'Home Alone' couldn't happen today THE CZECH IS IN THE MAIL
If there are two movies that are classified as Christmas flicks, they are “Home Alone” and “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.”
My family and I have had the “privilege” – or misfortune – of watching each of those movies twice in the last week. Well, I watched them twice because I was working, but the others watched them three times.
Anyone who viewed the two movies produced by the late John Hughes knows the plot: Young Kevin McAllister, played by Macauley Culkin, gets separated from his family and then must contend with conniving but not always bright crooks.
In the first film, Kevin’s family forgets to account for him before boarding vans to travel to the airport. In the second film, he gets lost while putting batteries in a voice recorder and ends up climbing aboard a flight to New York City instead of a plane to Miami with his family.
In each film, Kevin manages to fend for himself either with Rube Goldberg contraptions at home or from his father’s carryon bag containing a wallet full of cash and credit cards. He uses these resources to outsmart the crooks before the authorities come to his rescue.
In the end, Kevin happily reunites with his relatives either at home or in a suite at the Plaza Hotel.
The first film hit theaters in 1990 and the second in 1992. The events in those films would not happen in real life today.
In each film, the McAllister family runs from the airport entrance to their flight gates. While they reach the gate on time to board the plane, there are no scenes of any of the McAllister family going through airport security.
After 9/11, being vetted by the Transportation Security Administration and showing two forms of identification are mandatory before you can even enter the airport terminal. The McAllister family would probably miss both flights today.
In reference to “Home Alone 2,” Kevin gets on the wrong flight. This would be impossible in modern times because your ticket and ID must be shown before boarding each flight.
Chances are the airport PA system would page the parents of Kevin – Peter and Kate McAllister – to find their son at Gate K17. The flight to Miami out of Gate H17 would be delayed, but Kevin would at least finally make the correct plane and rejoin his loved ones, presumably to annoy them.
In the first film, Kevin would have been removed by Child Protective Services after his family forgot him. Of course, so would his siblings Buzz, Jeff, Megan and Linnie.
While the films remain enjoyable, it’s a relief to know these shenanigans could not happen in reality today.
Chlapek is the area editor of the Elgin Courier and the Taylor Press. He can be reached at jason.chlapek@ granitemediapartners. com.
