The Ferrari Crash Scene In Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Writer and television producer, Alain de Botton once wrote, “The moment we cry in a film is not when things are sad but when they turn out to be more beautiful than we expected them to be.” The Ferrari Crash scene in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off not only fulfills the emotional necessity to entice its audience, but allows any audience member to connect on a deeper level. In a time period where young adults were expected to conform to preset goals and dreams, John Hughes created the film to express the frustrations and desires of young adults in the eighties. With point-of-view cinematography and transitional editing in this climactic scene, Hughes reclaims control of liveliness in youth and provides freedom for Cameron and American culture.
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It is what ties the film together, allowing for continuity in storyline and chronology. In the Ferrari scene, Hughes’s utilizes several varying types of cuts in order to convey a consistent story. One example of a match cut is when the shot shows Cameron’s irate demeanor, and is then followed by a shot of Cameron’s foot hitting the car. This reaction matches the action. Hughes does this in order to provide the audience with a visual representation of the anger a younger generation feels as a result of society’s autocratic rule. Examples of cut aways come from the initial shot of the car jack tilting backwards. Instead of showing the car jack gradually tilting over in one continuous shot, Hughes utilizes the cut away in order to allow the audience time to process the gravity of the situation. As the shots cut away from the jack, to Cameron hitting the car, to his friends’ reactions, back to the jack, the audience is allowed a full conceptualization of the repercussions of Cameron wrecking the car. There are several jump cuts throughout this scene. There is a sequence of rapid jump cuts, in which the shots consist of Cameron hitting and breaking various parts of the car with various parts of his body. This serves to symbolize the various lengths the youth must go to in order to break free of oppression. Hughes strives to convey that the youth can no longer sit still. They will start to rebel against conformity by whatever means necessary. Whether it comes down to wrecking a beloved car, eloping in high school, or kissing a drug dealer in a police station, the younger generations can no longer stand by and conform to such a bland routine of life. It was meant to be lived, and they will live it however they would