Films That Really Matter To Us: Ferris Bueller's Day Off

For more info on my 'films that really matter to us' posts, see this post.

Where do I start with this film?! My mum introduced me to the genius of John Hughes' 80s teen movies when I was about 10 and I have been in love ever since. It made me want to skip school for just one day and have the most amazing day of my life. In hindsight, my mum shouldn't have shown it to me at such an impressionable age, but she's always kept my film taste cool before its time and for that I can only thank her! I could have written about The Breakfast Club (another one of my mum's favourites), Pretty in Pink (yes, my mum was responsible for me seeing this one too. In fact, she made me watch it the night before my year 11 prom) or even Weird Science at a push, but there's just something magical about Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Again, this is one of those films that is constantly parodied, and once you've seen it, you start seeing homages to it EVERYWHERE.  

Skins' main character, Tony, narrated a trailer saying "A wise man once said, life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it… and that would be a shame." The wise man was, of course, Ferris Bueller. I loved this because it pretty much summed up the way Skins was going to work - so long as you knew where it had come from. For God's sake, someone on the bloody X Factor sang Twist and Shout while incorporating the Ferris Bueller dance!

Matthew Broderick plays Ferris Bueller, a clever, cocky high school senior who just wants to take the day off from school to enjoy himself. In order to properly enjoy his day, he must convince his best friend, Cameron (Alan Ruck) to steal his Dad's Ferrari, and trick the his school into letting his girlfriend, Sloane (Mia Sara).

However, this becomes incredibly difficult when the headteacher, Ed Rooney (played by the marvellous Jeffrey Jones) and Ferris' annoying sister, Jeanie (Jennifer Grey) decide to foil his plan to simply have a relaxing day off. If you have ever seen Home Alone, you'll know how slightly unbelievable John Hughes' scripts are, but yet you accept everything! This is exactly the same with Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Everything that happens to him, be it catching the stray ball at a baseball game, somehow ending up in the same restaurant as his unsuspecting dad, or stealing a Ferrari from his best friend's parents is all totally believable, and what more it could happen to me if I skip school. 


Ferris Bueller's Day Off has had a lasting impact on pop culture and not without its reasons. It's oddly moving, funny, clever and still says something to schoolchildren today. But don't ever show this film to a 10 year old!

Thoughts About Harry Potter (no film spoilers)

So I really feel that I should write something about Harry Potter now it’s all over. Having written this, I know I haven’t included anything about the films, but they will never mean the same to me as the books. I love them dearly, and have decided to write this now because having seen the 7^th film, I realise that it is the books more than anything else that draw the strongest emotions from me. (Oh, the video games are amazing too!)

I’m not going to bore you with how much of a Harry Potter fan I am – anyone who knew the 11 year old who rolled up to the first day of secondary school can vouch for me, but let’s just say, off the top of my head, if you’re looking to buy some dragon’s liver in Diagon Alley, I know it’s 17 Sickles. OK, so yes, I was a bit of a weird child, I probably still am.

I’m not alone in saying Harry Potter changed my life, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I think as I’ve got older, rereading all of the books proves what a wonderful writing style J. K. R. uses. The books are not written ‘for children’, as such – there is wonderful language and metaphors, seldom seen in other children’s books. I don’t claim to be a English lit expert, but J. K. R’s use of the language is fantastic, and I’m pretty sure there’s more than a few children who have a wider vocabulary (I’m not talking about words like ‘Muggle’!) thanks to reading Harry Potter. I love J. K. R’s writing style because she never talks down to her readership – she assumes they are all capable, and the books are much better for it!

I was lucky enough to be born on 8^th July, which will be remembered by some as the date that Prisoner of Azkaban was released in 1999, as well as Goblet of Fire in 2000. Those days were amazing, and somehow, my parents managed to get copies of the book to where we were living in Norway. What stars! Once we’d moved back to the UK, I went to the remaining midnight openings, which were almost more magical than the books themselves! Book number seven, the Deathly Hallows was released the same year that I finished school, so by that point, I had literally grown up with Harry.

Reading all of those books for the first time is something I will always remember, or rather, finishing them is – that longing for it to last just a few more pages, yet a desire to see how it will all turn out, and finally, the realisation that the next book might not come out for a couple years yet! The emptiness on finishing the 7^th instalment, in the early hours of 21^st July 2007 was mind numbing. I’d never experienced anything like it before. The feeling of satisfaction that you know how it ends is combined with the horror that there’s never going to be anything ‘new’ – fair enough, the films were yet to be released, but I knew the storyline.

J. K. Rowling has made me escape to a world I could never hope to dream up, laugh and cry like a baby and she deserves this lowly blogger’s thanks.