Was "My Girl" made in the vein of "Stand by Me"??

Was this film made in the vein of Stand by Me? Think about it.

1. Each film is about childhood, central characters are the kids

2. Each film was cast with the big child stars of the day. Corey Feldman and River Phoenix in Stand by Me. Macaulay Culkin in My Girl.

3. Coming-of-age story about growing up in...

4. ...small town America

5. Period film. Each movie is about growing up during a very specific time period in America-- Stand by Me made in 1986 but set in 1959 (just a few years prior to JFK assassination i.e. America's loss of innocence). My Girl made in 1991 but set in 1972 (shortly after the counterculture and free-love movement).

6. First person narration from the kids' POV

7. Each story deals with kids coming to grips with death and coping with loss (Stand by Me - The kids set out to retrieve a dead body, the protagonist Gordy copes with the loss of his older brother. My Girl - Vada lives in a funeral parlor, and copes with the loss of her mother and later her best friend.)

8. Each child protagonist aspires to be a writer (Gordy and Vada). In both cases, it's actually the central aspect of the story.

9. Each film is inexplicably named after a hit song from the era in which it's set and that song is played in the closing credits... for some reason.


Grossing $52 million on an $8 million budget, Stand by Me was a critical and commercial success. So did it begin a trend in the decade that followed? My Girl was also a hit ($59 million against a $17 million budget-- what did they spend the money on anyway?)

The titles for each are inexplicable. Stand by Me was based on the Stephen King novella "The Body". But the studio thought that title would be misleading. Director Rob Reiner came up with the title Stand by Me, and the studio went with it since it was the "least unpopular option". Now, My Girl-- I imagine the girl refers to Vada. But who the hell does My refer to? Thomas Jay-- it's not like they were a couple nor was he the focus of the movie. Dan Aykroyd? Not likely.





Religion should be made fun of. If I believed that stuff, I'd keep it to myself. -Larry David