MovieChat Forums > Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986) Discussion > Why does ferris have the British flag on...

Why does ferris have the British flag on his door?


Why would an American do this? Seems a little odd to me...

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Many Americans from the 1980's (and many now) love British Rock music. I would take it as a tribute.

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Yeah but rock music, especially punk, hates nationalism, flags and and all that crap. Why would you put up the flag of a foreign power that your country went to war with twice in the past (1776 and 1812)as some kind of tribute to the music of that country? Besides, americans and brits hate each other in general, just look at the message boards on the internet!

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It sure does seem that Americans and Brits hate each other, on the message boards anyway. I think people like to act rude for some reason. Those wars were along time ago and the United States right now is divided with its own politics.

Living here in the Chicago area I have seen some Brits here from time to time on a vacation (Holiday) and they seem like pleasant people. The only other reason I can think of why Ferris would had a British flag on his door is that it is a cool looking flag!

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Considering it was the mid-80s I'd think the flag was just there for decoration, not some kind of political statement. I remember wearing one version of an England flag on a T shirt because Def Leppard had made it popular.

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Mostly, I think it was a British Rock/Pop thing. British music was VERY popular when this movie came out. I don't use message boards as a gauge of whether a nation's people hate another nation's, because those screaming the loudest are the loose screws. I happen to love British 80s pop music, classic lit, movies and humour. Unless the subject is the Revolution, the War of 1812, or Culloden, I usually count them among the 'good guys'. That seems to be the opinion of most of the people I know....

American 'girls' are rather well known for loving them some British Boys... the Beatles, the Stones, Duran Duran, One Direction... I'm sure there were some in between, but we were out of the country for a large part of the 90s and 00s, so I wasn't really paying attention to place of origin.

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Exactly.

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Yeah, people tend to be much ruder on the internet than they would actually dare to be face to face, for fear of starting a fight. Of course when people drink too much, this restraint usually disappears!

I went to Florida on holiday and it was great - I want to live in the USA because the UK is awful now. I guess marrying an an American woman would be the eaiest way to get a visa?

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I guess marrying an an American woman would be the eaiest way to get a visa?

Not necessarily. The US State department won't let a couple marry just to get the visa. They'll put the couple through all sorts of tests to make sure they actually have a relationship and aren't just faking it for the papers (have to show old pictures, etc., something to establish a prior relationship). A friend of mine married an Australian man and the verification process went on for quite a long time.

Nice to hear you like the States though :) I visited London last fall and had a marvelous time--I majored in English lit in college and know a lot of English history and it felt like I was coming home. Wonderful people.

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You do realise that they dont have public health care?. Plus to get cover it costs a fortune.

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Never judge a place based on a holiday visit. My ex-girlfriend also thought Florida was heaven based on one vacation visit. Of course, she had a great time. She didn't have to work. I had to explain to her simple behind that people who reside in Florida also must work for a living and look tired at the end of the day just like everyone else.

I noticed the British flag and didn't think much of it. As stated in previous comments it most likely was in honor of British music and culture. Ferris could have posted a European Union flag but that did not come into existence until seven years later in 1993.

I am an American. I heard Americans really love our flag. It is a tradition going back to Colonial times. Many Americans are Anglophiles. I guess the grass is always greener on the other side. I just saw a documentary about the American Revolution. British "tyranny" did not sound that bad considering how some countries have treated their colonies. Some Americans during the Revolution wanted change, but not independence. Many former colonies have stayed on good terms with Great Britain and 54 belong to the Commonwealth of Nations. That speaks very well of the British.

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If you think Americans hate Brits because of the way people act on IMDB boards then you seriously need to get out more often. These boards are mostly just kids who talk out of their ass. Americans in general really like Brits - we just like to also make fun of them as well, especially for their love of that stupid monarchy.

and in the end they'll always be regarded as the US's greatest ally by far - next to Canada haha

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Brits - we just like to also make fun of them as well, especially for their love of that stupid monarchy.


Please don't assume that of all Brits. You couldn't be more wrong if you tried.
Bear in mind the monarchy live in palaces and do whatever they like, own whatever they want, and vacation wherever they want - all because *we* the taxpayer, gives them the money for it... yeah, we're not all as keen on it as you seem to think.

As for the whole younger royals thing; that's just turning into conventional celebrity stardom. The "royals" can now be seen getting wasted at parties, etc. It won't be long before there's no real gap between them and the Hiltons and Lohans of the world.

But at least we don't have to pay for Paris & Lindsay's excesses...

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as a Brit i don't think American's and Brit's hate each other we jest and take the pi*s, just like the Aussie's and Brit's do, most of it is good natured banter but i wouldn't take it as a genuine hatred of any kind, most American's I've met have been pleasant and nice. I might be wrong but i seem to remember a number of John Hughes film's have the Union Jack in them usually on someone's bedroom wall.

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You are an idiot. Maybe he has British ancestry, and its a tribute to his British heritage

"Besides, americans and brits hate each other in general, just look at the message boards on the internet! "

Wow you are an idiot. Speak for yourself not for people you don't even know. Every American or Brit doesn't go n this website.

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Ferris doesn't necessarily love Great Britain, he just loves the music during that period, early to mid '80s.

It's the same with people that love Reggae music, displaying the Ethiopian flag, or just it's colors of red, gold and green...or much less commonly the Jamaican flag. I'm pretty sure that those people don't necessarily love Ethiopia or Jamaica.

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But Ferris wasn't a punk rocker at all. He probably didn't listen to punk music. He seemed more into new wave. He seemed like just a normal teen who liked British bands, like Depeche Mode or The Cure.

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I understand this post is 6 years old, but what a load of nonsense.

The punk bands that you listen to might hate nationalism, but not all do. For better or worse, there are nationalist punk bands.

Brits and Americans do not "hate each other in general". Despite going to war with the US a couple of hundred years ago, we've fought as close allies in countless major conflicts since then. The closest you will generally get to hatred of Americans in the UK is contempt for the US government and its foreign policy. Aside from that, the majority of us Brits hold Americans in fairly high regard for the most part.

Everyone hates everyone on the internet, it isn't representative of the real world.

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maybe beacuse England is a"cool" country and British stuff in general is awesome!

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I live here and I can assure you it's not. Welfare spongers are breeding exponentially, taxes are thru the roof, the economy's a bag of *beep* , service is awful and the number of immigrants from 3rd world hell holes who just want to build ghettoes of their own is alarming. This place is finished; what the Nazis failed to do the globalists, politicians, bankers and multi-culturalist neo marxists have succeeded in: the destruction of British identity.

I can't wait to emigrate! How's America looking?

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This post is simply hilarious.

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Re: Why does ferris have the British flag on his door?:
"This post is simply hilarious."


Same here - it's hard to believe, Britain was the land that just kept giving music for 25 years. Where do you even start?

Beatles, Stone, The Who, Joe Cocker, Yardbirds, Bowie, Sex Pistols.

I kind of feel sorry people now. They DON'T get it one bit. They're hopeless.

Talk about about talking about the generation AFTER my generation.

Britain was solo synonymous with MUSIC there was no contest. It was like a mythical land, like a golden age of rock prophets.

If the people on this thread tried to watch "Spinal Tap" they would just be sitting there expressionless.

Oh well, life goes on, I guess.

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Old post, but you summed it up VERY well.

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All flags are stupid, bout time we realised that and abolished countries too. Humans are pathetic with their petty tribal squabbles. No borders, no nations, no racism, one world, one love. Peace!

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Can we say "boring"?

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bout time we realised that and abolished countries too. Humans are pathetic with their petty tribal squabbles. No borders, no nations, no racism, one world, one love.


And no religion, too?

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"All flags are stupid"

No.

First of all, a flag doesn't have sentience, therefore, they lack the ability to be stupid. Stupidity is 'someone that could have intelligence, lacking intelligence' - if an inanimate object can't have intelligence in the first place, it can't be 'stupid', either.

Secondly, you obviously have not researched this topic - how childishly easy it is to just point at something and scream 'stupid'? You can say that about anything, but if you are going to say it in a discussion board, it might be a good idea if you could BACK UP your claim at least a little bit.

Thirdly, flags have not only legal signifigance, they create authority as well as give information, and that's why they should be respected. There are 'quarantine' flags and other, VERY important and informative flags in seafaring. All flags are stupid? Really? When flags can SAVE LIVES due to their informational nature, they're still somehow 'stupid'?

Could it be the stupidity lies somewhere else..?

Flags can also tell whether there's a war going on, or if there's peace. USA has a peacetime flag, but it's VERY rarely used, so most people don't even know about it (yes, any 'Old Glory' flying area is technically at war, because it's a war flag).

Yellow or golden fringe around a war flag denotes MILITARY authority, so when you see all those 'national guards' and whatnot having the flag with GOLDEN EDGES sown to their jackets, it means they're under strict military rule.

So basically old glory = war flag, golden edges = military authority the flag creates and informs about.

All flags are stupid?

If you are on a ship, you better understand what flag that ship is flying, because it's the most important thing when you are on that ship. If you just think 'all flags are stupid', you can put yourself under obligations without knowing about it, consent to authorities you have no knowledge about, and so on.

I suggest you study and research flags, meanings of flags, the authority, etc..

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So before revealing your ignorance and your OWN stupidity (sorry, but this had to be said), please understand just how much meaning there is about flags, especially historycally speaking, and for an added point of interest, research "American Peace Flag" or "Peacetime flag", and be amazed at the beauty of the 'similar to old glory, but very different colors'-flag. White background, blue stars, and so on.

It's sad how USA can't exist in peace, and how a WAR FLAG is still flown - that's the stupidest part I can think of when it comes to flags.

It's also a little bit weird how SEVERE the punishments can be if you do something 'bad' to a flag - you can even go to prison if you accidentally drop a flag to dirt, so it gets dirty, during some ceremony, I think. Or am I just paranoid or is this info obsolete?

In any case, I think there SHOULD be a healthy respect of flags, at least after you realize what they are for and how they create authority, signify what kind of legal system is in operation, and inform about diseases and other important things, but I still think it's a bit weird just how MUCH respect you are expected to have for what's nothing more than a piece of colored cloth, in essence. LIFE should get more respect than a flag, but it doesn't.

You can probably punch someone and get smaller punishment from the system than if you 'desecrate' or burn a flag.

I don't think Ferris is all that informed about flags, many teenagers just do 'whatever' and don't get the signifigance or possible consequences of bringing british authority to their own room - it's probably safe, as no british authoritarians or even bureaucrats would probably know about that flag if it wasn't for this movie, but technically speaking, it COULD create a lot of problems.

What I am trying to say that flags are actually POWERFUL, more powerful than people usually even know or think, and there's a BIG REASON for them being waved around so much, historically speaking. A flag denotes a LOT.

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Any of a number of reasons, including:

- It's kind of cool looking - I mean, just as a piece of graphic design.

- Tribute to British musical artists (as already mentioned). I don't think that's inherently a "punk" thing. There are lots of English bands that are popular in the US and have been since, oh, I don't know, about 1964.

- Anyway, why couldn't the British flag be motivated by fandom for punk bands? Did you get the notion that the Union Jack isn't "punk" from the official manual? Take a look at the cover of the Clash's first album.

- Maybe he's ethnically English, though, yeah, the name would suggest otherwise. Though his mother's father, for all we know, might have grown up in England.

- Souvenir of a vacation trip to London.

British and American people don't hate each other. The two countries are extremely friendly as a diplomatic matter, and I've generally found British people (in America or in Britain) to be pretty friendly.

I see flags of foreign countries hanging places, or being waved, all the time. Certainly you see Italy a lot, Ireland sometimes, Mexico, Canada, Japan, Sweden, Norway, Scotland, Israel, Korea, Nepal ....

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What makes it strike as particular odd to me is that Ferris seemed to not care much about Europe, as shown when he talked about the test.

Taslima: What are you doing here in L.A.?
Snake Plissken: Dying.

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His French flag was being cleaned.

Georgina: Are we safe here?
Michael: Does Albert read?

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At least he didn't have the Alabama state flag

Celebrating 70 years over the rainbow!

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I'm an American and I have a picture of John Lennon holding a French flag pinned up on my wall. Go figure.
Also, after seeing Ferris Bueller's Day Off for the first time yesterday, I have decided to hang a flag on my door, but probably a German flag if I can find one (because both sides of my family have roots in Germany).

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Where there is clarity, there is no choice, and where there is choice, there is misery.

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He also has a poster of Cabaret Voltaire, an English band from Manchester hanging up. It all goes along with the typical decor of 1980's New Wave. In fact, when this movie came out some teens had resentment over John Hughes exposing their very personal musical and clothing tastes to the masses through this and his other movies. I guess time proves though that people still don't "get it". =P

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I thought it was just a stylish thing personally, I'd be up for getting an Australian flag just because they look cool.

Question though, somebody said that the British and the Americans don't like each other although this thread doesn't seem to reflect that. I'm British and whenever I go to the USA I don't get any bother and people here that I know don't have a problem with american's, except George Bush but then most americans don't like him either, do they?

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There's also a Simple Minds poster. John Hughes always had very cool, hip musical references in his movies.

Sometimes there would even be an appearance by actual bands in his movies, like The March Violets in "Some Kind Of Wonderful".

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