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Started By
Message
Why is Ferris Bueller's Day Off considered so great?
Posted on 1/12/15 at 9:22 am
Posted on 1/12/15 at 9:22 am
...to the point it's considered one of those movies its embarrassing to tell people you haven't seen?
That was me up until recently. Came out before my time but it has always been spoken of like something I should have seen. Disappointed a lot of people over the years telling them I'd never seen it.
I finally "righted that wrong" last month and I just can't put into words how underwhelmed I was. It's as if Ben Stein's "Bueeellller" quote is the only memorable thing about it and I'm not even sure why that is.
I can't understand how such a "great" movie's defining, peak scene is a kid lip syncing on a parade float with the whole city of Chicago in a state of fanfare.
Is there something I'm missing?
That was me up until recently. Came out before my time but it has always been spoken of like something I should have seen. Disappointed a lot of people over the years telling them I'd never seen it.
I finally "righted that wrong" last month and I just can't put into words how underwhelmed I was. It's as if Ben Stein's "Bueeellller" quote is the only memorable thing about it and I'm not even sure why that is.
I can't understand how such a "great" movie's defining, peak scene is a kid lip syncing on a parade float with the whole city of Chicago in a state of fanfare.
Is there something I'm missing?
21
Posted on 1/12/15 at 9:27 am to Swoopin
There are tons of iconic "coming of age" teenager movies that wouldn't be good if you saw them for the first time as an adult.
Posted on 1/12/15 at 9:27 am to Swoopin
Ferris isn't real. It's all in Cameron's head.
Posted on 1/12/15 at 9:28 am to Swoopin
quote:
I finally "righted that wrong" last month and I just can't put into words how underwhelmed I was. It's as if Ben Stein's "Bueeellller" quote is the only memorable thing about it and I'm not even sure why that is.
Pretty much nailed how I felt about it. It wasn't before my time but I had never seen, finally watched it a couple of years ago one day when I was home sick and was completely underwhelmed.
Posted on 1/12/15 at 9:29 am to Swoopin
quote:
Well, huh, might as, might as well ask why is a tree good? Why is the sunset good? Why are boobs good?
It's the GOAT teen movie.
Posted on 1/12/15 at 9:35 am to Swoopin
...because it is.
Posted on 1/12/15 at 9:43 am to Swoopin
You can also ask why "The Graduate" is iconic. Same principles apply.
Ferris Bueller's Day Off captured the zeitgeist of the mid 80's that culminated in the parody of it in Zach Morris - The cool kid who breaks all the rules and remakes the system in his favor. It was a teenaged dream, but also much of what America was working through at the time.
We went from the "Gray Flannel Suit" of the 1950s with the "Rebel Without a Cause" as the antithesis. Then, the Beantiks turned into Hippies as Baby Boomers came of age and people dropped out of society. But, as Baby Boomers grew older and had kids, they passed on this focused rebellion where you stay inside the system, but you remake it to fit your own personality/character.
See Maverick in Top Gun as another example. He is the rebellious hero who stays IN the system and becomes a hero in it while causing it to cater to him (a Tony Scott film). This was John Hughes schtick and it was everywhere in the 80's. Both Maverick and Ferris wore a leather jacket, which was a nod to James Dean, the Rebel Without a Cause, but they were not hopeless and disconnected.
You see similar themes in other John Hughes movies, such as Pretty in Pink, Breakfast Club, and Sixteen Candles. Even the Home Alone movies, but by 1990, this character had begun to die down. Like I said, Zach Morris in SBTB becomes a parody of it.
So, Ferris' popularity fit the time and those who watch it later can't relate to they way that he embodied what so many teenagers wanted to be. They all wanted to go be an investment banker with enough rebellion in them that they didn't lose their soul and could still rock out to Twist & Shout. It was a projection of their Baby Boomer parents giving them the proper way to rebel in a materialistic way.
By the time that Grunge arrived in 1991, the vapidity of the whole Baby Boomer ethos was exposed as being meaningless. So, you had this call to reject the whole thing again. Then, Clinton takes the White House (political Ferris) and the call to "Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow" was reissued in a utopian sense. Ferris was no longer needed as an ideal because he was being lived out from DC. The cool kids were now remaking the system from the inside. Or, so the fantasy went.
Will the cool, smooth anti-hero who works WITHIN the system to alter it to his wishes ever rise again? That is who Ferris was.
Ferris Bueller's Day Off captured the zeitgeist of the mid 80's that culminated in the parody of it in Zach Morris - The cool kid who breaks all the rules and remakes the system in his favor. It was a teenaged dream, but also much of what America was working through at the time.
We went from the "Gray Flannel Suit" of the 1950s with the "Rebel Without a Cause" as the antithesis. Then, the Beantiks turned into Hippies as Baby Boomers came of age and people dropped out of society. But, as Baby Boomers grew older and had kids, they passed on this focused rebellion where you stay inside the system, but you remake it to fit your own personality/character.
See Maverick in Top Gun as another example. He is the rebellious hero who stays IN the system and becomes a hero in it while causing it to cater to him (a Tony Scott film). This was John Hughes schtick and it was everywhere in the 80's. Both Maverick and Ferris wore a leather jacket, which was a nod to James Dean, the Rebel Without a Cause, but they were not hopeless and disconnected.
You see similar themes in other John Hughes movies, such as Pretty in Pink, Breakfast Club, and Sixteen Candles. Even the Home Alone movies, but by 1990, this character had begun to die down. Like I said, Zach Morris in SBTB becomes a parody of it.
So, Ferris' popularity fit the time and those who watch it later can't relate to they way that he embodied what so many teenagers wanted to be. They all wanted to go be an investment banker with enough rebellion in them that they didn't lose their soul and could still rock out to Twist & Shout. It was a projection of their Baby Boomer parents giving them the proper way to rebel in a materialistic way.
By the time that Grunge arrived in 1991, the vapidity of the whole Baby Boomer ethos was exposed as being meaningless. So, you had this call to reject the whole thing again. Then, Clinton takes the White House (political Ferris) and the call to "Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow" was reissued in a utopian sense. Ferris was no longer needed as an ideal because he was being lived out from DC. The cool kids were now remaking the system from the inside. Or, so the fantasy went.
Will the cool, smooth anti-hero who works WITHIN the system to alter it to his wishes ever rise again? That is who Ferris was.
This post was edited on 1/12/15 at 9:58 am
Posted on 1/12/15 at 9:53 am to Swoopin
quote:
Came out before my time
quote:
I finally "righted that wrong" last month
This explains everything.
eta: When this movie came out in '86, if you were anywhere from 8-20 years old Ferris Bueller was the coolest guy to ever hit the screen.
This post was edited on 1/12/15 at 9:55 am
Posted on 1/12/15 at 9:57 am to Swoopin
GOAT quote
Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop to look around once in a while, you could miss it.
Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop to look around once in a while, you could miss it.
Posted on 1/12/15 at 9:57 am to Swoopin
You wouldn't understand if you didn't grow up in the 1980s I guess.
Posted on 1/12/15 at 10:37 am to Swoopin
It's honestly not considered to be that great. It's iconic, which is different than actually being good, but Ferris is a self-involved brat. He's not a hero, he's a smug Yuppie in training. In 10 years, Ferris is going to be selling junk bonds or subprime loans to unsuspecting housewives. He's a charlatan who hasn't quite tapped into his evil potential yet.
It's not Hughes' best work, and while I disagree with the whole "Ferris isn't real" internet theory, I do think Cameron is the main character, and probably the only sympathetic character in the film. He has an actual character arc.
It's not Hughes' best work, and while I disagree with the whole "Ferris isn't real" internet theory, I do think Cameron is the main character, and probably the only sympathetic character in the film. He has an actual character arc.
Posted on 1/12/15 at 10:40 am to Swoopin
Had I been a teenage boy going to movies in the 80's I think I would have identified with Joel Goodsen more than Ferris.
Posted on 1/12/15 at 11:20 am to Swoopin
I love that movie. I agree it is more iconic than it is good, if that makes sense. I also watched it years ago when I was 8 or 9 when it came out.
Posted on 1/12/15 at 1:46 pm to Swoopin
You really had to be there.
Posted on 1/12/15 at 2:46 pm to Swoopin
It's considered iconic for the same reason that "The Breakfast Club" is considered iconic. It just captured a moment in time. I wasn't a kid of the 80's, but I enjoyed it for the most part.
Posted on 1/12/15 at 3:12 pm to Swoopin
Posted on 1/12/15 at 4:09 pm to Swoopin
I personally find The Breakfast Club whiny and unwatchable now. Ferris holds up fine though.
Posted on 1/12/15 at 9:00 pm to Swoopin
Save Ferris
Posted on 1/12/15 at 9:19 pm to Swoopin
It's just a movie that almost everyone has seen and most enjoy. I don't think anyone is putting it into their top 10 GOAT movies though.
Posted on 1/12/15 at 9:43 pm to Swoopin
This board is shitting on Ferris Bueller.
I have literally seen it all.
I have literally seen it all.
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