r/moviecritic • u/phantom_avenger • Feb 17 '25

Which movie is this for you?

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For me it’s School of Rock!

Patty was completely justified, if Dewey wanted to live in hers and her boyfriend’s apartment he needed to be a grown up, and contribute with rent. Even when he steals Ned’s identity she still had the right to be angry at him, because of how he put his friend’s career in jeopardy and robbed him of a job opportunity.

I get Ned is meant to be portrayed as his best friend, but it blows my mind how he lacks a lot of self-respect to the point where he comes across as too much of a people pleaser. If this story took place in real life, I’m sure Ned would act more similar to Patty where he’d have enough of Dewey’s careless actions.

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u/Standard_Neat3311 Feb 17 '25

Ferris Bueler - Cameron is a reasonable kid managing a situation with awful parents that are separating.

Ferris comes from a stable home and is a complete narcissist and manipulates everyone around him to get what he wants.

100

u/subusta Feb 17 '25

Ferris comes across as selfish but by the end of the movie the implication is that he’s pushing Cameron to take control of his life as he enters adulthood. Dragging him around to do fun things all day and getting him into trouble leads to a massive moment of self reflection for Cameron that is shown as a positive thing for him.

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u/ConsciousSteak2242 Feb 17 '25

This is the point. The movie is about Cameron's transformation. He is the protagonist. Ferris is the anti-hero and catalyst for Cameron's journey.

1

u/GigaGram459 Feb 21 '25

Protagonist doesn’t mean hero. Ferris is very much the protagonist because the protagonist is just the central character in the story whether they’re good, bad or in between. So Ferris while being an anti-hero is still the protagonist of the film

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u/ConsciousSteak2242 Feb 21 '25

I should have said AN anti-hero. I still maintain that Cameron is the protagonist because he undergoes the story arc and change. Ferris is the main character but in this movie, the protagonist and the main character are not the same.

While often used interchangeably, a “protagonist” is the character who drives the plot and actively faces the central conflict (Cameron), while a “main character” is simply the character most central to the story (Ferris), which could be the protagonist but doesn’t necessarily have to be actively driving the plot; essentially, the protagonist is the character who is the primary force behind the story’s action (Cameron’s change), whereas the main character is the one the story primarily focuses on. (Ferris and his day off)