At first, Disney’s 1990 movie “Home Alone” seems like a happy, lighthearted Christmas classic. It has everything a blockbuster childrens’ movie could want, from a great soundtrack to an action-packed plot. However, “Home Alone” is a lot darker than it appears at first glance. Macaulay Culkin’s Kevin McCallister is ignored by everyone in his family, and even his mother does not notice that he is missing for twelve hours. When his family realizes, half of them do not even want to go back to make sure he is okay.

None of this is to say that Kevin’s actions were acceptable. In fact, most of the plot is his fault.

Arguably the most important issue at hand is his sociopathic tendencies towards adults he views as threatening. Yes, Daniel Stern’s Marv and Joe Pesci’s Harry were bad guys, which was the main issue. Nonetheless, they were completely undeserving of the murderous traps that were set out for them. All they wanted to do was rob the McCallister house and move on. 

Kevin escalated the situation too far. Instead of calling the police like he should have, he set booby traps for Marv and Harry. Among such traps were subjecting the ‘Wet Bandits’ to third degree burns, with an active iron to the face, red-hot doorknob and blowtorch to the head. This is not even mentioning the fact that Kevin shot Harry in the leg and Marv in the face with a BB gun. 

There are many more serious incidents, like falling down a flight of stairs after getting hit in the head by a bucket of paint, that outside of Hollywood, people would not easily recover from quickly.

So the question must be asked— did Kevin really know what he was doing? He was just trying to protect his house, after all. Maybe he can be excused, as burglary is worse than booby traps. 

However, Kevin did know what he was doing, as is evident from the amount of times he watches a violent movie, which could have been where he got his ideas from. He also celebrated and cheered when his traps succeeded.

Booby traps are a kinder term for the more serious aggravated assaults that Kevin committed. Did Marv and Harry assault Kevin? Yes, but only at the end, after Kevin had tried to kill them multiple times. Their response to the traps was completely justified, but Kevin’s response to the threat of a robbery was not.

Ultimately, Kevin McCallister is the true villain of this story. Not only does he ruin a very expensive vacation for 14+ people, he also holds no respect for human life. In the extreme situation of a possible robbery, he escalates it more than he needed to when there was an easy resolution.