30 Feminist Christmas Movies, Ranked
By Emily Scott
Home Alone, Screencap via 20th Century Fox
Home Alone
Home Alone tells the story of Kevin McCallister, a young boy who is getting set to go to Paris on a Christmas vacation with his family. But when his family oversleeps, they rush to make their flight and ultimately forget Kevin at home. Kevin happily enjoys the freedom of having no authority as his parents scramble to return to get him. But when a duo of reckless burglars nicknamed “The Wet Bandits” discover that there is only a kid in the house, they plan to ransack the place. Little do they know that the precocious Kevin has some tricks up his sleeve.
The Good
- Kate, Kevin’s mom, is competent, fierce, and doesn’t give up. Of course, that’s all motivated by her son. But at least she has a personality?
The Bad
- Of course, despite the fact that everyone forgot Kevin, it falls to Kate, the mom, to go get him back. Why not his dad?
- In the time it took Kevin to set all his stupid traps, the police could have arrested the burglars, like, four times over. His solutions involve violence over practicality and self-preservation. Why? “This is my house! I have to defend it,” Kevin, the eight-year-old, exclaims. I wonder where he’s learned that kind of prideful toxic masculinity? I’m guessing from those westerns he uses to fool the burglars.
The Ugly
- The biggest issue with this movie is that there are essentially no women at all. Seriously, how great would it have been to make Kevin, a mischievous, precocious, rule-breaking kid, into a girl? What a cool way to subvert a stereotype! But you know how it is. Little girls don’t do that kind of thing – said no one, ever. At least, no one who has ever read Matilda.