Why Does Everyone Love 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off'?

Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.

Originally published on February 13, 2017

This past Christmas Eve my family did something a little different. We were talking about old movies during dinner, and somehow we got to the point where we figured out if we start watching Ferris Bueller’s Day Off right now, we will finish before we go to midnight mass. So we did. No A Christmas Story or Elf for us. In my free time, I found a few interesting theory videos on the movie and listened to “Twist and Shout” a few times. Then I forgot about it, just a temporary shift in my entertainment attention.

Fast forward a couple weeks. This semester I’ve had professors on two different occasions say, “Bueller…Bueller” when calling roll or waiting for responses to questions. It’s happened before in college, and in high school too. This all got me thinking about why this 80’s movie has had such a lasting impact on our culture. There are other ones, other famous lines and scenes that everybody knows (“Who ya gonna call?”). But why is a movie about a kid skipping school so popular?

There are so many reasons why Ferris Bueller’s Day Off has remained a cultural staple. The first is its quotability. “Bueller…Bueller” often finds its way into classrooms. Others like “Hey batta batta sa-wing batta!” and “He’s a righteous dude” are easily recognized. Much of Christmas Day involved my brothers and me chanting to each other, “Ferris Bueller you’re my hero.” It’s like Mean Girls in that way, with lines that have found their way into the American subconscious, but not quite to the point of being constantly memed.

It’s a one-time thing; no sequels, no prequels, and literally telling the story of just one day. The degree of realism in how this story is portrayed is up to the viewer, but most people suspend their disbelief, sit back, and follow Ferris, Cameron, and Sloane around Chicago. It’s a small time commitment, you’re immediately invested into the characters due to Ferris’s fourth-wall-breaking and Cameron’s relatability, and the story wraps up neatly so you really aren’t wanting more.

Finally, it’s just so funny. In order for Ferris and his friends to pull off their stunts, they need to do a little acting with disguises. Ferris needs to outsmart the principal, who keeps getting handed the short end of the situations. His sister Jeanie can’t do anything right. Cameron is a never-ending font of over-the-top misery and self-deprecation. It’s a kind of humor that anyone can relate to, because at some point we’ve all had a friend like Ferris or wished we could be like Ferris. We’ve felt like Cameron from time to time. We’ve all had very dull teachers. Most of us with siblings are either Ferris or Jeanie; can’t do anything wrong or can’t do anything right. We’ve all been in school and wanted a bright, sunny day off.

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is one of those movies that will continually be watched for generations to come, with references brought into everyday life to be enjoyed by those of us who have seen it.