Ferris Buellers Day Off Analysis

There is perhaps no American icon that satirically represents the teenage world better than Ferris Bueller. Director John Hughes was already immersed in telling stories of American youth when his most successful film, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, was released in 1986. The movie revolves around Bueller’s determination to skip to school while avoiding capture at the hands of Dean Edward Rooney, one of many comic fools in the film. Much of the story revolves around cultural context involving American education, attitudes towards it, and aims to humiliate its authority. Despite his impish character, American audiences fell in love with Ferris Bueller, who was portrayed as a popular anti-hero amongst his friends. The positive perception that Americans had of Bueller was largely because of their knowledge and experience in American secondary education which Bueller takes advantage of throughout the film. Foreign audiences would see a much different story being told, one that reinforces negative stereotypes about American teenagers. In a specific comparison between American and British audiences, much of the disparity between perceptions of Ferris Bueller’s …show more content…
In a comparison between two similarly structured education systems that divide primary, secondary, and higher education, it is clear that certain cultural contexts can help to understand any story. In the case of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, lacking knowledge of American culture can paint a story unlike the one trying to be told by the director. Where in one country the actions of Ferris Bueller would be considered unlawful and disrespectful, in an American setting they are considered heroic and likable. The film calls attention to the way Americans’ perceive their education and perhaps in some ways it is trying to say something about it with both praise and