MM
is peppered with the spicy pop stylings of The After collecting Ferris’s girlfriend, Sloane, from with James Dean’s tortured knife fight outside the
Go-Gos, Tom Petty and Donna Summer, amongst school by faking a death in the family, the trio Griffith Observatory (Rebel again) is as powerful
others, proving if nothing else, that a Teen movie visit the Chicago Museum of Art, the top of the a statement of how far representations of
demands a hip soundtrack. Over a decade later, Sears Tower, a Cubs game at Wrigley Fields, while teenagers had shifted over thirty years (in
Heckerling made a further bid for ultimate Teen Ferris sings ‘Twist and Shout’ on a float during terms of their economic, cultural and social
moviedom with Clueless, which similarly helped a city centre Parade. Throughout the day, Ferris status) as any iconography I can think of.
redefine the language and attitude of the genre miraculously escapes ever being spotted by his FBDO, like other Hughes’ films of the period
and provided a whole new set of character types father (variously in a cab; outside up-market can be criticised for its political naivety and
that would influence most of the late 1990s cycle restaurant Chez Quiz; in the parade; running
reactionary representations of ethnicity and
that followed. home through the suburbs); he is mourned by
class, but these criticisms tend not to account
most of Chicago, hacks into the school computer for the liberating power that a good Teen movie
And the winner is... to alter the number of days they think he’s been offers its intended audience. You could also argue
My ultimate Teen movie however, comes from off sick; constantly thwarts Principal Rooney; that Ferris hasn’t much to say, but I’m not sure
the ultimate Teen auteur, John Hughes. These fakes the most bogus illness yet totally convinces that’s true either. Tap beneath its joyous veneer
days Hughes might be better known as the his parents; drives Cameron’s Dad’s beloved and you might uncover an interesting exploration
producer of a string of box-office-friendly family- Ferrari around Chicago and allows Cameron of the nature of education and adolescent
orientated movies, including the Home Alone to ‘kill’ it in order to claim autonomy from his friendship that has unexpected depth.
films, but back in the 1980s he was the Godfather repressive upbringing – and – ultimately gets
of the high school film. Hughes’ 80s Teen cycle as away with it!
But is it ‘the ultimate’?
either writer director or producer included Pretty There are several career-defining roles in
You might well argue with my choice of
in Pink, Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club, FBDO. Matthew Broderick had played the
ultimate Teen movie – and so you should – there’s
any of which would stand a fighting chance for lead in 1983’s WarGames, but Ferris made
no shortage of grounds for debate. Should the
ultimate Teenpic - if he hadn’t also written and him a star. Jeffrey Jones was unforgettable
ultimate movie of a genre typify its conventions,
directed... Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. as Principal Wayne Rooney and Edie McClurg
re-define them, or challenge them? Does it have
equally unforgettable as his secretary. The role
to be even commonly thought of as a movie of
FBDO?
of Cameron has also haunted Alan Ruck ever
that particular genre? Controversial films like
If you’ve never seen it, Ferris Bueller is the
since. Then there’s soon-to-be-star of Dirty
Thirteen, The Virgin Suicides, Heathers and
definitive upbeat Teen protagonist. The film
Dancing, Jennifer Grey as Ferris’s jealous sister,
Kidulthood all work in resistance to many of our
takes place in a single day as Ferris wakes up and Jeannie. And watch out for a tiny but significant
conventional ideas about, and expectations of,
decides that life is too short and the weather too moment for Charlie Sheen at the end of the film
Teen movies.
fine to endure another routine day at high school as his character helps Jeannie re-evaluate her
So... if you’re studying any particular genre on
(located in Hughes’ fictional Chicago suburb of life, transforming her into a fully-rounded young
your film or media course, you might want to try
Shermer). Instead, Ferris, played by Matthew woman after a single conversation in the police
identifying which film (if any) you would show
Broderick (who will always be Ferris!) persuades station (in a slight nod to Rebel Without a Cause).
someone in order to say... ‘this film is that genre’.
his best friend, the permanently sick and put- Ferris is, for me, more than simply a wish-
Now there’s an invitation...
upon Cameron Frye, that they should skip school. fulfilment comedy. It does have great comic Rob McInnes is Head of Media Studies at Forest Hill School,
The day off itself is packed with a wish-fulfilment moments, and a comparison of Ferris miming to London. His book Teen Movies will be published by Auteur in
vision of what you should do when you bunk off. Wayne Newton’s ‘Danke Schoen’ on a parade float
May 2008.
english and media centre | February 2008 | MediaMagazine 57
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