stand by me.    In the book Teddy decides to dodge a train. Gordie has to wrestle and tear him away from the train tracks.  Chris, the peacemaker in the book, has to later break up the fight and resolve their conflict.  In the movie Chris has to get Teddy from the tracks and begins to fight with him.  A major attribute of the text that was not empasized in the story was their bad luck.  Both the text and movie empasizes how they had bad luck on their side when they flipped three tails and one head.  The movie does not show when Gordie is picked to go get food how the worker tries to cheat Gordie out of his money multiple times (343-344).

POINT OF VIEW
Both the story and book use first person narrative by Gordie.  In the movie you find out Gordie's insights and thoughts as the thirty year old man is telling the story.  Along with this, the movie has more dialogue in it.  The book is more of Gordie's thoughts as opposed to dialogue and his thoughts added in.  In the movie Gordie wants to return to Ray Browers sight and look for what he was carrying and the bucket that he was using.  The movie decided to leave this out.

CHARACTERIZATION
The movie does relate well to the book by showing the same slang that Stephen King decided to use.  A similiarity is the relationships that the boys have with their parents.  Gordie does not have a relationship with his parents especially his father and Teddy feels very strongly about his father even though he hurt him.  "It was weird to me how, then, Teddy could care so much about his father, who practically tried to kill him. And I couldn't give a sh!t about my old man, and he hadn't laid a hand on me since I was three!"  The book depicts Chris as a true peacemaker; however, in the movie he is not as strongly described.  Also in the book, after Ace from the dumpyard insults Teddy, Chris has to comfort him and tell him Ace is wrong (351-353).  In the movie all the movies comfort and talk to Teddy which takes away from Chris' part.  Stand by me switches the roles of Gordie and Chris.  Gordie is the leader and who everyone turns to for the answer.  In The Body Chris is the strong one who comforts everyone.

SETTING
The first difference in settings is that in the book is taken place in Castle Rock, Maine in 1960.  In the film the setting is in Castle Rock, Oregon in 1959.  Both the movie and the book begin in the tree house in the backyard.  Through out the story and the book they are walking in through the woods since they are looking for Ray.  However, the end of the story is different.  In Stand By Me it ends with Gordie as an adult finishing writing the story and going outside with his son.  In The Body it ends with Gordie seeing Ace and looking out at Castle Rock.

THEME
The theme in both Stand by me and The Body are very similiar.  It is about friendship and sticking together throughout hardships.  The boys all had problems that they had to deal with but they all came together to work through them.  The boys learned how to trust eachother and depend on one another.  "I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve."  They all also are very mature for their age and stand up for what they beleive. 

                         

                                        

The Body

PLOT
The story The Body is about the narrator remembering about a childhood past time in the 1960's.  As a child Gordon Lachance and his three friends decide to go on a mission to find a corpse of another child their age, Ray Brower.  It had been rumoured that Ray had disappeared after going to pick berries.  All four of the boys go on a two day long mission to a place called Back Harlow Road in search for his body.  When they finally find the body Vern's older brother and his friends show up and begin to cause trouble.  Gordon decides it is best to not claim the findings of Ray Brower's body.  They all return home and split their ways.

P.o.V.
The story is told in first person narrative by Gordie.  Since Gordie is telling the story of this memory the reader gets a real insight on how he was feeling and acting.  Through out the story Gordie will have flash backs that the reader gets to understand certain perspectives of his life.  The flashbacks tell the reader that Gordie had lost his brother and wishes to be accepted by his father and mother.  His desire for his father's acceptance pushes Gordie's ambition to find the body.

CHARACTERIZATION
Gordie is the main character that narrates the story.  He is a young boy that has recently lost his brother.  His determination for finding the body of a boy comes from the fact that he feels his father hates him.  He thinks his father loved his brother more and he cannot fill his brother's shoes.  Chris Chambers is the closest to Gordie.  He had been wrongly accused of stealing. His father is a drunk and his brothers are always in trouble.  He plays a major role in keeping Gordie's head up.  His positive thinking for Gordie allows Gordie to follow his dreams.  Vern is the youngest and the odd one of the friends.  Teddy is the craziest of the friends.  His father showed his craziness by holding his ear up against a stove until it burnt.

SETTING
The setting in the story The Body takes place in a small town, Castle Rock,  in the 1960's.  The children beleive that they will never be able to get out of the town.  "We're never gonna get out this town, Gordie." This makes the kids want to get to Back Harlow Road even more.   They boys usually hang out in their old tree house but after hearing about the boy's body this changes.  While searching for the body the boys travel along a railroad.  On their journey their friendships build and they get to know eachother more and more.

THEME
The theme is solely around the thought of friendships and dedication.  From their journey, the boys become much closer for spending two days together.  Their friendships build with each story and talk.  They learn to trust eachother and rely on eachother.  Dedication is shown through their dedication to find the body.  Gordie is also dedicated to being accepted by his father.  After the return of the boys they want to get out of the town or get jobs.  They all have high hopes and dreams.

Trailor of move.. CHECK IT = )

Sonnet 29 Review

Sonnet 29's message and theme is that the man wishes to have what other men have.  He curses his fate whenever he thinks of what he wants.  He envies all types of men.  He wishes to have other mens' riches in hope.  He wants more friends also.  "Like him with friends posse'd".  He also wants to have the art of another man.  Later, as he remembers his love he realizes he would not want to change at all.

This message and theme could be considered true.  This theme is evident in many films.  In Teen, a girl wishes she could look different.  She wishes she was prettier and was alike all the other girls.  The main character tries changing herself but later realizes a boy likes her for who she was.  He liked her for who she used to be, before she changed herself.  She changed back to her old ways and saw how much happier she was when she accepted herself because she too loved this boy.

Ballad Tradition

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMJSO3JFIPY
(lyrics on youtube)

TAKE A BOW
Rhianna

This song deals the topics of a ballad of desire of revenge, tragic accidents.  Rhianna wrote this song to revenge on the guy that has cheated on her.  She completely shuts him down when he tries to come back to her.  The fact that he has cheated seemed like a tragic accident to her.  The song also deals with multiple characters of a ballad.  It portrays Dramatization of a single incident.  The song suddenly begins after the guy has already cheated on her, in the middle of the action.  Not much attention was paid to how and the details of their relationship and their past.  Take a Bow also deals with a strong, simple beat and an uncomplicated rhyme scheme/pattern through out the song.  It also repeats the main chorus with the main idea in it multiple times which is similiar to the Use of refrain, repeated regularly throughout the ballad.  This helps emphasize her feelings and the main idea.  Rhianna suggests that this guy is worthless and not worth her time anymore.  She does not come right out and say this but she implys this through saying he was the best liar and to go cry.  This song could also be based on an actual story.

Hero Blog

Spider-man is a literary hero.  Spider-man is strong and heroic because he has the courage to save the town from all the bad villains.  He steps up and risks his life everyday to keep the rest of the city safe.  Along with saving the city he does this under a disguise.  He does not wish for people to know who he is so they can praise him.

Luscious Newsom is a personal hero to me.  He reaches out to others and helps anyone who needs a hand.  He not only gives all that he has, but he does this for nothing in return.  Luscious does not have a lot, but what he does have he shares with others in need.  He is a hero to the community and anyone that knows him.

Any fireman would be a popular hero.  They risk their lives everyday to save others from fires or dangerous situations.  They put everything they have at risk to save another life.  They are truly heroes to go out of their way to save people, animals, and possessions that they have no connection with.  They are strong, courageous, and brave to be the hero they are.