In Stand By Me, a group of four twelve year old boys go on an adventure to discover a dead body that they heard about. The group goes on a 2 day trip that turns from a discovery of a body to self-discovery. By running into the town hoods, being chased by a dog, and almost getting killed by a train, the boys are able to find out something about themselves that they never thought they had. However, Stand By Me could also be interpreted as each of the boys being empowered by the other group members. Regardless, many instances of empowerment can be intrinsic or extrinsic, depending on the lense that it is looked at through.
The movie Finding Forrester tells a story of a sixteen year old African American, Jamal, growing up in New York City. He plays basketball, but secretly has a passion for writing. William Forrester is a reclusive, prize winning novelist, who never wrote a second novel. The two of them meet and Forrester becomes a mentor to Jamal and his writing. As they continue to work together, both go through a character change as they learn life lessons from one another. By learning from one another, they beome stronger in controlling their lives and are able to buold a new friendship out of