Cameron Frye - Ultimate Hero
Eighties teen movies are obligatory viewing. Breakfast Club, Pretty In Pink; even St Elmo’s Fire. Plunge into the depths of these movies and you’ll find all you want and need out of a movie; morality, feelings, drama and wit. One such film will always resonate louder than the rest and that is the brilliant Ferris Bueller’s Day Off; a movie that launched the career of baby faced Matthew Broderick. So when both my little brother and sister turned the ripe old age of 12, I finally sat them down to teach them the ways of Bueller (adhering to parental guidance laws, yo.) What I found upon this particular viewing was very loud resonating feelings for “sidekick” Cameron Frye. And how Cameron is the ultimate modern day hero.
Now I am not going to sit here and ignore the fact that Ferris isn’t a hero. He is, after all, this shining knight of awesome. Absolutely cool, skipping school and charming the pants off nearly everyone he meets; Ferris is that typical teenage movie star that we all aspire to be. Hell, at one point, he smoothly takes to the streets of Chicago and woos everyone in the vicinity with a classic Beatles song. And Ferris is popular despite not being a typical jock. In fact, he is a computer whiz with a talent for making the ladies go all gooey. Our loveable narrator manages to face the day with such ease and is very heroic at doing so. But let’s face it, Ferris is our Superman; a hero we aspire to, but could never possibly, be.
But Cameron Frye? Cameron Frye is our Batman; a dark and brooding rich kid with a lot of complexities and the access to supercool cars. Even his parents aren’t around; being dead emotionally to each other and Cameron. It’s Cameron that we ending up falling in love with, and backing, rather than Ferris. He spends a lot of time wrestling with the issues and pressure of his life. Starting off in the beginning believing he is sick when really he is conflicted, Cameron is instantly relatable. He mirrors a lot of issues many people have on a day-to-day basis; especially being pushed around by overbearing parents. The best thing about Cameron is that he recognises his mentality and how jealous he is that Ferris’ care free attitude comes so easily. How many of us have friends like that? Those friends who can dance when thousands are watching, take to the microphone at karaoke and just grab life.
Like the Caped Crusader, Cameron rises from the depths of his depression to become the hero we deserve. After all, the true turning point in the movie is when Cameron grabs hold of his anxieties and literally throws them out the window (in the form of his fathers prized 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder convertible.) The film never states that he is completely over everything that he worries about, but it certainly gives him strength to fight back against them. He may go catatonic at times yet he knows how to push through with it like a modern day Bruce Wayne battling against the Jokers of his mind.
Add this to the conspiracy theory that Ferris is actually a made up personality of Cameron and he becomes the greatest hero of all time. Not only is he definitely a John Hughes version of Batman, but he could possibly be our Superman too.