One of my favourite movies of all time is Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Of all the eighties film classics attributed to John Hughes, Ferris Bueller is perhaps the most whimsical and imaginative, if not downright hilarious. There is also something imperceptibly theological about it.
If you've never seen the film, the plot is fairly simple. Bueller, a lovable teenage rogue, fakes an illness to get out of going to school. After his working parents leave for their respective offices, he sets off to collect his emotionally tortured friend Cameron Frye. Bueller convinces Cameron to sneak away with his absentee father's classic 1961 Ferrari GT. Along with Bueller's girlfriend, they head off on an adventure in downtown Chicago.
Of course there is much more to the film than that. The movie at times swerves towards social commentary, at one point suggesting the career-minded parents of the eighties were perhaps to blame for a generation's angst. But that wasn't true of Bueller's parents. Although fitting the profile of a dual income family, the affection they showed for their children, albeit fumbling, was genuine.
There was a not too subtle, and hysterical, take on the disconnect between society's institutions, in this case high school, and the people they're meant to serve, the young students. Edward Rooney, the school's principal, is portrayed as a Clouseau-esque prison warden obsessed with uncovering Bueller's deception. Classroom scenes show students almost hypnotized by the oppressively dull and lifeless lectures that did nothing to engage a curious mind. Such dead-on depictions of high school life were often a signature of Hughes' movies. But again, it wasn't the main point of the film.
The main theme of the movie is Bueller's contention that rules that keep us from experiencing life were meant to be broken.
The odd-couple relationship between Frye and Bueller dominates most of the film. Ferris was a kid who could get away with just about anything. He was charming, likable and had an innate ability to live in the moment. Cameron laments in the film that Bueller was everything he wasn't. He lacked confidence, he was aloof and his boundaries were often based on fear.
The relationship Hughes steers us towards is the one between Cameron and his estranged father. Interestingly, we never see the father in the film, we only see the fruits of his extensive, high priced collection. As Frye observed, he was not one of them.
We'd all like to think that deep down inside we're just like Ferris Bueller. Adventurous, popular, fun loving, carefree. The truth is, he is perhaps the most fictional character of the film. We are much more like Cameron than we want to admit. We hesitate, we lack spontaneity, we fear change, and more than anything we look to the Ferris Bueller's of the world to elevate ourselves. In many ways, these qualities are inherently human.
Without giving the ending away (for those that haven't seen it) Ferris Bueller's Day Off is the story of a young man on a collision course with an ugly, but necessary, life-altering confrontation. The young man was Cameron.
Which leads me back to that imperceptible theological subtext in the film. Almost all of Cameron's flaws and weaknesses could be traced back to a relationship devoid of love. For Cameron and his father, it was based on expectations and conditions, things that could be measured and marked as achievements or failures. What he longed for, more than anything, was even the slightest hint of unconditional love. It explains why he was so drawn to Bueller, and also why he felt at times, so desperately lost.
This is an underlying theme in many theologies. For people of faith, God's relationship to humanity begins and ends with unconditional love. I say this not because I think churches have a lock on this idea, but rather to illustrate the fact that the pursuit of this kind of relationship has been around since the first creature looked into the eyes of its child.
To love, without condition or expectation of reciprocation, is a risky gambit. But of all the bold and courageous acts we could possibly imagine to resolve conflict, misunderstanding and bring reconciliation, unconditional love has no equal.
I don't think Hughes' intended the film to be an endorsement of organized religion, but rather to make a statement about the human condition. We are always seeking to find belonging, meaning, acceptance and love. Some find this in spirituality and some through the inspiration of others. In either case, our growth as a person is often the result of overcoming our fears, and in doing so we discover a strength and courage that was there all along.
Every once in a while we need a little Bueller just to shake things up, because life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.
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