Friday Fun with Ferris!

I planned on writing my 50 Shades of Grey post today, but I had a crap day at work, and my 50 Shades post, believe it or not, seems to require a lot of brain power. Moreso than the author put into the actual book, I’m afraid. I never take notes on posts, and I took notes on that one, and I don’t feel like it’s quite where I want it. Also, I’m fried from a nutty week. [Hot off the presses: Hermione as Anastasia? I’ll save my comments.] Screw 50 Shades (pardon the pun). It’s Friday, folks! We made it. I want to celebrate.

Friday Fun = Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. In a post about the Isle of Man, I mentioned my love for Ferris and you responded. You told me that Ferris deserved his own post, and I am here to serve, Blogtropolis.

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is a classic 80’s John Hughes masterpiece (wedged between Pretty in Pink and Some Kind of Wonderful on the Hughes’ bio). If you haven’t seen it, first, hang your head in shame. It has been around since 1986. Where have you been? Second, go turn on Netflix, find it, and watch it. Third, fall in love with Ferris.

The movie’s protagonist, played by Matthew Broderick, is a high school teenager who decides he needs the day off. He fakes illness and convinces his parents to let him stay home from school. With the assistance of his girlfriend, Sloane (Mia Sara), and his best friend, Cameron (Alan Ruck), Ferris has a kick-ass day doing tons of fun stuff. Meanwhile, a rumor travels around the school that Ferris is on his death bed, which aggravates his bitter sister Jeanie (Jennifer Grey) and the oafish Principal Rooney (Jeffrey Jones). Will his sister turn him in? Will Principal Rooney catch up with him? Will his parents realize that he’s fibbing and call him out? Will he be caught, or won’t he?

Simple plot, simple movie. Simply Genius. Why do we love it so much? Anyone? Anyone?

We love FBDO because like most of John Hughes’ 80’s films, it’s Fun with a touch of Serious. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is a day that any of us would love to experience. Ballgames, parades, museums, Ferraris, fancy lunches, lounging at the pool. Like typical 80’s yuppies, the Bueller parents are busy at work, losing out on the beauty of the day and all that is happening around them in the big city. Ferris appreciates life and love and good weather in Chicago and takes advantage.

Guess what? He doesn’t get caught. So we love FBDO because it’s a day where kids get the win.

We also love FBDO because we love Ferris. We want to be him, date him, or be friends with him. He’s handsome and charming, smart and clever. Ferris uses his wit to trick his parents, to scam the school principal, to spring Sloane from the confines of the high school, and to convince Cameron not only to hang out with him but to “borrow” Cameron’s dad’s car– his beloved Ferrari convertible– for their travels. Ferris, who notes that he received a computer for his birthday instead of a car (it was 1986), hacks into the computer at school to change his absentee record, uses his keyboard to make sick noises to play during phone calls, and rigs a system of strings and wires to convince people he’s home sick.

Nerdy yet super cute, Ferris may have been the first combination of attractive and dorky in the teenage movie genre. Although devious, Ferris is a sweetheart. He loves his mom and dad. He worries about his best friend. He thinks his girlfriend is da bomb, and he even cares about his sister even though she can’t stand him.

We love FBDO because of the music. Especially “Oh Yeah” by Yello. Think “Um bom bom (pause) chicka chicka (pause) chicka chicka- oooo yeah.” Who can hear that and not think of Ferris?

We love FBDO because of Sloane. Sloane with her long, straight, brown hair, and her white leather fringe jacket. Sloane, who watches Ferris and declares that he’s going to marry her someday. “Sigh,” says the 1986, fifteen-year-old me. “Oh Sloane, honey,” tsks the 2013, forty-two year old me. Still. I wanted to be her.

We love FBDO because of Cameron and his issues– his “sicknesses,” his problems in his home life, his lasting friendship with Ferris since the fifth grade. We all felt a little like Cameron now and again in high school. How great would it have been to have a Ferris to bully us into getting out of bed?

We love FBDO because of Principal Rooney and Grace, his secretary (Edie McClurg). Remember when Rooney runs through the hallway but then slows down each time he approaches the window of a classroom door, as he rushes to get Sloane to deliver her to her “father”?

What about when Jeanie tells Charlie Sheen (a.k.a. “The Boy in the Police Station”) that she hates her brother? He says: “That’s cool. Did you blow him away or somethin’?” Really, in the end, it’s Jeanie who saves Ferris. Bitter, jealous Jeanie transformed by a conversation with a cute boy in a police station.

Mostly we love FBDO because it makes us smile. Kids deserve to have a day like the one Ferris and his friends experienced. We all deserve to have a day like that. Thankfully, at this point in our lives we don’t have to fake out our parents or the principal to do it. The next time we have a beautiful spring day, I think we should all play hooky.  On the way out the door, we can quote Ferris:  “The question isn’t ‘what are we going to do?’ The question is ‘what aren’t we going to do?'”

Ferris memories and comments are encouraged!  Thanks for reading and have a great weekend.  Happy St. Patty’s Day!

[Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferris_Bueller%27s_Day_Off; FBDO Quotes: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091042 /quotes; pic in museum: http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_movies_blog/files/2011/08/ferris_bueller.jpg; shower pic: http://i1.cdnds.net/09/32/550w_john_hughes_ferris_buellers_day_off.jpg; parade: http://www.thelmagazine.com/binary/2c4d/gal_ferris_bueller_02.jpg; the gang pic: http://aka.media.entertainment.sky.com/image/unscaled/2009/5/15/Ferris-Buellers-Day-Off-09.jpg%5D