What Stand By Me Taught Us About "Stupid" Questions
Stand By Me was released in theaters 37 years ago this week on August 8th, 1986.
“Alright, alright. Mickey’s a mouse, Donald’s a duck, Pluto’s a dog. What’s Goofy?”
Stand By Me (A Plot Synopsis and a bit from Summer of 1986)
It was August of 1986. I was preparing for my junior year of high school by getting lines shaved into the hair on the side of my head and coloring them green for effect. Yeah, I did that. Mercy. With the end of summer rapidly approaching, the box office was still awash with blockbusters. In those days, movies stayed in theaters longer than a fortnight. In fact, some continued to sell tickets for months before eventually going the way of the VHS tape and the “coming soon” board with white plastic lettering in your local video store. In movie theaters, The Fly, with Jeff Goldblum; the sci-fi horror classic Aliens; and the wax on, wax off return of Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita in Karate Kid 2 were amassing massive sales of $3.00 movie tickets. It was also the year the world was introduced to Maverick, Goose, and Iceman in the American classic Top Gun.
The Top 40 in music was once again proving that the 80s most certainly had something for everyone. The classic sounds of Steve Winwood reverberating through “Higher Love”; the one-hit wonder Jermaine Stewart with his super-catchy ode to morals in “We Don’t Have to Take Our Clothes Off”; Peter Cetera, who was to the Karate Kid trilogy what John Williams was to Star Wars, gave us his latest ballad, “The Glory of Love”; and the female alt pop band Bananarama had their smash hit “Venus.” Even with all of these are battling their way to the tip of your tongue, I would be remiss not to recognize the most inventive of songs in 1986, one that launched a new sound that is often imitated but never duplicated. This was that year in which Run DMC and Aerosmith combined their massive forces for a rap/rock remake of “Walk this Way,” a mind-blowing move for the time.
Television gave us the first attempt at a new network since 1967 with the launch of the Fox Television Network, which immediately hit it big with Al and Peggy Bundy in Married with Children. We also first met ALF, the lovable Alien Life Form with an attitude, who was pushing the FCC envelope. L.A. Law was drawing in huge ratings with its version of Baywatch in the courtroom; and one of my favorites, Perfect Strangers with Bronson Pinchot began.
Sidenote here: Bronson Pinchot and Eddie Murphy in Beverly Hills Cop might be one of the greatest two minutes of comedy cinema. The story goes that Pinchot improvised most of Serge’s dialogue. I wouldn’t be surprised considering that you can see Eddie Murphy trying to hold in laughter several times.
We also said goodbye to some all-time greats, with Different Strokes (“What’chu you talkin’ ’bout, Willis?”), The Love Boat (“Love, exciting and new”), Benson, with the incredibly talented Robert Guillaume, and The Fall Guy with Lee Majors and Heather Thomas, the latter of whom might be best remembered for a popular poster adorning many a teenaged boy’s room. I had one. Maybe two.
Stand By Me
Stand by Me, directed by Rob Reiner, hit theaters on August 8th of 1986. The coming-of-age comedy drama tells the story of four junior high school boys: Gordie, played by Wil Wheaton; Chris, played by River Phoenix; Vern, played by Jerry O’Connell; and Teddy, played by Corey Feldman. The friends venture out to find a missing neighborhood kid whose body is supposedly located somewhere near the railroad tracks. The story takes place in the fictional town of Castle Rock, Oregon over Labor Day weekend in 1959. The movie is narrated by Richard Dreyfuss as a grown-up version of Gordie, now a published writer recounting their journey after reading that Chris has been stabbed to death trying to break up a fight at a fast food restaurant.
It’s Rob Reiner telling a classic Stephen King short story. Yes short story. Most people know King for his horror/thriller writing and deservedly so but his stories about life and humanity will be viewed as historical classics centuries from now. His short stories collection called Different Seasons delivered us Rita Hayworth and The Shawshank Redemption renamed The Shawshank Redemption for theaters and The Body renamed Stand By Me for theaters. He also gave us one of the greatest tales about humanity and the messiness that is humans with The Green Mile. Just a brilliant story teller and one of the greatest of all time at character development.
Stand By Me (The Body) is an introspective and nostalgic look at the friendships we all had during our late-stage childhood years of wonder, adventure, and innocence. It was the time in our lives when every summer day seemed to last forever just as each school day unfortunately did too. Those were the friendships that taught us many of the lessons we would later use to help us succeed in the workplace and in life. As Gordie so eloquently states at the end of the movie, “I never had any friends like I did when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?”
So, what can four brazen and adventurous, but innocent and naïve twelve-year-old boys teach us about today’s workplace?
There Really Are No Stupid Questions
During their journey, the boys spend a night sitting around a campfire in the woods, discussing the important topics of the day, such as what food you would eat if you could eat only one for the rest of your life. According to Vern, it’s “cherry-flavored Pez . . . no question about it”. They also discuss why the characters on the show Wagon Train never get anywhere. They just “keep on wagon training,” Gordie says in frustration. Eventually, the conversation turns to deeper existentialism when Gordie asks, “Alright, alright. Mickey’s a mouse, Donald’s a duck, Pluto’s a dog. What’s Goofy?” Teddy replies that “Goofy is definitely a dog,” to which Chris says, “He can’t be a dog. He wears a hat and drives a car.” At this point, Vern chimes in with “God. That’s weird. What the hell is Goofy?”
On the surface, it seems that Goofy is a dog, and asking what he is would be the definition of a stupid question. But this is where we get our lesson. Sometimes, the question that appears to have the most obvious answer is actually the best one to ask. It’s the one that prompts the largest discussion and can be the beginning of a robust brainstorm.
I think back to the first acronym I learned, “K.I.S.S.” for “Keep it simple, stupid.” I’m not even sure that they are allowed to use that in schools anymore, but it always stuck with me. Unless we are in a room full of rocket scientists or neurosurgeons, when we ask complex questions during a business meeting, they often go unanswered, or worse yet, each person tries to top the other by answering with a consistent string of buzz-words that would make Lewis Carroll feel a tinge of envy.
You know the person - Buzzword Bob or Buzzword Betty - who says, “Let’s table that while we drill down into these bowling pins and see if we can move the needle with limited bandwidth. But, for now, let’s take it offline, because I need a bio break, so make sure to put a pin in it and ping me later.” Everyone nods in agreement, and you are onto the next topic without actually answering the question.
“Stupid questions” may appear to have simple answers, but they also create an environment in which everyone can contribute and perhaps provide a better answer that the team needs to move forward. It lessens the impact of “Buzzword Bob or Betty,” and when everyone contributes, you may actually discover that the simple answer isn’t so simple. This may actually help you uncover the differentiator, messaging, positioning, or product that leads to the success of your team and your business.
So . . . what the hell is Goofy, anyway?
Bonus Lesson
"I never had any friends like I did when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?"
I was reminded of this quote multiple times in 2022 via a Corona Extra commercial.
Corona Extra (with some help from Snoop Dogg) used the 1984 hip hop classic "Friends" by Whodini in a pretty cool television spot. In the lyrics they say:
"Friends
How many of us have them?
Friends
Ones we can depend on..."
After seeing it a few times, I was reminded of the last line in Stand By Me. The narrator - voiced by Richard Dreyfuss - is the character of Gordie as a now mid 40s author and father. As you saw in the above gif (if you are reading this), the last line in the movie is typed out on a computer screen by Gordie who is finishing up his most recent book on the events of his youth. The line reads:
"I never had any friends like I did when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?"
I've lost my two best childhood friends - one at 23 and one at 38. Both suddenly and without warning. Two guys that I absolutely thought I would grow old with and share memories with for years to come. The guys I thought I'd be in rocking chairs with on a porch somewhere reminiscing and laughing about things we did in our youth.
For me, truer words have never been spoken. The guys I adventured with, played sports with, broke rules with and grew up with are gone. I have great memories of course but it isn’t the same. I honestly never had any friends like I did when I was twelve. Even thinking about them now as I write this makes me smile and cry all at once.
If you are lucky enough to still have your childhood friends alive and well, take a few minutes to reach out and say hello. A simple social media search can often times connect you with a childhood friend you've lost touch with for years. It can do their heart and yours some good.
Stay Rad everyone!