Ferris Bueller's Day Off : Film Theory of Ferris Bueller being imaginary

Film Theory of Ferris Bueller being imaginary

Re: Film Theory of Ferris Bueller being imaginary

This is great, if true then Ferris could be a fight club prequel - "Tyler Durden: The Teenage Years".

Re: Film Theory of Ferris Bueller being imaginary

LOL. Someone beat me to it.

https://youtu.be/eiMuj85ngEo

Re: Film Theory of Ferris Bueller being imaginary

I've seen this, and it's a neat thought experiment, but it doesn't make sense and seems too forced.

I loved Fight Club, but there were some critical differences between the two stories.

With Fight Club, the only imaginary character was Tyler Durden. Everyone else in the story was real.

The "Ferris Club" theory relies on the fact that Sloane, Jeannie, and Ferris's parents are all imaginary. Furthermore, Rooney and Grace need to both be concerned with an imaginary student named "Ferris Bueller" who wouldn't actually show up in any of their records. Rooney has to make a phone call to an imaginary Mrs. Bueller about her imaginary son's absences from school, which only amount to nine, meaning that somehow some imaginary student is present every other day.

Kids at school are talking on the payphone to an imaginary student who doesn't exist. Kids are collecting coins to pay for a kidney for an imaginary person. Someone vandalized a water tower with the message "SAVE FERRIS", when Ferris doesn't exist.

The crux of this guy's explanation appears to be that Ferris is most likely imaginary because Cameron seems to be the focus of the real development in the story, but that's just how the story is written. Movies often involve some kind of fundamental change in their protagonist over the course of the movie to demonstrate progress of some kind, either positive or negative.

In this case, Ferris is indeed the magical character that is the impulse for fun and carefree existence, while Cameron is the focus for true character development. There's no good reason not to take the story at its word for this. Sloane confronts Ferris and accuses him of knowing exactly what he was doing when he invited Cameron on this little adventure, and why shouldn't we trust that?

Yes, Cameron ends up taking control, but that's his progress as a character. Ferris doesn't make any progress at all. He's essentially the same at the end of the movie as he was at the beginning.

Anyway, cool theory, but way too many holes in it. Fight Club is designed to have that fundamental story twist. Ferris Bueller was not.

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You're makin'... me... beat... up... GRASS!

Re: Film Theory of Ferris Bueller being imaginary

I agree, it's probably not "true," in the sense that I don't think the film intends for Ferris literally not to be real. But it's an interesting theory that makes you realize that Cameron is the heart and substance of the movie. The day off is most significant to him.

Re: Film Theory of Ferris Bueller being imaginary

The theory only works if you assume that pretty much everything we see is all in his imagination sitting in bed. I like this theory though. It gives some extra depth to camerons character and clears up some of the strange coincidences

Re: Film Theory of Ferris Bueller being imaginary

100% of fan theories are really really stupid.

Ferris Bueller's Day Off Is Just A Popcorn Film!

When this movie came out, people sat down with a bag of popcorn and just had fun for a couple of hours...

Now it's like all of a sudden, in every movie... everyone is dead... or is imaginary... or something... IMDb is full of message boards with this kind of discussions these days...

What is it with all these millennials coming up with these crazy theories?

Have they all been raised to be nitpickers, and to look for some deep hidden meaning in something that was never meant to be anything but a popcorn film?

Re: Ferris Bueller's Day Off Is Just A Popcorn Film!

I've noticed that the IMDb forums tend to represent the lowest form of discussion when it comes to film.
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