TF Issue 199: Is It Just Me? Ferris Bueller...

[Lizhawkins]

On page 145 of TF issue 199, Simon Kinnear asks:

"Is it just me... or is Ferris Bueller a complete jerk?"



When John Hughes died in 2009, there was a wave of affection for the godfather of the modern high-school movie. Yet critics and fans nominated Ferris Bueller as Hughes’ finest creation. Not the loveable misfits of The Breakfast Club, nor Molly Ringwald’s gawky everyteen in Sixteen Candles, but Bueller – cinema’s youngest sociopathic demagogue. As Ferris would put it, we bought it.

On a technical level, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is a fine achievement – a tight, economical, very funny movie. Yet Hughes’ ‘hero’ is a terrifying figure. From that first conspiratorial look to camera, Ferris commandeers our love to a degree rare even for a teen. He tricks, cajoles, bribes his way out of trouble. He spreads rumours reported as fact. He hijacks a parade and dances with Bavarian milk maids. This is how Hitler got started.

“The sportos, motorheads, geeks, sluts, bloods, wastoids, dweebies, dickheads – they all adore him. They think he’s a righteous dude.” That’s the hallmark of a dictator, right? The casting doesn’t help. Hughes was astute enough to avoid making Bueller a jock and wrote the screenplay with nerdy Matthew Broderick in mind. Yet the qualities Hughes saw in Broderick (“clever, smart, and charming”) hint towards darkness, and the actor’s nagging, nasal delivery creates a figure whose truancy is borderline obsessive-compulsive. (Alexander Payne sensed Bueller’s evil, hence the ironic baton-passing in Election where Broderick’s history teacher is trounced by new teenage tyrant Tracy Flick.) Bueller courts our vote with more sly slickness. Check out his propaganda: “A person shouldn’t believe in an -ism. He should believe in himself.” Yuck.

Flashing cash but sulking because he doesn’t have a car, Ferris’ entitlement is alarming. In the Guardian obituary of Hughes, the “spirit of individuality and defiance [his characters] retained in the face of a stifling, conformist adult world” was praised. Ferris isn’t making a stand, he’s a brat. We all knew Ferris Buellers in school, and they weren’t “righteous dudes”. They were arseholes.

Speaking of which, Ferris reckons “you can’t respect someone who kisses your ass.” He should know. The only man Ferris respects is Dean of Students Ed Rooney (look how much effort goes into those calls and rigged doorbells!) but his peers are yes-men and brown-nosers like Cameron. Has Bueller finally gone too far when Cameron trashes his father’s beloved car? No: “you can never go too far.” Cameron falls on his sword, Rooney is broken and Ferris is free. Today, Chicago; tomorrow, the world.

“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” From Bueller, that mantra sounds like a threat. If Ferris was in a superhero movie, with his gadget-laden lair, capacity for thought control and rampant egotism, he’d be the villain, right? Or is it just me?

Issue 199 of Total Film is on sale 28 September 2012.

Agree? Disagree? Have your say below - a selection will be printed in the next issue...

[dojj singh]

It's not just you, I've said from Day One that Ferris abuses his gift of the gab and drags his so called "friends" along with him so that HE can look cool with a total loser and the total loser thinks HE has been elevated to the top of the pile by association.

Whereas all the along, Ferris manipulates every situation so that even if he's in a losing predicament, the OTHER guy is always going to take the fall.

It's almost like Back to the Future if you put Biff into the role of a hero and George being the hanger on, and yet in that movie, it's very clear who the hero/villain is.

But on the flip side, that film has stood the test of time whereas the other "classic" film of that era, Weird Science, is just too cringworthy to watch now.

[avoidz]

I think you are reading too much into this great movie. Ferris is just a clever character.

[StanleyKubrick]

Come on guys.
We all know that Bueller was there to help Cameron. As he said: "This is my ninth sick day this semester. I'm not doing this for me; I'm doing this for you."
At the end, cameron says, "This was the best day of my life."
Ipso facto, Bueller isn't a 'jerk'.
No-one is - that's the point of the film.
Goodbye.
RIP John Hughes and Matthew Broderick's credible filmography.

PS BOOM!

[dojj singh]

Ferris was the inspiration for the Chris Moyles Breakfast Show on Radio 1.

The similarities are as followings:

Surrounded by Yes Men?
Always looking to deflect accusations?
Always taking credit for everything that goes right?
Never taking the credit for the stuff that goes wrong?
Disagreements with underlings are always dealt with with put downs?

And, to further mark as a catalyst for the general attitudes of youngsters, as schoolkids we were like "Wow! How cool was he!!!!" and yet now, as adults, we can look back and see where Cameron went wrong and followed the wrong crowd, potentially ruining his OWN life to please the replacement father figure in the shape of Ferris. Why he couldn't have just accepted that his father was an arsehole is beyond me.

OR

He's the Stone Cold Steve Austin of the school world, you shouldn't be rooting for him but because he does all the things that you are afraid to and secretly you want to be him.

I could go on but I fear there won't be enough space in the mag to print it all lol.

[Firedragon76]

This is how Hitler got started.

Being Austrian may make me a bit oversensitive to comments like these, but I think this shouldn't be said this lightly. Making fun of Hitler in the form of parodies with actual thought put behind them: yes - compare a harmless movie character beloved around the world to him: no.

“The sportos, motorheads, geeks, sluts, bloods, wastoids, dweebies, dickheads – they all adore him. They think he’s a righteous dude.” That’s the hallmark of a dictator, right?

It's called puberty. He's a teenager- aren't they all dictators in their own way?

Not to get scientific but, puberty causes a lack of empathy (just think of all the teenies in cinemas who don't care if anyone can still hear the dialogue while they are chatting away), so Ferris letting others take the fall for him is actually pretty accurate.

[Jonesy]

Originally Posted by Lizhawkins

On page 145 of TF issue 199, Simon Kinnear asks:

"Is it just me... or is Ferris Bueller a complete jerk?"
Yet Hughes’ ‘hero’ is a terrifying figure.

On the one hand he is described as a terrifying figure, yet the heading asks euphimistically if Bueller is a 'jerk'? A jerk is usually an idiot, someone who's embarrassing in public, but the argument put forward by Kinnear indicates that Bueller is anything but an idiot, but rather a clever, manipulative individual - thus completely contradicting the title of his argument.

[morris]

Originally Posted by Firedragon76

"This is how Hitler got started."

Being Austrian may make me a bit oversensitive to comments like these, but I think this shouldn't be said this lightly. Making fun of Hitler in the form of parodies with actual thought put behind them: yes - compare a harmless movie character beloved around the world to him: no.

I agree with Firedragon. Comparing a char like Bueller to Hitler is in poor taste and poor form. Obviously intended as a little joke, it's very little indeed. or trying for the controversial angle? Either way - Fail.

“The sportos, motorheads, geeks, sluts, bloods, wastoids, dweebies, dickheads – they all adore him. They think he’s a righteous dude.” That’s the hallmark of a dictator, right?

Wrong. Celebrities are adored and worshipped by society, especially by youth. Are they all dictators? No, and if you allow yourself to be dictated or influenced by them, more fool you.

Check out his propaganda: “A person shouldn’t believe in an -ism. He should believe in himself.” Yuck.

That's not propaganda, that's a life philosophy. And who the hell writes 'Yuck' in an essay? You're trying way too hard!

If Ferris was in a superhero movie, with his gadget-laden lair, capacity for thought control and rampant egotism, he’d be the villain, right?

You just described Batman.

I think this time it is just you, mate.

[Lizhawkins]

Congrats to dojj singh and StanleyKubrick - you both have an honourable mention in issue 200...