In defence of Kevin Mccallister
I don't know if anyone here loves the first two Home Alone movies as much as I do, so feel free to skip this post, but I can't keep quiet because Tumblr once again pissed me off. It's weird because I usually only get riled up about my fandoms. Home Alone was by no means ever a fandom for me, but I think it's safe to say that Kevin is one of the most awesome movie characters ever. Certainly the most awesome movie child. Home Alone 1 and 2 are witty, unpretentious, don't try to leap over their heads, and that makes them extremely cute and funny and just right for the Christmas season.
So, let's talk about Kevin. I saw a post on Tumblr that said this:
And Kevin is such a little ingrate. “I wish you weren’t my family!” Lil nigga…! Shut yo ass up, because some kids don’t have families and look at you… you always end up in some shit by yourself and without your family but IRONICALLY with those bummy-ass, pathetic “Sticky Bandits.”
I just don’t understand. You stop in the middle of a cluster-fucked airport to put batteries in your raggedy Walkman, lose your dad, and get on the wrong plane? You didn’t learn from the first time to be on your P’s and Q’s!?
YOU HAD ONE JOB, KEVIN. STICK WITH THE GROUP, KEVIN. COME ON, KEVIN!
IDK if the person was serious or not. But let's assume they were.
Kevin is 8 in the first movie and 10 in the second. You know what kids are at that age mostly? Spoiled, impulsive brats! They are selfish, they get offended easily, they often fight with their parents. I was the same way f.ex. But since when does it mean that they don't love their parents or are ungrateful? Children are generally more focused on themselves than grown people are, and yet, at the same time they can be extraordinarily unselfish, which Kevin is a perfect illustration of. Yes, he often says he hates his family. Like this:
Yes, he's often expressed wishes to be left alone. He displayed joy at having his family disappear - twice.
The thing is, Kevin seems to be a very mature kid for his age, in the sense that he's perfectly capable of taking care of himself not just in his own house but in a huge unfamiliar city. He's the youngest in the family and his family is very big (especially on Christmas when all branches of the Mccallisters get together). That's 14 people under one roof! Kevin's got an older brother who bullies him and an uncle who's, frankly, kind of an asshole. That's enough to drive anyone nuts, especially since his parents don't seem to ever give him enough credit (they easily take Buzz's word over his and in the second movie his mother even doubts that Kevin knows how to use a credit card, which he clearly does). Grown-ups tend to blow a fuse and speak their minds; no wonder a kid does. Does that make him a bad son? Hell no!
I think we can only really understand Kevin's character when we look at him separate from his family. Personally I'm glad that I watched these movies as a kid because they can really teach you a lot about judging people. Kevin frequently misjudges people who don't look normal. In the first movie, it's the neighbour he considers to be scary.
In the second one, it's a homeless woman in Central Park. In both cases, those are outsiders who look potentially threatening. The old man has scary legends told about him by the kids on the neighbourhood; the homeless lady is all covered in pigeons and looks kind of scary in the dark. And yet, when Kevin gets to know them, he discovers that they are lonely, they are kind-hearted and they need help. And in both cases he gives very valuable (and very mature for his age) advice.
So give it a shot, for your granddaughter anyway. I'm sure she misses you and the presents.
If you won’t use your heart, who cares if it gets broken? If you just keep it to yourself,when you do decide to try it, it won’t be any good. You should take a chance. Got nothing to lose.
That doesn't sound very selfish to me. Even more so, when Kevin visits the Toy Chest in New York and learns that the profits would go to a children's hospital, he promptly donates 20 dollars, saying that sick children need them more. He goes even further: in the first movie, he takes on the bandits to defend his own home; in the second movie, he does not have to go up against them, since he's already got away from them, but he learns that they are going to rob the Toy Chest and take the money that belongs to the kids. If that isn't heroic, I don't know what is. So go ahead, call Kevin selfish and an ingrate again, I dare you.
What's more, he's also modest. He basically handed the bandits to the police twice and you don't hear him bragging about it. In fact, I don't think his family even knows. He did sign the letter to Mr Dunhill with his own name but only because he was offering to pay for the broken shopwindow in case it wasn't insured. Which is a sweet move on its own. After all, he only saved the bloody shop!
Kevin is imaginative, a great strategist, quick-witted, a bit of a prankster and a bit short-tempered, but nowhere in the movies will you find evidence of him not loving his family. He starts missing them the next day for heaven's sake! He is excited by the prospect of staying home alone because he gets to do what he wants and he is excited by being stranded in New York because he didn't want to go to Florida; but all that gets old very quickly. Time and again Kevin says that he regrets not appreciating his family more, but snapping at someone does not equal not loving them! Especially since it's more than justified by the way his cousins and his brother treat him.
Megan McCallister: Kevin, you're completely helpless!
Linnie McCallister: You know, Kevin, you're what the French call les incompetents.
Buzz McCallister: Kevin, I'm going to feed you to my tarantula.
Jeff McCallister: Kevin, you are *such* a *disease*!
Kate McCallister: There are 15 people in this house and you're the only one who has to make trouble.
Frank McCallister: Look what you *did*, you little *jerk*.
But just like Kevin's attitude, those are just words. People say hurtful things to each other, that's human nature. It doesn't mean they don't love each other. After hearing such things, is it any wonder than an 8-year-old would want to catch a break? And yet, in both movies, he asks Santa for only one thing:
And: I don’t want any presents. Instead, I want to take back every mean thing I ever said to my family. Even if they don’t take back the things they said to me. I don’t care. I love all of them… Including Buzz. I know it isn’t possible to see them all. Could I just see my mother? I’ll never want another thing as long as I live if I can just see my mother. I know I won’t see her tonight, but promise me I can see her again. Sometime. Any time. Even if it’s just once and only for a couple minutes. I just need to tell her I’m sorry.
There was also the point that his parents don't give a fuck about him. Excuse you, have we been watching the same movies? His mother gets hysterical in both cases: in the first movies she hitches a ride back to Chicago with some band and in the second one, she spends her Christmas running around New York, one of the biggest cities in the world as she herself points out, trying to find Kevin.
Does that look like the reunion of two people who hate each other? I don't think so.
So yeah, basically, here's to the constant companion of all my Christmases since I was a kid: Kevin, fearless, caring, kind-hearted, altruistic and funny boy who played his part in teaching me not to judge people by appearances and to appreciate my own family more.
So, let's talk about Kevin. I saw a post on Tumblr that said this:
And Kevin is such a little ingrate. “I wish you weren’t my family!” Lil nigga…! Shut yo ass up, because some kids don’t have families and look at you… you always end up in some shit by yourself and without your family but IRONICALLY with those bummy-ass, pathetic “Sticky Bandits.”
I just don’t understand. You stop in the middle of a cluster-fucked airport to put batteries in your raggedy Walkman, lose your dad, and get on the wrong plane? You didn’t learn from the first time to be on your P’s and Q’s!?
YOU HAD ONE JOB, KEVIN. STICK WITH THE GROUP, KEVIN. COME ON, KEVIN!
IDK if the person was serious or not. But let's assume they were.
Kevin is 8 in the first movie and 10 in the second. You know what kids are at that age mostly? Spoiled, impulsive brats! They are selfish, they get offended easily, they often fight with their parents. I was the same way f.ex. But since when does it mean that they don't love their parents or are ungrateful? Children are generally more focused on themselves than grown people are, and yet, at the same time they can be extraordinarily unselfish, which Kevin is a perfect illustration of. Yes, he often says he hates his family. Like this:
Yes, he's often expressed wishes to be left alone. He displayed joy at having his family disappear - twice.
The thing is, Kevin seems to be a very mature kid for his age, in the sense that he's perfectly capable of taking care of himself not just in his own house but in a huge unfamiliar city. He's the youngest in the family and his family is very big (especially on Christmas when all branches of the Mccallisters get together). That's 14 people under one roof! Kevin's got an older brother who bullies him and an uncle who's, frankly, kind of an asshole. That's enough to drive anyone nuts, especially since his parents don't seem to ever give him enough credit (they easily take Buzz's word over his and in the second movie his mother even doubts that Kevin knows how to use a credit card, which he clearly does). Grown-ups tend to blow a fuse and speak their minds; no wonder a kid does. Does that make him a bad son? Hell no!
I think we can only really understand Kevin's character when we look at him separate from his family. Personally I'm glad that I watched these movies as a kid because they can really teach you a lot about judging people. Kevin frequently misjudges people who don't look normal. In the first movie, it's the neighbour he considers to be scary.
In the second one, it's a homeless woman in Central Park. In both cases, those are outsiders who look potentially threatening. The old man has scary legends told about him by the kids on the neighbourhood; the homeless lady is all covered in pigeons and looks kind of scary in the dark. And yet, when Kevin gets to know them, he discovers that they are lonely, they are kind-hearted and they need help. And in both cases he gives very valuable (and very mature for his age) advice.
So give it a shot, for your granddaughter anyway. I'm sure she misses you and the presents.
If you won’t use your heart, who cares if it gets broken? If you just keep it to yourself,when you do decide to try it, it won’t be any good. You should take a chance. Got nothing to lose.
That doesn't sound very selfish to me. Even more so, when Kevin visits the Toy Chest in New York and learns that the profits would go to a children's hospital, he promptly donates 20 dollars, saying that sick children need them more. He goes even further: in the first movie, he takes on the bandits to defend his own home; in the second movie, he does not have to go up against them, since he's already got away from them, but he learns that they are going to rob the Toy Chest and take the money that belongs to the kids. If that isn't heroic, I don't know what is. So go ahead, call Kevin selfish and an ingrate again, I dare you.
What's more, he's also modest. He basically handed the bandits to the police twice and you don't hear him bragging about it. In fact, I don't think his family even knows. He did sign the letter to Mr Dunhill with his own name but only because he was offering to pay for the broken shopwindow in case it wasn't insured. Which is a sweet move on its own. After all, he only saved the bloody shop!
Kevin is imaginative, a great strategist, quick-witted, a bit of a prankster and a bit short-tempered, but nowhere in the movies will you find evidence of him not loving his family. He starts missing them the next day for heaven's sake! He is excited by the prospect of staying home alone because he gets to do what he wants and he is excited by being stranded in New York because he didn't want to go to Florida; but all that gets old very quickly. Time and again Kevin says that he regrets not appreciating his family more, but snapping at someone does not equal not loving them! Especially since it's more than justified by the way his cousins and his brother treat him.
Megan McCallister: Kevin, you're completely helpless!
Linnie McCallister: You know, Kevin, you're what the French call les incompetents.
Buzz McCallister: Kevin, I'm going to feed you to my tarantula.
Jeff McCallister: Kevin, you are *such* a *disease*!
Kate McCallister: There are 15 people in this house and you're the only one who has to make trouble.
Frank McCallister: Look what you *did*, you little *jerk*.
But just like Kevin's attitude, those are just words. People say hurtful things to each other, that's human nature. It doesn't mean they don't love each other. After hearing such things, is it any wonder than an 8-year-old would want to catch a break? And yet, in both movies, he asks Santa for only one thing:
And: I don’t want any presents. Instead, I want to take back every mean thing I ever said to my family. Even if they don’t take back the things they said to me. I don’t care. I love all of them… Including Buzz. I know it isn’t possible to see them all. Could I just see my mother? I’ll never want another thing as long as I live if I can just see my mother. I know I won’t see her tonight, but promise me I can see her again. Sometime. Any time. Even if it’s just once and only for a couple minutes. I just need to tell her I’m sorry.
There was also the point that his parents don't give a fuck about him. Excuse you, have we been watching the same movies? His mother gets hysterical in both cases: in the first movies she hitches a ride back to Chicago with some band and in the second one, she spends her Christmas running around New York, one of the biggest cities in the world as she herself points out, trying to find Kevin.
Does that look like the reunion of two people who hate each other? I don't think so.
So yeah, basically, here's to the constant companion of all my Christmases since I was a kid: Kevin, fearless, caring, kind-hearted, altruistic and funny boy who played his part in teaching me not to judge people by appearances and to appreciate my own family more.