Ferris Bueller's Day Off - Rebellion and Freedom

"The question isn't 'what are we going to do?'; the question is 'what aren't we going to do?'"

John Hughes is for his films what J.D. Salinger is for The Catcher in the Rye. Both speak out to a generation, and both are a love-letter to their respective cities (Chicago and Manhattan). The Catcher in the Rye chronicles a drop-out's adventures in New York City as he comments on the "phonies" of society as well as its many hypocrisies. Today's film follows a similar route, except there is less angst involved.

Recently, there has been some debate over the eponymous character. Some have no problem with him, while others condemn him as sociopathic. I see him as another version of Holden Caufield. Neither one wants to conform and they're very much skeptical about society, particularly about adults. However, unlike Holden, Ferris never broods for long on the situation. Instead, he takes everything in stride, never worrying over a thing. He follows only one philosophy: "Life goes by quickly. If you don't stop and look around, you'll miss it." At first glance, he is a spoiled kid with nothing better to do, but deep down, he's the kind of person everyone wants to be. Yes, it's his ninth time he's missing school, but his words ring true for everyone living. It won't do to be all holed up in one place, never to do anything. By keeping up with propriety, however, we miss out on the joys in life and eventually "wind up in a zoo". This almost happens to Cameron Frye, his best friend.

Unlike Ferris, Cameron goes through a metamorphosis. At the start of the film, he is a mousy teenager who is sick all the time and has a lousy relationship with his parents, particularly his father. He is afraid of taking risks and always panics when something goes wrong. It takes Ferris to get him out of bed and "live a little", and as the day progresses, he becomes more assertive. The museum scene in which he stares into 'A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte' represents his confusion as the camera closes in on the painting; each shot turns the work into a series of dots. Nothing makes sense when we look into it too much. The larger picture is always puzzling. The pool scene is also a reference to The Graduate's pool scenes; the moment he is rescued, he is a new man and he ultimately wrecks his father's Ferrari, the symbol of his suffering and his dad's whacked up priorities. How he handles it? "My old man and I will have a little chat." He is no longer fearful, but courageous instead.

Then there's the antagonist, Principal Edward Rooney. He couldn't be more opposite from Ferris if he tried; he is uptight, he is rigid, and he is criminally obsessive. No sane principal would leave school grounds just to go after one student. Instead, he wants to be "like Dirty Harry" and be the authority figure. For him, Ferris is a threat; what's so dangerous about him is that "he gives good students bad ideas". Therefore, by destroying him, he destroys the students' will and asserts his power once more. He is Ranken in a high school setting, minus the dignity. Every attempt to crush Ferris turns him into more of a buffoon than before. Therefore, his efforts are futile.

The parade scene brings together the movie as the ultimate sign of liberty. Cameron's anxiety is underscored, and the Beatles references, along with the Danke Schoen motif, come together. Life seems complete at the Von Steuben parade. Aside from Cameron, there doesn't seem to be a single care in the world. It's the thrill of the moment, where spontaneity thrives and the universe seems at peace with itself.

All in all, the film is truly "a love letter to Chicago". Hughes doesn't miss a single site in the city. Not only that, he creates a teen movie with a universal message and memorable characters, an excellent combination. I've seen the movie many times before, but it always seemed fresh every time. It will never be as great as Runaway Train or The Seventh Seal, but it comes very close. Call it nostalgia, but I put Ferris Bueller on my top ten list.

The Atomic Cafe (Part 2) - Paranoia and Propaganda

And so, we've finished our final film for the semester. Before I make my remarks, I would just like to say that I like this movie. It is original for being entirely comprised of archive footage and not bringing in any cliches, like voice-over narration and re-enactments. The "interviews" are merely clips from other meetings, yet they yield insight to the frantic psyche of the American mind, especially during the Cold War. My only regret is that the creators did not include any of the McCarthy hearings, but this is the atomic bomb, not the red scare. They go hand in hand, but the red scare is merely one of the symptoms; it has been going on long before the atom bomb was even conceived, before World War II broke out in Europe.
I've been skeptical about our government ever since seventh grade, but now that I look back on everything, I have every right to. It's one thing to say another government's evil and that only bad governments utilize propaganda, but it's another thing for a "protector of freedom" to do it. It's hypocrisy to the lowest, and I'm stunned how many people are unaware about it. The students of Tech are smarter than that, but I'm scared for the rest of the nation. Are we doomed to forever be unaware of what the rest of the world is doing? To be trapped like prisoners in the cave, laughing at the one person who has the audacity to go outside and see the world? I have no hope for us...
Anyway, the irradiation scenes haunted me in my sleep and whenever I do my work in school. They weren't as violent as the media portrays it, but it's still disturbing. What makes it worse is that we can eat poison and be fully unaware of it, and that's precisely what happens with the Bikinians. Nobody knew how to treat irradiation at the time, and it's still dumb-founding even today. For the U.S. Army, their island is nothing more than something to be experimented on. The same applies for the hogs, who have no means of escape. They're forced into these man-holes, and when testing's finally over, their skin is scorched along with the rest of their organs. Dieve, I'm glad I'm not a pig!*
It's been roughly four or five months since October, and I have yet to put up an original movie review. I have had several in mind, so hopefully, I can do it. All in all, the Atomic Cafe is a wonderful documentary and I highly recommend it to anyone who's interested in the Cold War.
*Reference to Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

The Atomic Cafe (Part 1) - Paranoia and Propaganda

I'm afraid I haven't posted as much as I used to lately, but hopefully, my thoughts remain succinct.
Whenever I think of a documentary, I think of voice-overs and interviews. Today's film incorporates none of those things. Instead, we have a series of clips and cartoons made up entirely of the Cold War, particularly where the atom bomb is concerned.
One similarity I noticed to Dr. Strangelove is how lightly the politicians take the matter. They treat it like it's a game and are barely aware of what happens when they release their contraptions. One segment shows that an atom bomb could literally wipe a man off the face of the Earth; only a chalk outline of his shadow remains. Even if he does survive, his existence is a miserable one. Eventually, he dies of irradiation poisoning or his skin melts away and turns him into one of the living dead. I can never imagine why anyone could possibly use the bomb again after an incident like that, but they do, and they hold it over our heads like it's a threat.
Of course, one can't talk about the bomb without bringing in the United States' conflict with the Union of Soviet-Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R). The moment the governments clash for power post-World War II, reason no longer exists. They never got into an actual war with each other, but there have been plenty of close shaves.
What I find ironic is that although the United States always lauds the Constitution and "the American Way", the American Way doesn't exist. In McCarthy's time, if one didn't agree with the U.S. government, he was a Commie. This was the same in the 1930's and 1940's before he ever took power; Charlie Chaplin was booted out of the country all because he condemned Hitler in his satirical masterpiece The Dictator. Even without the Red Scare, one is always told to "move to another country" if he or she doesn't agree with the way things are run here. Also, the U.S. only gets involved in worldwide conflicts when it's personally affected and has little to lose. For the government, it's mostly about money, and from the way things are going, it will always be that way. Also, the country has always been mostly paranoid, looking for scapegoats wherever possible. Luckily, not all people are like that, but many are. So when one says the Red Scare was like the Salem Witch trials, he's dead-on. It may sound like I'm ranting, but that's just my perspective.
On another note, the little boy in the suit represents the craziness of the nation and how we had nothing to worry about. Oddly enough, he does everything his father tells him to do and goes off to ride his bicycle. Perhaps we may see him again at a later time. Poor boy must've looked back on the entire situation and wondered why he went along with it in the first place.
What was supposed to be a movie analysis has turned into a political rant, and I am sorry for that. It will not happen again, but this is my perspective, especially since I've been feeling disillusioned about the state of things lately. Let's hope nothing like the Red Scare ever happens again.

Dr. Strangelove - A Cautionary Tale of Fluids, Bombs, and Paranoia

Unlike the rest of the movies we've seen, I am familiar with this one, and not by legends or rumors. It is one of the most important films of the 1960's, especially during a time of paranoia and uncertainty. Before then, Russia (then the U.S.S.R.) and the United States stockpiled on missiles and tried to best each other whenever possible, be it the economy, the space race, or education. Meanwhile, citizens on both sides feared everything would go to hell and end the world. At least, this is the context of Dr. Strangelove: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.
There are sane characters, and then there are lunatics. The so-called "macho men" of the film are the latter type. General Jack Ripper sets his men against their own side because of "fluids", Dr. Strangelove eerily keeps everything in stride, and Major Kong hoots and hollers even when he's plummeting to his death on a missile. The "feminine" characters on the other hand are the President and Group Captain (or is is Colonel?) Mandrake, who try to stop the madness before it's too late.
People like Ripper always try to compensate for something, and since he implied he's impotent, he blames the Communists for his predicament and thinks they're spying on him everywhere. What kind of spy would use radios? That's precisely the point. War is silly, and the men who are involved are even sillier.
Mr. Bennett said Kubrick took out the Dallas line because of the JFK assassination, but there was an alternate end. In the war room, there was this table full of pies. Everyone was supposed to get into a pie fight, and then the President has been struck down; one of the characters then says "Our President has been struck down in his prime of life!" Kubrick perhaps decided it was in bad taste after JFK's murder and then switched it to the ending we know today.
This is my second viewing, and it's still just as good.