feel like a lot of anti-ferris takes don't acknowledge that there's a lot of pathos in that movie due to the heavily implied sense that ferris's life post-high school is gonna be pretty bleak, and that we're witnessing the last happy period of his life.
― ryan, Monday, 23 July 2018 18:23 (five years ago) link
or that a lot of his "acting out" is due to his own dawning sense of that future.
also rentons curve in trainspotting
― dele alli my bookmarks (darraghmac), Monday, July 23, 2018 7:04 AM (four hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
renton isn't meant to be a "good guy" in trainspotting. he's less bad than sick boy and begbie, worse than spud.
― ( ͡☉ ͜ʖ ͡☉) (jim in vancouver), Monday, 23 July 2018 18:29 (five years ago) link
Cameron’s got it worse. Another nom for thread: Duckie and/or Harry Dean Stanton are the true heroes of Pretty in Pink. Molly Ringwald is just teening dopily along. Apparently the original ending had Duckie and Andie ending up together, but that’s not necessary. Duckie learns the real lesson ( and it’s the OMD song).
― rb (soda), Monday, 23 July 2018 18:33 (five years ago) link
duckie is an asshole though. in love with his best friend, doesn't tell her how he feels, acts all jealous and shitty when she is interested in another guy
― ( ͡☉ ͜ʖ ͡☉) (jim in vancouver), Monday, 23 July 2018 18:36 (five years ago) link
I have vague memories of having to sit through The Beach in the cinema, with a group for someone's birthday. Correct me if I'm wrong, but as I remember it, Leonardo DiCaprio's protagonist character is a terrible guy who cheats on his loved ones, disrupts the status quo not necessarily (intended) in a good way, goes on a drug trip, then offers some holier-than-thou moralising words in the end.
― Valentijn, Monday, July 23, 2018 6:55 AM (four hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
i watched the beach a few years ago and... yeah it's all kinda hazy, though i think the script is aware that leo's character is a dick and the perfect society he found wasn't so perfect
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Monday, 23 July 2018 18:37 (five years ago) link
trying to reconstruct the beach from memory reminded me of into the wild, the movie adaptation of which was trying desperately to convince me that the main character wasn't insufferable
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Monday, 23 July 2018 18:39 (five years ago) link
It's been aaaaages since I read it (or saw the movie, tbh) but iirc Spud was more the protagonist of the Trainspotting novel than Renton was.
― Hi My father very Rusted Root with me what can I do? (Old Lunch), Monday, 23 July 2018 18:41 (five years ago) link
Huh. I don't get that at all. Je suis Ferris, to an extent, and I did fine. I blew off months' worth of HS classes, smuggled vodka on field trips, forged library passes, may or may not have gotten high with a chemistry teacher. Went to college (of course), where I fucked off for entire semesters and mostly got away with shit by being white, male, straight, cute, reasonably clever, and having a reasonably well-to-do family with good connections.
Where is the evidence that Ferris ends up as badly off as even Lloyd Dobler (who also did fine, I suspect) or Kyle M.'s character?
― nonsensei (Ye Mad Puffin), Monday, 23 July 2018 18:41 (five years ago) link
Molly Ringwald and I think Duckie is gay; Jon Cryer disagrees.
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Monday, 23 July 2018 18:42 (five years ago) link
been saying for years. Plenty of gay men pined for girls in high school.
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 23 July 2018 18:45 (five years ago) link
Willie Wonka is a manipulative, moralising prick who thinks nothing of putting children and their parents through psychological torture and uses his wealth and power to adopt Charlie rather than going through background checks and demonstrating his fitness to be a parent.
― Dan Worsley, Monday, 23 July 2018 18:49 (five years ago) link
Typical entitled Elon Musk type in short.
― Dan Worsley, Monday, 23 July 2018 18:50 (five years ago) link
wait does anyone think willy wonka is the "good guy"?
― mark s, Monday, 23 July 2018 18:53 (five years ago) link
he also eats babies
― fuck the NRA (Neanderthal), Monday, 23 July 2018 18:53 (five years ago) link
I wouldn't say so. It's a collection of short stories refashioned as a novel and it shows, but Renton is still the main focus. As a relative innocent, Spud is the most tragic character though
― Number None, Monday, 23 July 2018 18:54 (five years ago) link
Duckie is neither an asshole nor gay. He is a duckman. Duh.
― Benson and the Jets (ENBB), Monday, 23 July 2018 19:07 (five years ago) link
what the sequel did with the characters- and this may all be in welshs work- was shite
― dele alli my bookmarks (darraghmac), Monday, 23 July 2018 19:12 (five years ago) link
obv luke skywalker is a dangerous terrorist
― dele alli my bookmarks (darraghmac), Monday, 23 July 2018 19:13 (five years ago) link
Welsh's sequels were a totally different kind of shite. But shite nonetheless
― Number None, Monday, 23 July 2018 19:15 (five years ago) link
sequels are a general formal problem for the idea of the anti-hero: discuss
― mark s, Monday, 23 July 2018 19:16 (five years ago) link
Agree with YMP that this is a challops. Ferris is about as privileged as someone could be.
― No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Monday, 23 July 2018 19:18 (five years ago) link
its more that hes a cunt which is separate
― dele alli my bookmarks (darraghmac), Monday, 23 July 2018 19:19 (five years ago) link
frodo: was told not to wear the ring
― dele alli my bookmarks (darraghmac), Monday, 23 July 2018 19:20 (five years ago) link
lol yeah ferris is definitely a future wall street bro who eventually takes unacceptable risks in the lead-up to the financial crisis
― ant banks and wasp (voodoo chili), Monday, 23 July 2018 19:21 (five years ago) link
re: LOTR
https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/unused-audio-commentary-by-howard-zinn-and-noam-chomsky-recorded-summer-2002-for-the-fellowship-of-the-ring-platinum-series-extended-edition-dvd-part-one
― Number None, Monday, 23 July 2018 19:24 (five years ago) link
no way it's barely even subtext that Ferris is fucked and his whole motivation is that his charmed existence is about to expire. Rage against the sting of the light. Yes he is privileged (and a cunt) but I dunno I still feel for the privileged cunts of my adolescence who "peaked" in high school. That Ferris is cut and dried the "bad guy" is imo just glib counterintuitive retweet bait passing as insight.
― ryan, Monday, 23 July 2018 19:49 (five years ago) link
sting = dying obv.
― ryan, Monday, 23 July 2018 19:50 (five years ago) link
rage against the death sting
― fuck the NRA (Neanderthal), Monday, 23 July 2018 19:50 (five years ago) link
his charmed existence is about to expire
present textual evidence for this plz - and Ferris saying "this is all about to be over for me!" doesn't really qualify, cuz what does he know about the future? There's really nothing in the movie that presents an axe dangling over his head, that he'll have to get a shitty job or not get into college or his sister will get revenge on him, there's none of that.
― Οὖτις, Monday, 23 July 2018 19:53 (five years ago) link
xp re: Ferris. He's been weaseling out of consequences forever; what evidence is that it will stop happening?
He erases his unexcused absences via modem. You don't think he's gonna slide into college / jobs / homeownership with the same oiliness? Shit, I know I would have. And I kind of did!
― nonsensei (Ye Mad Puffin), Monday, 23 July 2018 20:14 (five years ago) link
"ferris is an object of pity" is overthink wish fulfilment
― dele alli my bookmarks (darraghmac), Monday, 23 July 2018 20:18 (five years ago) link
Whose wish is it fulfilling?
Being a quasi-tragic figure isn't the same as being an object of "pity" unless you're Aristotle. Ferris isn't "good" either. His "stop and smell the roses" attitude is precisely what's gonna lead to his destruction. I think he's actually (for the time) a convincing depiction of what self-actualization would look like for a 17 year old--that adults know this comes at some cost seems obvious to me. But that this would also arouse ressentiment also seems obvious!
― ryan, Monday, 23 July 2018 20:27 (five years ago) link
I haven't seen it in a while--what textual evidence is there that Ferris' charmed/charming lifestyle will come to an end as he becomes an adult?
― Dan I., Monday, 23 July 2018 20:31 (five years ago) link
xp
My basic point is that "Ferris is a generic asshole" is also a hyper-literalist bad-faith reading of the movie fwiw.
― ryan, Monday, 23 July 2018 20:31 (five years ago) link
― Dan I., Monday, July 23, 2018 1:31 PM (two minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
literally none
― ( ͡☉ ͜ʖ ͡☉) (jim in vancouver), Monday, 23 July 2018 20:34 (five years ago) link
Ferris does literally nothing other than smell roses. At no point do you see him actually doing any of the work of being a high school student, let alone the work of being a good person/citizen/son. And there are literally no consequences for it ever. The dude skates.
You may say that "adults know this comes at some cost," but then we also know about the degree to which Martin Shkreli, the Trump boys, Brock Turner, etc. get to skate.
― nonsensei (Ye Mad Puffin), Monday, 23 July 2018 20:34 (five years ago) link
it's true he is not generic, he is a very finely drawn asshole
― Οὖτις, Monday, 23 July 2018 20:34 (five years ago) link
y'all are all cops
― ryan, Monday, 23 July 2018 20:37 (five years ago) link
yeah I mean I guess I'd need to rewatch it but I find Ryan's take highly unconvincing. The world is full of rich assholes who were rich assholes in high school and continue to be rich assholes. They fuck up and get away with it throughout their life because they are rich and connected and know how to have the attitude of someone who shit doesn't stick to. This is exactly who goes to work in investment banking.
― Fedora Dostoyevsky (man alive), Monday, 23 July 2018 20:38 (five years ago) link
guys who "peak in high school" are usually working class joes who don't go to college
― Fedora Dostoyevsky (man alive), Monday, 23 July 2018 20:40 (five years ago) link
I've seen the studies
I recommend you all skip school take a pampered ferrari out for a reckless spin sometime.
― ryan, Monday, 23 July 2018 20:41 (five years ago) link
I think it's a perfect comedy film, to be clear!
― No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Monday, 23 July 2018 20:42 (five years ago) link
Ryan
do u identify with ferris
is this a cushy past catching up with u
sympathies man thatll kill ilx cred
― dele alli my bookmarks (darraghmac), Monday, 23 July 2018 20:43 (five years ago) link
everyone on ilx peaked in school
― mark s, Monday, 23 July 2018 20:44 (five years ago) link
show me the lie
no i identify with cameron! hence my affection for him.
― ryan, Monday, 23 July 2018 20:45 (five years ago) link
ur dad had that car
lowest of low ilxors sackcloth thus man
― dele alli my bookmarks (darraghmac), Monday, 23 July 2018 20:51 (five years ago) link
my dad was just about equally protective of our minivan.
― ryan, Monday, 23 July 2018 20:54 (five years ago) link