Merry Christmas Ya Filthy Animal

Would you like to be home alone for Christmas? Would you like to have the whole house to yourself while your family goes on vacation, or would you want to be on vacation with them? In the comedic holiday film Home Alone, screenwriter John Hughes and director Chris Columbus appeal to viewers of all ages, but mostly target adolescents. Hughes has a reputation for reminiscing as a youngster; some of his most popular movies include Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, Home Alone 3, Beethoven, and 101 Dalmations. While the film presents the unrealistic dream of most young children being able to use their survival skills to live on their own, it also portrays a comedic thriller that can make people of all ages chuckle! The young eight-year-old Kevin, played Macaulay Culkin, is the center of the whirl of action of living home alone after his family forgets him as they board the vans headed to the airport to leave for Paris. Kevin devises plans of booby traps and contraptions to catch the “Wet Bandits,” played by Daniel Stern and Joe Pesci, who break into his home thinking the family is away for the holidays.

The movie title speaks for itself and evokes sorts of scary nostalgia among younger children. Being home alone as a kid mostly meant hearing strange noises, just as Kevin did from the roaring of the furnace as it opened its fiery mouth. Yet being home alone also meant being able to do all the things the adults never let you do such as, eating ice cream before bed, staying up late, and watching television for as long as you wanted. It resembles the circumstance of feeling like an adult. I recall watching the movie as a child and admiring the neat booby traps that Kevin created. For example, the electric BBQ lighter that Kevin places on the doorknob making it scolding hot as Harry – Joe Pesci – is engraved with the “M” standing for Kevin’s last name, McCallister. Another one of my favorites was the tar-coated staircase in the basement that Marv – Daniel Stern – lost both shoes and socks due to the stickiness. Though, one step had the pointed end of a nail sticking out that Marv placed his foot on and let out a scream that would start an avalanche from miles away! It has never failed to make me laugh no matter how many times I have watched it!

Besides providing children with their internal dreams of creating such elaborate traps and tricks, and be able to be by themselves, the film also portrays an underlying meaning. As a child I never paid much attention to the fine details, only to my favorite parts where the burglars struggled through Kevin’s “fun house.” When I re-watched the movie at an older age I realized the message that the director and screenwriter were trying to send all along; family is important. After all the time Kevin had alone, as Christmas Eve came around the one thing he asked for was the return of his family. John Hughes and Chris Columbus teach these adolescents that sometimes they want their family to disappear, but life would be so bitter without them. Family is the true meaning of Christmas.