Ferris Bueller's Day Off Themes

There comes a time in every person’s life where they shift from childhood to adulthood. The point where they grow up and mature. This transition is often referred to as “coming of age.” It is a theme found in, “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.” Where one fake sick day sends high school senior Ferris Bueller, his girlfriend Sloane, and his best friend Cameron on the adventure of their lives. As they ditch school and take off on a journey through Chicago that helps Cameron realize and conquer his fears. The film first introduces Cameron answering a call from Ferris. As they speak, he is seen lying on his bed surrounded by numerous medicines, he groans out the words, “I’m dying,” to further enunciate how sick he feels. But somehow, Ferris manages to

convince Cameron to join him for an adventure and to get Sloane, Ferris’s girlfriend, out of school. However, in order to pick Sloane up, they need a different car.

Ferris suggests taking Cameron’s father’s Ferrari, but Cameron immediately refuses. He says that his father spent three years restoring the car, and yet doesn’t even drive it. The only thing Cameron shared that his father does do with the car, is rub it down with a diaper. In that moment, we learn that Cameron's dad uses what is undeniably one of the most symbolic objects relating to a baby, to wipe a car down. Which alludes to the fact that Cameron’s father treats and cares for this car more as his child, than Cameron. Through Cameron’s intense refusal we are able to see his blatant fear of his father. He even goes to say that his father loves the car more than life itself. To which Ferris responds to by saying, “a man with his priorities so far out of whack, doesn’t deserve such a fine automobile,” and then takes the car out. After picking up Sloane from school, the trio drops the car off in the hands of a parking attendant, much to Cameron’s disapproval, and hit the streets of Chicago. During their journey through the city, there is one great scene where the teens visit the top of the Sears Tower. Cameron tells Ferris that he still doesn’t feel very well and asks if they could leave

soon. In response, Ferris tells them to lean forward and press their foreheads against the glass, looking straight down at the tiny cars and little specks of life far below. Both Ferris and Sloane mention the fact of how peaceful it is, while Cameron says, “I think I can see my dad.” Which again shows the fear he has toward his father. Later, in the bathroom at Chez Luis, the fancy restaurant they scammed their way into dining at, Ferris mentions the fact that Cameron, “is the only guy I know who feels better when he’s sick.” But he does justify that by saying that, “if I had to live in that house I’d pray for disease too,” which implies that Cameron is sick all the time because of his home life. In the scene where Ferris joins a float in the center of a huge parade, and begins to lip-synch a performance, Cameron tells Sloane that there’s nothing Ferris cannot handle. However, he admits that he, “can’t handle anything.” Then, on their way home, after picking up the car from the parking garage they realize that the mileage has gone up from 126 and halfway between 3 and 4/10ths miles to 3017 miles. Consequently, Cameron loses it and falls into a state of extreme shock. During that time, Ferris says that he’s worried about Cameron’s future. He’ll go off to one school, while Ferris goes to another, and Cameron will fall in love with the first women he sleeps with. She’ll treat him terribly and won’t give him any respect. Ferris is clearly concerned about his friend, and how people, including Cameron’s own father, walk all over him. Cameron never stands up for himself. Ultimately, Cameron falls out of his state and they start rolling the wheels backwards on the car in order to bring the mileage down.

Cameron admits, that while he was in his catatonic state, he had an epiphany of how ridiculous it was to wish he were dead, worry about every little thing, and to be afraid. When they see that the car’s mileage isn’t reversing, Ferris says that he has to crack open the odometer and roll the numbers back by hand. In response, Cameron says to forget it. He let’s his “old man push him around and,” he, “never says anything.” And he has now come to the understanding that he’s not going to sit by while events that affect him unfold, and determine the course of his life. Overcome, with a surge of anger that had been suppressed for so long, Cameron begins to kick and dent the car screaming the question, “who do you love?” Which was obviously directed at his father and then answering, “you love a goddamn car.” When he finally calms down he says he is, “tired of being afraid” and gently places his foot on top of the car, which is a catalyst that throws the car off its peg and causes it to drive backwards through the window. Ferris immediately offers to take the heat for crashing the car. However, Cameron truly overcomes his fear when he says, “no I’ll take

it. When Morris comes home, he and I will have a little chat.” Cameron has learned something about himself, and appears to be able to now confidently confront his father and the challenges that await him in life. In one of the film’s most famous lines Ferris says, “life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." By this he means that there is a whole world just outside their little suburbia, one that is filled with tall buildings, art, and different people. He's saying that the classes they have to attend are all happening at the same time the whole world is literally having a parade. Avoiding solving problems head on, can make a person miss out on truly living. Which is exactly what Cameron comes to realize at the end of the film.