that moment you realize the main character is not actually the main character

#ferrisbuellersdayoff #ferrisbueller #videoessay

Ferris Bueller's Day Off, starring a young Matthew Broderick, is more than your average teen comedy. Director John Hughes has created some fascinating characters that run contrary to what we're used to seeing in these kinds of movies. I've talked about Ferris Bueller's Day Off before, discussing its editing process. Today I want to talk about the movie from a character and narrative perspective.

Written & edited by Danny Boyd

[CinemaStix]

Who are some of your favorite “secondary” characters in movies who steal the show?

[nexigram]

“You’re not dying, you just can’t think of anything good to do” is an observation that cuts me down to my very soul.

[diegoramirez]

I’m convinced Danny made his channel just to express how much he loves Ferris Bueller’s Day Off 😂

[kezia]

Ferris Bueller is one of those stories that just continues to grow on you over the years. When you're young, you idolize Ferris and wish to be him, then you slowly come to realize that you're actually cameron, and that realization puts you in Cameron's position at the start of the film. Eventually, just like Cameron staring in the gallery as the painting turns to noise, you come to realize that everything is just noise, and that Ferris is an aspiration, not a truth.

[areapictures]

Puts Mia Sara on the thumbnail. Never says her name or brings Sloane up, even once.😂

[colbyscott]

The art museum scene is one of my favorite scenes in all of moviedom. It's just... so... calmingly melancholy. It's like a little meditation in the middle of a chaos.

Then Cam's closeups with that painting... I felt that in my soul. It's was and still is oddly soothing, to this day. There is this sense of "Hey, man, you're ok. You just need to remember it."

[Kieran_Rowles]

'He'll keep calling me... He'll keep calling me until I come over, he'll make me feel guilty... This..this is ridiculous! Ok I'll go I'll go I'll go I'll go I'll go w-I'll go. Shit....godDAMNIT! ' - Just so ridiculously relatable in all aspects of life.

[ImBk]

I like that you mention Ferris's altruism. His overall benevolence is a lot of what makes him such a fascinating chaos avatar, because without it he'd just be a narcissistic liar.

[mariacargille]

Beautiful analysis! I love the nuance and warm level of detail. I always get the feeling that you're rooting for the movies you discuss, even while acknowledging their flaws, which is really refreshing in a very critical media landscape. A fantastic way to begin my morning :)

[slaphappybullet]

This movie meant so much to me in high school (almost twenty years ago now.) I had a phase of watching almost weekly. And you captured exactly what I loved about it, so much so that it made me tear up thinking back to that time in my life.
Now that I’m older, I can finally put it into words. The movie has this feeling of lagging spaciousness, walking that fine line between having fun and having no aim. You can *feel* the nothingness that Bueller is afraid waits for him after high school, and the nothingness that Cameron currently experiences. The pacing, cinematography, and especially the museum scenes evoke that feeling so well.
Bueller was indeed incredibly well written because even as he battles his own fears of becoming a nobody, he still puts on a brave face for Cameron to convince him that he is somebody even at his worst. He tries to help his friend see that his best days are ahead of him, as he believes his own best days are coming to an end. It’s clear that Bueller has his own existential despair just like Cameron, the only difference being that he doesn’t let anyone see it.

[pickleshanks]

Danny is someone who can make you more appreciate a film you already loved, without making you feel like an idiot for not seeing the little details and deeper meanings beforehand.

[caleblatreille]

Ferris Bueller is the chaotic good fantasy Tyler Durden.

[ThomasPH]

It’s one of my favorite movies of all time. Since my girls were little, I’ve watched this movie with them when we have daddy daughter day every year. It’s one of their favorite movies now. I live in Chicago and I cycle through the North Shore neighborhoods and I just stopped at Glencoe Beach where Cameron went catatonic and I also took a picture with my friends in front of Cameron‘s house last Sunday, a perfect fall day in Chicago. This movie has such a depth of meaning to me and I quote it often. Someday, all of this will be gone, so in the spirit of Ferris’s wisdom, I take skip days from work to “ stop and look around once in a while so I don’t miss it”. Thank you, John.

[rex-racer]

Thanks for this. I love this movie. I think it’s one of the few from the Hughes/80s teen angst era that holds up really well. My teen sons have both embraced it to the point that my oldest has a ‘Save Ferris’ t-shirt and made the “Life moves pretty fast” line his personal slogan on his senior-year yearbook page. I get the people who think Ferris as a character is obnoxious, but without him, we, like Cameron (and my son), might never take that day off—the one that could change their whole life. Just a silly movie about an entitled truant and his pals? Maybe. But also a love letter to Chicago, and to the unsung fun of living life for a minute, and to the Cameron Frye in all of us.

[blackbardstudio]

I found your analysis of Ferris and Cameron very interesting but I also found the lack of analysis regarding Sloane also interesting. Sloan is the invisible woman when it comes to critics and analysis of Ferris bueller. It's like she doesn't exist beyond being a human sized accessory for Ferris.

[Jalex_Owns]

No other film analysis / appreciation creator does it like CinemaStix. There's an itch that only this channel can scratch, and you really get in there, Danny. Thank you for that, and please never stop.

[stephenmorrissey]

I remember leaving the theatre feeling odd after I watched this movie. And now I realize decades later it's due to Ferris being static throughout the entire movie. Guess I can finally move on in life

[blaster-zyxx]

Just to show how influential that movie was to me and some of my friends, long into adulthood in our later 30's and working in our corporate jobs, a group of four of us from work decided to take the next day off from work, go to a theme park and ride roller coasters. We literally called it our Ferris Beuller's day off. It was GREAT. We had a blast. And the world did not come crashing down because we left.

[ajvonline]

Bravo! This is Cameron's story. I've been telling people that for YEARS!

[themanhimself]

I swear Danny is out here reading minds. I just added this to my watch list... I can't stay for the essay cause I don't wanna spoil anything.... I'm just leaving this here for the algorithm and to show love and support.