‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ Is A Love Letter to Summer Freedom

The Scoop features personal essays on movie-centric topics.

By Elliott Cuff

There’s nothing quite like the feeling of the air beginning to change as summer approaches. Life slows down ever so slightly when the sun is shining, and sometimes seemingly endless possibilities open up in front of our eyes.

It's no surprise so many films are set during summer, a time when magic is in the air. Yet there’s never been a universally accepted definition of what constitutes a “summer movie.” Is it simply a movie released during summer? Or does summer have to be integral to the story or setting?

There is, however, a third option: some films simply feel like summer movies. They exude the same sense of freedom you might associate with summer, of how you felt when you were young and able to enjoy a two-month escape from the structures of conventional life. These movies are evocative of the essence of the season, and none fit this description quite like John Hughes’ beloved classic Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.

A direction-less day off

Hughes’ directorial work in the early to mid 1980s established him as a voice of the younger generation, an advocate for teenage troubles and dreams being just as real as anyone else’s. Ferris Bueller's Day Off, fittingly released in the summer of 1986, firmly cemented that reputation and is often regarded as Hughes’ best work (though personally it doesn’t crack my top three).

The Chicago-set movie centers around the charismatic and silver-tongued Ferris, who, along with his girlfriend Sloane and best friend Cameron, fakes being sick to skip school and adventure through the city. We see the trio take in a Cubs game at Wrigley Field, visit both the Art Institute of Chicago and the Sears Tower, and finally take part in the Von Steuben Day Parade—a jubilant sequence choreographed and directed by famed Dirty Dancing choreographer Kenny Ortega.

Throughout the film, it’s clear Ferris and his companions have no real sense of direction. They don’t have an orchestrated plan except to blow off school and see where the wind takes them. They disregard the rules that ordinarily govern their actions and they instead embrace the weightlessness of life without guidelines.

A love letter to ordinary American freedom

Despite not being set in the summer, the film still perfectly encapsulates the sense of liberation summer break provides, and offers a nostalgic escape to a time when responsibilities could be neglected without consequence. Experiencing those same emotions as an adult isn’t easy, principally because summer doesn’t spell the temporary halting of responsibility in an adult world. But escapist films like Ferris Bueller's Day Off allow us to reconnect with those feelings.

The film delights in the lightning-flash of that one perfect day that can never be recaptured but likewise won’t ever be forgotten—which is a summer phenomenon most of us can relate to. While the film delivers consistently as a comedy that has amusing characters and exciting set pieces, its most memorable moments recall a whimsical and purposeful uncoupling from responsibility. In one way or another, we can all relate to the freedom incarnate that Ferris and his friends experience.

Hughes intended for Ferris Bueller’s Day Off to be a love letter to Chicago, but in reality it’s a love letter to ordinary American freedom, captured and preserved in celluloid. That Ferris’ actions can be attributed to that of a narcissist is essentially irrelevant, as the film places primary emphasis on a carpe diem message in its pursuit of ultimate easygoing fun.

In praise of pure youthful exuberance

When I was young, summer represented plenty of different things to me. It afforded me the opportunity to spend more quality time with family, to see more of my friends outside of the schoolyard, and to play sports on the weekends, unencumbered by the knowledge that I had to return to school the next day.

It made me feel like I had all of the freedom in the world to do and explore whatever I wanted, even if the reality of the situation was not quite so. As teenagers and children we allow our imaginations to run wild, and the summer months are the perfect playground for our imaginations to develop and bloom.

Does Ferris do or experience the same things I did? Not really. In fact, he’s far more audacious than I was at his age, but his head is in the same place. He rejects the constraints imposed on us by society, and he commits to living life on his own terms, even if just for a single day.

You can look at Ferris Bueller's Day Off objectively and dismiss its “summer movie” credentials because, astronomically speaking, it isn't set during the summer. But it’s a film that celebrates pure youthful exuberance, radiates uninhibited joy, and brings back so many positive memories. I don’t know about you, but that makes it a summer movie to me.