Ferris Bueller’s Teenage Model

Ferris Bueller, in John Hughes’s Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, represents the stereotype of teenagers as snarky, arrogant, and disrespectful. Throughout the film, he flouts traditional images of authority, while stringing along his girlfriend and best friend with him. Integral to Ferris’s deviance is his ability to and success in performance, an aspect that allows him to deceive others and excel in getting what he wants.

At the very beginning of the movie, Ferris provides the audience with his first performance, that of being sick. He acts out an entire farce, including sad sniffles and pathetic coughs combined with a falsely heroic attitude, to his seemingly oblivious parents. This scene catapults the movie into a comical recording of his variance performance, all of which have some aspect of defiance against the adult world. For example, Ferris refuses to take his day off alone and, as such, decides that he must get his girlfriend, Sloane, and his best friend, Cameron, to join him. Despite Cameron being actually sick, Ferris is able to not only convince him to come along, but also convinces him to perform as well. In order to get Sloane out of school Cameron pretends to be her father (with an obnoxious, uppity voice and all) and fools the principle in the same way Ferris has. Sloane, too, is drawn into the elaborate performance, mourning for her “dead grandmother.” Even more, Ferris picks Sloane up from school himself, revealing his blatant disregard for potential consequences and his arrogant disrespect and disbelief in the principle as an authority figure: he and Sloane even make-out in front of the school, enacting out a pseudo-incestual scene. This scene in which Ferris successfully convinces and enables his friends to join him comically demonstrates the conception of teenage deviance as rampant, dangerous, contagious, and yet still totally irresistible.

the three delinquents themselves

What do you guys think of Ferris and his “friendly” antics?

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Twilight – More Incest Than Romance

Here’s a clip from the movie that I think demonstrates Edward’s paternalism – he’s patting her on the head!

After writing my thoughts on Fifty Shades of Grey, I started thinking about how E.L. James initially wrote it as a Twilight fan-fic. I hadn’t read the first novel in Stephenie Meyer’s series in years and decided to take another go at it. I noticed some things this time around that I definitely did NOT catch back in my tweenage years.

What struck me the most while reading it now was how creepy the relationship between Bella and Edward actually is. Yes, I can see why it has become such a phenomenon – it is clearly a love story that overcomes all odds. But beyond that, Meyer endeavored to create the perfect boyfriend in the form of Edward and, my question is, why does she portray “the perfect boyfriend” as a semi-pedophilic stalker? Sure, Edward is a vampire so he’s instantly glorified in his stoic mysteriousness, but that does not change the fact that he is so much older and more experienced than Bella – he constantly takes advantage of and condescends down to her because of her unquestionable naïveté! This creates an imbalance in their relationship that, in actuality, gives Edward the role of father more than boyfriend…

Meyer reinforces throughout Twilight that Bella is effectually parentless – her mom lives on the other side of the country and Bella takes care of her dad more than he takes care of her. Thus, Edward takes on the role of Bella’s father as both teacher and protector. He is the one who introduces Bella to new worldviews and experiences. He is the one who, let’s be blunt, stalks her in order to make sure she’s safe. Throughout the first book and the entire series, Edward obsesses over Bella’s safety – he’s really the one with the proverbial shotgun on the porch, not Charlie. He goes to such extreme extents to ensure she’s safe that it even makes Bella uncomfortable at times! Sure, she’s relieved when he saves her from the thugs in the back alley, but she does question why he was there and how he knew where she was. Edward’s vampire ability to read minds only helps him “protect” Bella all the more effectively – in my opinion, this seems like it would be more stifling than reassuring. Through Edward’s obsession as her protector, Bella really loses all personal freedom not only in their relationship, but also in her entire life.

What I find the creepiest of all, though, is Edward’s paternal reluctance to have sex with Bella. Ok, I get it – he’s afraid he’s going to hurt her or eat her alive, but that doesn’t explain his stubborn inability to even talk about sex with Bella. In Twilight, Bella is the one who pushes for sex but, in the only conversation that they actually have about it, they don’t even mention sex! They dance around the word itself, making the conversation feel more like an awkward “birds and the bees” type of talk than a conversation about mutual sexual attraction. Even more, Edward doesn’t really listen to Bella at all – he just resolutely sticks to his own decision on the subject and refuses to even consider Bella’s wants and needs. Does that really sound like a conversation held among equals? I didn’t think so…It gets worse though! During this rather uncomfortable conversation, Edward physically treats Bella like a child – while she expresses her sexual frustrations, all Edward does is pat her on the head. Because, you know, that’s neither paternal nor condescending, right?

Ultimately, I find Meyer’s portrayal of Edward and Bella’s relationship problematic at best. I obviously thought Edward’s paternalism the most disturbing, as it suggests an aspect of incest that I don’t think belongs to “the perfect boyfriend,” but there’s more to it. Even Bella’s extreme dependence and obsession with Edward is disturbing. I can see why Twilight is considered the quintessential love story in today’s pop culture but, after re-reading it, I honestly wish it wasn’t. I also am not sure what I think about the movies – while I don’t think the pedophilic/paternal/incestual aspects of the relationship are on the forefront in the films, I can’t help but feeling that they can’t (and perhaps even don’t want to) escape Meyer’s original vision of Edward as “the perfect boyfriend” completely.

What do you guys think? Am I reading too much into this? Or is the relationship really more creepy and off-putting than it is romantic?

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