Page 119 - A Handbook Genre Studies in Mass Media

CHAPTER 4

Judge Hardy’s Nightmare: Generational Role Reversal
and Postmodern Adolescence

Life moves pretty fast. You’d better move fast
or you’ll probably miss it.
—Ferris Bueller

The transformation to postmodern adolescence not only reflects the
changing power and status of young people but signals the end of adult-
hood as a desirable culmination of individual development and basis
for social authority, and may mark the end of the youth culture film.
Generational conflict has been replaced in more recent youth films by
the theme of generational role reversal, acknowledging that the crisis of
adolescence is no longer confined to teenagers. By the mid-1980s, the
last of the baby boomers, born in the early 1960s, had reached the age
of adulthood. However, the problems of identity, meaning, and power
remain pressing and unresolved. The crisis of adolescence has become
the crisis of adulthood. Adults have been stripped of the illusion that
issues of identity and fulfillment are confined to a distinct stage of life
soon to be outgrown.
Generational role reversal culminates in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. In
the fast-moving postmodern world that has lost the innocent illusions of
fixed moral standards, adolescents are best suited to act decisively, with
wisdom, courage, and honor.
In his confidence and competence, Ferris Bueller has more in com-
mon with Judge Hardy than with Andy. Ferris fully understands the
complexities that define this new world and, further, is quite comfortable
operating in a culture characterized by change and relative values. At the
conclusion of the film, Ferris races to get home before his unsuspecting
mother arrives there by car. Ferris dashes on foot through backyards and,
in the process, must hurdle fences, broad jump over vicious watchdogs,
and generally overcome obstructions that suddenly appear in his way.
Although he cannot not possibly anticipate the exact nature of these
obstacles, Ferris is prepared to meet the unexpected, which enables him to
win the race home and accounts for his general success as a postmodern
adult. In a world without comforting certainty, Ferris maintains a sense
of balance; he adapts to whatever circumstances arise and, in the process,
shapes events to satisfy his own best interests and those of his friends.
In contrast, the film portrays the established adult-controlled order

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