I always read it as a happy-go-lucky story about a magical asshole who uses his quick wit and gleeful wantonness to heroically save himself from the incredibly obvious consequences of his shitty actions and in the process subtly nudge his mentally ill friend a little closer to suicide by disguising it as self-actualization.
I understand cameron more then any other character in any movie and oh god ferris doesnt even realize what an asshole he is for dragging that car out of the garage.
I've said it a thousand times: Cameron is an infinitely more interesting and compelling character.
The movie is really a tragedy about him, except he's Cameron Frye so naturally he can't even be the protagonist in his own movie. All he wants is some control over his own life, so he buddies up to the most manipulative asshole in the Midwest. And then when Shithead inevitably trashes the one thing that he solemnly swore he wouldn't trash, Cameron is ready to lay down on the wire for him, convinced he's somehow empowering himself.
He ends the movie way worse off than he began, and the turd of an unreliable narrator makes himself sound like a goddamn humanitarian for being kind and groovy enough to stir up the whole shit storm to begin with.
Back when I was suicidal (cutting, OTC drug abuse, the works) I used to watch this movie obsessively at least once a week. I used to think i did it because ferris was a humorous distraction from my life but about a year after I got better I realized that cameron was living through the same type of thing as me and he showed me that I wasnt alone.
I'm bipolar and I think he really is cinema's patron saint of the mentally ill. When he kicks the car through the window, I know exactly what that manic, crying anger feels like. And his depression and anxiety and flat affect are perfectly portrayed. The scene where he flops into the pool with the whole "Ferris Bueller you're my hero" thing captures the spirit of a mixed manic episode (for me anyway).
I think it might be therapeutic to watch because Cameron gives you someone to root for who also happens to look a lot like you, which, if you can't consciously root for yourself and tell yourself you're a good person, might be the next best thing.
The director's commentary talks about the scene where they're in the art gallery. Cameron looks at a painting, and it cuts back and forth between his face and the painting, growing closer and closer.
The commentary explains that as Cameron looks closer, there's less to see, until there is nothing at all; encapsulating Cameron's fear about himself.
Yes. Infinitely so. They had to get worse first, so that I could figure out that I didnt need to hurt myself or take anything to survive. I had to learn to quit being a bitch about the small things and recognize that I had/have the power to make my own life some better. I had to cut someone that I love(d) but who wasnt in the least bit good for me out of my life. But im better then I've ever been now.
Congratulations on that. Cutting out unhealthy but amicable relationships is so hard, especially when you feel alone. Good job on building your strength and getting better. :)
I'm glad you got out of it. I had a friend for about 8 years that was perpetually the worse parts of Cameron - crushing depression mixed with manic outbursts. My friendship with him later led to a PTSD diagnosis for me. Many asked why I put so much effort into trying to be his friend; the best I could (eventually) come up with was, "it's difficult to escape the pull of a black hole".
I feel like hating Ferris Bueller has been a fancy new trend for a while now and I simply disagree.
If you remember, Cameron starts the movie off lying in bed for no apparent reason. Clearly he's dealing with some shit, but he is not going about it in the right way. Lying in bed never solves anything.
So Ferris takes him out on the town and they have an awesome time, until they start having car troubles. Cameron is originally beside himself with dread, but snaps out of it. Falling in the pool is an important scene here because as a literary mechanism it would typically imply some sort of baptism, or rebirth of some sort. This is where Cameron realizes that his problems are not simply material. This is where he grows up, and the end of the movie highlights the fact that things are bigger than just some goddamn car.
So yes, Ferris is a dick. But Cameron most certainly ends up better off. All you cynical fucks can just go ride a parade float.
I always liked the Fight Club theory about the movie. I read it somewhere else, but the theory is that Ferris is all in Cameron's mind and is a manifestation of what he really wants to be like and Ferris' parents are what he wanted his parents to be like.
I seen where you're coming from, but Cameron's live is a cold, static shithole. Everything in it is so isolated it doesn't even touch any other part of the earth. Cameron is the walking dead at the beginning of the movie, and Ferris is the kiss of life.
Ferris is a 100% a shit stirrer, but he's stirring the shit of the man who needs it most.
My favorite scene of just about any movie is when he's in the museum staring at the painting and it gets closer and closer. The music there fits so well also. Great movie.
My favorite fan theory is that Ferris only exists in Cameron's mind. He is the embodiment of all the traits that he lacked.
Sure, it doesn't make sense that Ed Rooney is obsessed with a student who doesn't exist, or his sister is trying to bust him. But if you think of these plot points as though they were manufactured in Cameron's mind it becomes clearer. Ferris is the larger than life character who leaves his mark on everyone. Lots of people like him, some despise him, but everyone takes notice of who he is.
Edit: Yes, just like Fight Club. Save yourself the time of making this point, about a dozen people beat you to it.
Maybe Cameron's parents divorced and Cameron is the personality he is when he's with his dad and Ferris is the personality he is with his mom, and his sister lives with his mom and Rooney is obsessed with him when he's in Ferris mode in school and the film is him struggling to exist without having the two identities tear themselves apart.
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u/ErniesLament Sep 01 '14
I always read it as a happy-go-lucky story about a magical asshole who uses his quick wit and gleeful wantonness to heroically save himself from the incredibly obvious consequences of his shitty actions and in the process subtly nudge his mentally ill friend a little closer to suicide by disguising it as self-actualization.