Ferris Bueller's Day Off : Why does ferris have the British flag on his door?

I'm shocked in a 4 page thread no one has posed this:


What was by far the most popular sneaker for White American Suburban teens in the mid 80's?

Reebok.

What was their logo?

The British Flag

Am I the only person in this thread that was in high school in 1986?.

Yeah! I used to wear Reeboks when I was in elementary school during the late eighties! British Knights too! Reeboks came out with the "Pumps" around '89 or so.

My (American) friend has a Union Jack in his room. At least for my friend it's out of appreciation for British music/style. (There's a scene in "SLC Punk!" where Matthew Lillard's character talks about Americans that love the British scene being posers.) But it could also be ancestry or something. It's ancestry that prompts my (also American) friend to having an Irish flag in his room and me (you guessed it - American) having a Serbian flag in mine.

On the run from Johnny Law...Ain't no trip to Cleveland.

In response to the flag question, I def remember my brother (we grew up in the 80's) having a similar flag, and similar things, as a tribute to British rock, all around his bedroom. This was a very common look in those days in "thinking" American's teen's homes. So the pride of Brit Rock was the reason he decided to put it up, in the movie, I'm supposing.

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"I don't like white people. I hate red necks!" (Eddie Murphy in 48 Hours)

Back in the early 80s British punk rock and new wave music became popular mainly due to the exposure from the new cable channel MTV. When MTV first got started mostly British bands were willing to produce music videos at the time. America's rebellious and counter culture youth accepted this new music along with it's flag as kind of a statement to that culture.

Just an FYI if not mentioned yet, he also has the American flag up.

Yeah, and the field of stars is on the wrong side. Regardless of how you hang the flag, if you hang it as a banner like he did, the field of stars stays in the upper-left (not on the upper-right), according to the US Flag Code. But, I wouldn't expect a lot of set decorators back then to know that, unless they've served in the military.

the Union jack is an iconic image.

That is all.









Time for Frank D'Amico to go byebye.

In the 80's, it would have been a statement of individuality to put a british flag on your door.

There were a lot of british references in the movie. "I quote John Lennon. 'I don't believe in Beatles. I just believe in me.'"

And in general, it was cool to like British stuff.

"Why would an American do this? Seems a little odd to me.."

Because it was the cool thing to do, plus like most teens he loved good rock/pop music, and from 1965-1989, no country dominated popular music like Britain. For kids today, it might seem so unlikely, but during that period of time, the world domination musically of one small nation was unlike anything before or since, and will never be repeated.

What everybody else said and also, maybe he just found it at a garage sale or someone gave it to him or something and just stuck it on the door for the hell of it. Kids' rooms tend to have a rather eclectic decor.
I do not have attention deficit disor...Ooh, look at the bunny!

Maybe it had something to do with the British new wave music at the time.


"Don't worry, I'm a gun club member, I'm taking these rookies downtown".

From memory, there seemed to be many uk bands/singers on Ferris's wall. Simple Minds and Bryan Ferry being two of them.

Victims; aren't we all?

There was a British invasion going on then in music. Especially metal but "new wave" too. Think Def Leppard. The British flag was big in America in the 80's

John Lennon was his idol!

well, when I was growing up, I had a Union Jack on my bedroom wall, on the front of my car, and on my desk in my bedroom. And guess what, I'm an American who emigrated to the British Isles eight years ago because living in the States at that time was so bad (and to a point it still is but cool to go back and visit).

And by the way, to the earlier poster who said our monarchy was 'stupid' needs to pull his head of out his ass and put his dick (head) between his legs. If this pisses you off, who gives a *beep*

A lot of theories have been floated in this thread but unequivocally the only reason for the flag was the prevailing music scene. Everything in Ferris’ very well designed room is a tribute to British punk and new wave. And whoever said punks didn’t appropriate the Union Jack is dead wrong.

Most of the band posters in his room are British (Cabaret Voltaire!) and the music in the film is mostly British also. Just a shorthand way of showing he has good taste, I guess ;-)

I used to want to change the world. Now I just want to leave the room with a little dignity.

Also, for what it's worth, there's is an equally large America flag on the wall to the right of the door.

There's also a big nice set of naked boobs on his dresser drawer that they don't even blur out on tv because they're hard to see. I never noticed until I started seeing it on bigger screens in HD.

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there's is an equally large America flag on the wall to the right of the door.

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It looks quite a lot smaller to me.

Because 'Great Britain' is great. ...The clue's in the title. 

If you are going to be a clueless bellend on the internet please remove the 'uk' from the end of your nickname joe, don't make the other 60 million of us look like idiots.

Led Zepplin, The Who, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, T Rex, Queen, Pink Floyd, etc etc yada yada were not punk, and the UK has a lot more to be proud of than that. It's not uncommon for Americans or Brits to wear the others' flag or symbols.




Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived. -Isaac Asimov

Because Ferris is an annoying dweeb who could only be thought cool in a John Hughes film.

COMMUNISM!

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Love means never having to say you're ugly. - The Abominable Dr. Phibes

I had a Union Jack hanging in my room in the 80's too and it had everything to do with it looking cool. Back in the mid 80's Def Leppard had made Union Jack shirts popular with teens and I never attached any sort of nationalism to it or ever considered myself less of an American for liking the colors and design. I leave symbols to the symbol minded.

At the time, the Union Jack was synonymous with the punk scene, so that's the most likely reason why FB has it on his door. UK flag="I'm down with punk."

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IMDB, flagging ppl for bull💩 since 1995. 

Punk was over by the mid 80s.