12/16/2023 0 Comments Home alone 4 behind the scenesAction In Home Alone: As he defends the American Way from chaos, Kevin goes from being a snotty little brat to being a self-reliant kid, capable of burning and maiming robbers and surviving on his own.Īmerican Value: Bootstraps, y'all. School shootings hadn't yet become an epidemic, and so violence in children was seen as something less threatening than it is today.Ģ. The fact that Kevin's so violent-and that it's a-okay-places Home Alone as being filmed in a time before Columbine, Sandy Hook and Santa Barbara. And paint cans.Īmerican Value: To quote another John Hughes movie: " You mess with the bull, you get the horns." Kevin is doing the same thing that sheriffs do in small towns in Westerns and that Imperator Furiosa does in Mad Max-protecting what needs to be protected by any means necessary.Īnd our love for protecting our hearths hasn't diminished since 1990, but it has changed. Action In Home Alone: A single eight-year-old child defends the All-American Christmas from the forces of anarchy-using fire. So what values does Home Alone reflect, besides the indisputable fact that aftershave burns? Check it:ġ. So you better believe that it reflects some serious American values. That's major-if there's one thing that the American public loves more than eating sugar cookies during the holidays (mmm, sugar cookies), it's going to the movie theater as a family. But if you want a concrete example of what Americans considered important in 1990, you should take a gander at Home Alone.īecause this family film not only decimated the box office in 1990, it's also the top-grossing holiday movie of. No, it's not black-and-white and nearly silent. It's not masterfully acted (sorry, Macaulay).īut in terms of cultural studies or intellectual history, Home Alone is right up there as a Big Important Film. This movie doesn't have fancy-shmancy camera angles. Taxi Driver.Ī movie that probably doesn't pop up on that list is Home Alone. When you think of cinema studies, a few film titles probably spring to mind. What is Home Alone About and Why Should I Care? Set your DVR, grab some cocoa, and…check for booby-traps. Home Alone has enshrined itself as an all-time holiday classic-which will undoubtedly be re-shown during the holiday season until the end of recorded history. pleased audiences throughout the world-and laughed at a few skeptical critics ( cough cough Roger Ebert cough cough) all the way to the bank. Teaming up with Gremlins writer, now director, Chris Columbus, and burgeoning child star Macaulay Culkin (who currently plays in a rock band exclusively devoted to songs about pizza, Hughes and Co. He could've had a giant pool of gold coins to dive into (like Scrooge McDuck) if he wanted. The dude knew how to churn out screenplays and make money while doing it. He could turn his F-word switch on and off, writing PG movies like Home Alone and R-rated movies like (yup) The Breakfast Club. John Hughes, the writer of Home Alone, was no stranger to making bank by crafting entertainment suitable for families. None of us, obviously: people shelled out the cash, making it (adjusted for inflation) the most successful holiday movie… of all time. (Alone, obviously.)Īnd who among us didn't have that fantasy as a kiddo? It's got a neat, instantly recognizable childhood fantasy/fear as its underlying concept-a kid is accidentally left at home. When it came out in 1990, Home Alone proved to be Christmas movie gold. People lurve seeing hilarious injuries…especially when they're being doled out by a fundamentally likeable little kid. So: did America's filmgoers run in fear after watching a movie about an angelic blonde kid unleashing his inner sadist? In the movie's most famous sequence, Kevin sets booby traps, and gleefully provokes tons of slapstick injuries, from a nail driven into the sole of a burglar's foot (eek) to a blowtorch igniting the crown of another burglar's head (double eek). (Dental hygiene is important, y'all.)īut when two burglars get involved, Kevin has to use physical threats to defend his home. This struggle isn't exactly Bear Grylls territory at first…since it involves bingeing on ice cream and stealing a toothbrush. Laughing at someone being mashed in the groin is funny everywhere around the world, and Home Aloneis the Great Pyramid of Giza of slapstick humor-its final half hour is pure, unadulterated, family-friendly violence.Īfter eight-year-old Kevin McCallister is accidentally left home alone during the Christmas season, he has to struggle to survive. If you've ever spent hours on YouTube watching people fail epically-getting hit in the crotch with a football or crashing a dirt bike into a brick wall-this is the movie for you. Stars: Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, Catherine O'Hara, John Candy
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