RheWatches: Home Alone
Kevin McAllister is a virgo who learns the meaning of Christmas and has a promising career in stage management...
RheWatches is a series that’s part initial reactions, part curiosity, part journal entry, and part in general dot connecting. I try not overthink this series. Enjoy.
When you ask someone to make a top three Christmas movies list, I feel like Home Alone (1990) makes the cut more times than not. It’s quintessential, it’s iconic, and for so many of us, it is Christmas. So, I don’t feel the need to talk about how great the movie is. I just wanna talk about what I wanna talk about.
Follow me.
There’s something a little spooky and mischievous about the opening credits of Home Alone. Black, foggy clouds slowly wisp across a blue moon as sleigh bells introduce themselves into the melody. How am I not supposed to feel a little haunted as well as delighted?
In fact, there’s something a little curious about Christmas in a similar way that Halloween is a little curious. Yes, there’s something softly ghostly or supernatural about Christmas. I’m nearly certain. I just can’t put my finger on it.
Revisit the song “It’s the most wonderful time of year!” Now, think of the song’s lyrics, “We’ll tell scary ghost stories and tales of the glories of Christmases long, long ago.” Hmmm ghost stories? Around a nighttime campfire?….
What is that?
It haunts and hangs just above the snow and under the cloak of the cold black night. It wraps itself in the harsh knowing of the wind. It bends in the crooked, bare branches of dead winter trees. Hmmm… What haunts around Christmas isn’t the same as what haunts around Halloween. Halloween intends to scare and delights in it. Christmas, or perhaps winter in general, just sits quietly and knows something. No intention, no enjoyment, no presentation. The haunting is still and waits outside like a slender black tree with sprawled out branches sits on top of white snow. Is the haunting the result of longer nights and shorter days? Is it the manifestation of nature’s death in the winter time? I’m not sure. But you know who might have some insight on this? Home Alone’s, director and composer duo, Christopher Columbus and John Williams. Why is this dream team significant? Well, they directed and composed the first three Harry Potter films. Perhaps that’s why the opening credits of this Christmas classic feel similar to when Harry and the other students in boats to Hogwarts on the first night of the school year. Both movie themes promise mischief, spooks, and delight. All four of these movies are playful, spooky, thrilling, and downright haunting. Additionally, they both feature little boys who are not only ostracized by their families but are enemies to depressed grown men with nothing better to do than torment a child.
I want to take a minute to say that I miss the vibrant interior design choices of the 1990’s. Ugh. The McAllister house features rich Christmas reds and greens in almost every room. I think that having Christmas colors blend into the character of the home instead of decorating on top of a regularly dressed home adds to the timeless affect of this movie. It feels grounded in Christmas. Honorable mention to the Red and Royal Blue eat-in kitchen. Mm. Something about that kitchen makes me want to wear my best string of pearls while making a grilled cheese and siping a sauvignon blanc at midnight.
I know Kevin is a Virgo because he takes careful inventory of the wrongdoings he has suffered and precisely who was responsible for which one. He is also a petty king with a knack for effective revenge. His precise planning would also allow him to run a community theater’s backstage like the marines. Hope this helps.
The French horn is the hero in this score, in the same way it is the hero in Harry Potter. John Williams knows that the French horn speaks to the hero’s spirit and journey in a sentimental way that other brass instrument don’t often capture and this score proves it. Another example of the french horn thoughtfully and powerfully representing the hero’s spirit and journey is Disney’s Hercules (1997).
The Wet Bandits (Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern) are some of the best comedic physical storytellers since The Three Stooges. They portray a timeless Christmas clownery that only rivals Jim Carrey’s Grinch in How The Grinch Stole Christmas. It’s also totally sick that Looney Tunes was such an inspiration when it came to characterizing The Wet Bandits. Joe Pesci found the humor in The Wet bandits when he pictured the duo as cartoon villains, similar to Looney Tunes. Since children were the primary audience, he introduced the idea of reacting to injury by angrily murmuring gibberish, which he refers to as “cartoon cussing.” Their cartoonish behavior even effected the hilariously iconic stunt choreography in the film. As an adult, it’s hard to watch these over-the-top stunts and not feel like they ripped out of a scene from Saturday morning cartoon. I really think we could all use a higher dose of physical comedy in our lives.
Wet Bandits rapid-fire thoughts…
I can’t imagine how annoying it must have been to explain all this damage to the insurance company. Broken windows, flooded basements, holes in the floor, fire damage. Yeesh!
The Wet Bandits would also make a cheap and easy couple’s Halloween costume. Just saying.
Rainy Winter Tuesdays are positively the best for trivia nights. Having an excellent trivia name is vital for a rewarding experience. I have two favorites: The Golden Curls and The Wet Bandits.
Kevin McAllister recently taught me the real meaning of Christmas.
The Wetbandits have their sights set and the McAllister house and Kevin knows this. Naturally, he goes to the local mall to ask for Santa’s help. The look on Kevin’s face is heart breaking as he discovers that Santa is merely a grumpy dude in a wig. Still, he asks for his favor to be delivered to the to the real Santa: No toys. He just wants his family back.
But that’s not the “reason for Christmas” that I’m talking about.
After his visit with Santa, (whom I can only imagine smelled like beer and wet cigarettes) Kevin goes to a catholic church where he has a very honest discussion with Old Man Marley, the seemingly scary old man from down the street. The scene is shot humbly and with great validation to Kevin. He is seen as someone who has faced real woes, which is something that I feel only adults are supposed to acknowledge – at least in movies. This moment in Home Alone is dressed in Catholicism in its grandeur. Meaning, the camera captures specific details that portray the church and Christmas time as a sentimental and grounded tradition. The Church doesn’t appear to be boastful, powerful, or elitist. The church is characterized as a soulful place of contemplation, comfort, and remorse.
Old Man Marley and Kevin have a chemistry and rapor that reflect the very sincerest parts of humanity. Their conversation in the pews feels like it could have taken place at a dive bar. That’s how down to earth and candid they are with each other.
Kevin has a well of problems. At the base of it all is his loneliness. The old man passes down his experience and perspective, which Kevin appreciates. The old man’s advice is simple and clear, which is usually the case for adults helping children with problems that exist in a seemingly less complicated plane of existence. It turns out that Old Man Marley suffers from loneliness, too. Old Man Marley has issues with his family that also make him feel ostracized and unwanted. Kevin’s advice is simple and to the point. This is usually the case for kids, not yet weighed down by the complexities of life and only get to peek at the curious mess that is adulthood. In the end, the two find that they’re not so different after all.
I believe that old people have a special kind of relationship with children. Perhaps I feel this way because I was always huddled around the elderly when I was a child. My grandmother owned a nursing home Jackson, Mississippi and I often hung out with her and the other old ladies at church. I remember the beam of pride on my Granny’s face and the laughter from the church ladies as I would give them advice, make jokes, and tell them stories. It probably wasn’t good advice, but I remember thinking their problems were more simple than they were making them out to be.
Me and these old ladies would trade secrets of the earth. Wrinkled hands and white pearls. I let them paint the world for me. I think that whoever teaches you to view the world is important. We usually don’t get to choose. I certainly didn’t. In many ways, I got off lucky. In other ways, I did not. They taught me how to view the world through big prescription glasses. I learned to stand while holding wrinkled hands, at the back of the crowd, letting everyone rush off because we preferred to take our time. I learned to hear the songs the church choir sang as merely voices that belonged to the people I loved. At a young age, I viewed the world as my grandmother did; full of love and warmth, and a complete disregard for life's trivial nuisances. I’d like to think that I helped these beautiful older women find child-like wonder and excitement, though, I’ll never really know for sure. All this to say, I respect the dynamic between old people and kids. They’re peers in my eyes.
This conversation between Kevin and Old Man Marley was more fulfilling than what Kevin could have ever gotten from Santa. This scene is Home Alone’s moment to reject the commercial value of Christmas. The kinship between Kevin and Old Man Marley seems as old as time. It’s wisdom passing down. It’s also wisdom traveling up. The pace in this scene is by far the slowest in the movie which, to me, reflects the intentional slowness of winter. As animals continue to hibernate in the winter, may we humans continue to come together and take time for sincerity and fellowship. And maybe, for me, that’s the real meaning of Christmas and winter time in general.
Final thoughts…
“Carol of The Bells” is my ultimate Christmas hype song.
Shout out whoever thought of a Michael Jordan cut out during the staged party scene. So iconic and so Chicago.
I’m obsessed with the Pizza Delivery Guy. He’s actually so funny. He specifically deserves flowers for continuously bumping into this little statue.
John Williams sure knows how to convey mischief and kookiness with an Oboe. You could put some of these melodies in any of the first three Harry Potter films and I swear I would not know the difference.
Angels with Filthy Souls is not a real movie. But for a long time, I thought it was.
You ever have a string of days that felt like this?
Well folks, that’s a wrap on this edition of RheWatches. Man, Home Alone is one of my favorite films no matter what time of year it is. MacCauley Caulkin, you will always be famous and you’ll always be Christmas.
What are some of your favorite moments in Home Alone? Do you get what I mean when I say there’s something spooky about Christmas and Wintertime??? I’ve felt this way for years and I need answers.
Until next time, you filthy animals…
rheann<3