Is Ferris Bueller a Figment of Cameron's Imagination?
Filed under: Fandom
We always attribute Ferris Bueller's ingenuity and over-the-top fame to the magic of cinema. Anything can happen in Hollywood -- like a skinny little guy becoming the '80s mecca of luck and popularity. But what if there is more to it than that? What if he doesn't even exist inside John Hughes' Chicago?
Torontoist has a little column called Televisualist, which picks out notable TV listings for the week. When talking about Monday night's screening of Ferris Bueller's Day Off, writer Christopher Bird suggests that Ferris is nothing more than a figment of Cameron's imagination, a la Fight Club:
POSIT: Ferris Bueller does not, as such, exist; the movie is actually about Cameron's day off and his unresolved crush on his best friend Sloane, and the parts where Cameron is not onscreen are merely the products of his imagination as Ferris, the perfect human being, does all the things Cameron could not or never do, until Cameron snaps and decides to live his life for himself.
And as Bird notes, when Cameron decides to live his own life, Ferris' luck runs out. This isn't Bird's own theory, mind you, it's been around for some time -- spreading through the internet like an unwanted virus. But what do you think? Is Ferris nothing more than a less jaded version of the narrator's Tyler Durden? Or are people just out to ruin one of the greatest teen comedies of all time?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-14-2009 @ 12:46PM
Eric said...
Interesting Idea. But it falls about that he imagines him when he is off screen and really makes no sense for the last 20 mins of the film then. But I would love to see a recut with that idea in mind. It just might work.
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7-14-2009 @ 1:23PM
Mike said...
I've learned that as a writer people are always going to read more into your work than what you've intended. I think that's most definitely the case here.
I agree with the sentiment to the extent that it's more Cameron's story than Ferris'. Because Cameron is the one who changes in the end.
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8-09-2009 @ 2:11AM
Adam said...
Fictional movies are an interpretive art - like music. It can mean anything to anyone at any given screening. The profundity of the experience lies in the interpretation. When the writer/director makes his intentions clear, he kills the artwork and turns into a dull statement void of any expansive meaning.
In short, f**k what the writer intended.
7-14-2009 @ 1:37PM
Andrew said...
You have to completely negate all of the scenes starring only Ferris' sister, dad, mom, and/or pursuing principal to buy this theory. Why would Cameron also imagine them? Do they also not exist? Close but no cigar.
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7-14-2009 @ 3:49PM
mezzanine said...
He'd imagine them as just a part of Ferris's life, to make him more real. Cameron has a vivid imagination.
7-14-2009 @ 3:32PM
Aaron said...
Don't F%$# with Ferris....best movie out there from my teen years, Breakfast Club close 2nd
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7-14-2009 @ 2:31PM
Eric H said...
Then there also was a TV series as well.
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7-14-2009 @ 3:14PM
King Zilch said...
Yeah. It was called Parker Lewis Can't Lose. Oh, I know there was a TV series called "Ferris Bueller," but it had about as much to do with its source material as Friday the 13th.
7-14-2009 @ 3:38PM
Stan Winsome said...
Missed the whole point of the '80s my friend...
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7-14-2009 @ 3:55PM
Andy said...
http://www.slashfilm.com/2009/04/30/the-ferris-bueller-fight-club-theory/
A little late to the party.
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7-14-2009 @ 4:26PM
Justin Michaels said...
why would anyone as nice as Cameron imagine that they were the biggest jerk in movie history?
Aaron: this ones for you -
http://rossvross.com/2009/04/24/the-breakfast-club-v-ferris-buellers-day-off/
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7-15-2009 @ 11:29AM
Aaron said...
Justin, thanks bro...very interesting & entertaining read.
7-14-2009 @ 5:26PM
Drewbacca said...
To put it bluntly, I've gotta call "bullsh*t" on this one
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7-14-2009 @ 5:57PM
Michael said...
So does that make Ferris's mom and dad, his sister, and the whole town (which colluded in the "Save Ferris" campaign) imaginary as well?
Granted, if the movie were remade today, that might be the plot. But that wasn't the plot in the 1980s.
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7-30-2009 @ 8:08PM
Pax said...
Yeah... that makes NO sense. I mean, think about it. He'd've had to make up Ferris' hateful sister, and Ferris' mom and dad. Despite the fact that they had an encounter with him in a taxi, Sloan would ALSO have to participate in this delusion and kiss a fictional person (which makes no sense). Essentially, everyone would have to be made up. Absolutely everyone.
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8-11-2009 @ 1:44AM
Tacoma said...
While I agree it's a kind of cool little hypothesis, it just doesn't work. And believing in something just because it sounds good, logic be damned, is insane.
However I will agree that once an author publishes what he writes, he no longer has a say in how it's interpreted. He can talk on and on about what he meant when he wrote it, but he's simply not writing it anymore. He finished his job, and it's your job to read and interpret.
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