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growing up home alone was one of my
favorite films there was just something
so devilishly satisfying about watching
a kid my own age take on two completely
incompetent crooks I mean come on but as
I sit here 27 years later I can't help
but wonder what made this film so great
was it Macaulay Culkin over-the-top gags
or was it something deeper something
buried within the structure of the film
itself in this essay I want to explore
how the hero's journey shapes the
narrative of home alone giving us not
only an emotionally satisfying film but
one that solidifies itself as an
all-time holiday classic home alone came
out in 1990 written and produced by John
Hughes yes the John Hughes who wrote and
directed such classics as Ferris
Bueller's Day Off The Breakfast Club and
Uncle Buck in fact it was Hughes who was
so taken aback by Culkin's work that he
recommended him for the lead role of
Kevin McCallister to director Chris
Columbus what do you do for a living
lots of things where's your office I
don't have one okay I don't need one
where's your wife don't have one how
come it's a long story
so we already have this incredible team
in place and yes incredible teams do
wonders for films but they are nothing
without a great story and John Hughes is
no stranger to great storytelling in
most of his films we get a structure
known as the hero's journey
Sixteen Candles Ferris Bueller's Day Off
and even The Breakfast Club follow it so
what exactly is it I've identified three
different iterations that have gained
traction within the world of
screenwriting first is Joseph Campbell's
1949 magnum opus the hero with a
thousand faces the funny thing about
this one is that it's not even a book
about screenwriting in it Joseph
Campbell and American mythologist writer
and lecturer found distinct
commonalities between Christian and
European tales and those of pre-colonial
Native America how could two cultures
completely separated from one another
have stories that followed identical
structures his theory then was based on
the observation that a common pattern
exists
beneath the narrative elements of most
great myths regardless of their origin
or time of creation in his video essay
every story is the same will shoulder
puts it like this indeed after years and
years of studying Campbell concluded
there are characteristics of an
effective story and those
characteristics are consistent
regardless of religion race time or
ancestry armed with this information
Campbell went on to create the monomyth
a 17 step journey a hero must take an
order to create a satisfying narrative
now if it looks daunting at first that's
because it is as Dan Harmon described
the hero the Thousand Faces is very
dense
it's very academic prose you know and
I'm a bad reader in the first place so
in the early 90s Christopher Vogler a
writer who had worked for companies such
as Disney Fox and Warner Brothers
simplified this idea into 12 steps and
applied to the craft of screenwriting
and many films very successful ones I
might add follow this formula including
Harry Potter
The Matrix The Lion King and lore of the
Rings if you're interested in exploring
Vogler's 12 steps i've included a link
to sarah McGuire's breakdown of all
those films in the description but for
Harmon it still wasn't simple enough and
I'm also just obsessed with like
simplicity like I don't believe that I
think everything has to be kind of
symmetrical and simple as simple if it's
actually true so harmon decided to
condense Campbell's 17 steps into eight
fitting it into what he called a story
circle this is the same methodology he
applied to shows he created like
community and Rick and Morty and this is
what I want to use today to examine the
journey of Kevin McCallister and home
alone so I'm going to go step by step
explaining it as we go the first step
Harmon describes is you establish a
protagonist this is you guessed it and
where you establish your protagonist or
hero in their natural setting for Kevin
that's his home the night before his
family's big trip but more importantly
his natural setting is one in which he
is repeatedly ignored by his family seen
as a nuisance don't you know how to
knock phlegm wad can't do anything for
himself
you're completely help
everyone has to do everything and looked
on as a troublesome brat little jerk
this is all established in the first 10
minutes culminating in this
heartbreaking final interaction between
Kevin and his mother my whole life and I
don't want to see anybody else either I
hope you don't mean that you'd feel
pretty sad if you woke up tomorrow
morning and you didn't have a family
no step to need something ain't quite
right this is where we learned
something's off in the world that things
could be better
a storm knocks out the power triggering
a sequence of events culminating and
Kevin being left home alone I've made my
family disappear
Kevin's need whether he knows it or not
is to realize the importance of families
something his journey will help them
figure out which leads to step 3 go or
crossing the threshold this is what your
story is about this is where your
character descends from the known world
to the unknown
Dan Harmon describes this as your movie
poster
perhaps your story is about a killer
shark the Mafia or even a kid home alone
in step 3 we see Kevin enjoying his
newfound freedom by eating endless
amounts of ice cream watching violent
movies and ordering pizza but he soon
realizes it's all a facade he can't
possibly survive on his own so we must
venture out into the world step 4 search
the road of trials this is the meat and
potatoes of the film Christopher Vogler
calls this phase friends enemies and
allies while Harmon prefers to use
Campbell's original designation the road
of trials this the sink-or-swim portion
of the film where our hero must learn to
adapt or flounder as consequence and
Kevin is good at adapting the kid who
once couldn't do anything for himself
finds himself buying groceries stealing
a toothbrush tricking the burglars that
someone is home with an elaborate cutout
display and not to mention overcoming
his fear of the furnace the visual
representation of him getting over his
fear of the unknown
step 5 find meeting the goddess this is
where our hero finds what he's been
looking for whether it's something he
realized or not it is where the need
from step 2 is fulfilled for Kevin the
road of trials has led him to the
realization that his want of being home
alone is nothing compared to his need of
being with family now the meeting with
the goddess doesn't have to be an actual
goddess it can be a person object idea
or revelation these events lead us to
step 6
take meet your maker this is where our
hero takes control of his destiny now
armed with the knowledge of his journey
he rigs his home like a giant game of
mouse traps seemingly out winning the
burglars at every turn but this is also
where what Harmon calls meet your maker
happens it is where the price of your
journey takes its toll kevin has finally
foiled by the burglars and it looks like
all is lost but this price comes with a
goal achieved that we never knew we had
Campbell calls this the rescue from
without and it is the seventh stage of
Harmons story circle the return in Star
Wars this is where Hawn fires at Vader's
spinning his TIE fighter out of control
to give Luke enough time to finish the
mission home alone this actually happens
twice once where Kevin is saved by
buzzes tarantula and another when old
man Marley puts a shovel to the burglars
heads
with the burglars now in the loving care
of the Chicago PD Cowan has finally
returned to some semblance of normalcy
but not quite which leads to the final
and arguably most important step 8
change master of both worlds Kevin once
unable to do anything for himself hated
by his family and equally not wanting
them in his life has gone through this
journey he has changed he's earned the
respect of his family but most
importantly learned the importance of
family
so to recap you see a character in his
natural setting he needs something and
only through the journey of going
searching finding and taking does he
return a changed man I think part of
what makes the hero's journey and story
circle so compelling is that it makes
you think about character in ways you
may otherwise never have thought is it
the only way to structure a film
certainly not but it forces you to look
at both the internal and external
desires of your character something many
films don't do it forces you to see how
they change not mechanically but
organically this is a part of the reason
I think a movie like home alone still
stands up after almost 30 years we live
for the journey to see our protagonists
descend into the unknown and emerge a
hero so this holiday season when the
matrix Star Wars jaws or even home alone
comes on the television break it down
and see the commonalities that connect
us all in this crazy notion of that
which we call story oh and one more
thing hey if you liked what you saw make
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