Daily Dialogue — May 23, 2015

“This is my ninth sick day this semester. It’s getting pretty tough coming up with new illnesses. If I go for ten, I’ll probably have to barf up a lung. So I better make this one count. The key to faking out the parents is the clammy hands. It’s a good non-specific symptom. A lot of people will tell you that a phony fever is a dead lock, but if you get a nervous mother, you could land in the doctor’s office. That’s worse than school. What you do is, you fake a stomach cramp, and when you’re bent over, moaning and wailing, you lick your palms. It’s a little childish and stupid, but then, so is high school. Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it. I did have a test today. That wasn’t bullshit. It’s on European socialism. I mean, really, what’s the point? I’m not European, I don’t plan on being European, so who gives a crap if they’re socialist? They could be fascist anarchists — that still wouldn’t change the fact that I don’t own a car. Not that I condone fascism, or any ism for that matter. Isms in my opinion are not good. A person should not believe in an ism — he should believe in himself. I quote John Lennon: ‘I don’t believe in Beatles — I just believe in me.’ A good point there. Of course, he was the Walrus. I could be the Walrus — I’d still have to bum rides off of people.”

— Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986), written by John Hughes

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Breaking the 4th Wall.

Trivia: The idea of a sequel had gone around for years with Ferris in college or on the job somewhere, but the idea was dropped. Matthew Broderick felt that the film didn’t need a sequel, that this film was about a specific time and place that we’d all like to revisit and didn’t need updating.

Dialogue On Dialogue: Perhaps the greatest 4th wall breaking monologue in movie history. All hail Ferris!