Sorry to Ruin Your Childhood, But This Home Alone Theory is Kind of Depressing
For the many who watched the Home Alone movies growing up, at the time the films seemed like harmless fun of a fellow kid fending off intruders in all the hilarious ways imaginable.
It's only as we got older and wiser did we notice the true consequences of setting people on fire, beating and electrocuting them really are. Now, according to a rather dark theory, the consequences of Kevin's actions were always depicted in the films, we just never noticed them.
And one fan on Reddit went even further.
They theorised that because of the excessive harm and injury that both Harry and Marv faced during the first and second movies, the unlucky robbers would later sue Kevin and his parents for emotional and physical damages. This then leads to Kevin being charged with attempted murder, which is why he is not seen in the later films.
This potentially leads to a break in the McCallister family. With his parents divorcing and some of his siblings refusing to have anything to do with him ever again. This may be why many of Kevin's siblings are not seen again in future films, and his parents are separated.
Although the Reddit thread presents an interesting prediction of what might have happened to Kevin and his family between the films, many other Redditors did not quite support the reasoning behind the theory. To begin with, many commenters pointed out that Kevin and some of his family do appear in Home Alone 4. However, all of the cast members including Macaulay Culkin did not return as their former characters. This also includes one of the burglars, Marv, who was portrayed by French Stewart in the fourth movie but by Daniel Stern in the first two. This logically creates quite a large hole in the theory overall.
Other commenters reacted to the theory from an entirely different perspective. Maybe not having seen the later sequels of the franchise.
As stated by many of the Redditors in the thread, the force used by Kevin in the films to keep Harry and Marv out of his house may have been excessive. However, as a minor, he would have never been charged with murder of the first degree.
The fact that Kevin is so young likely also suggests that (according to the law) his actions were more than just protections of his property, but justified self-defence against assailants who outmatched him. Essentially it doesn't matter how much pain and suffering Harry and Marv received because they ultimately brought it on themselves each time.
Overall it's fair to say that maybe the Home Alone franchise isn't one to take too seriously regarding grievous bodily harm. But it is still interesting to speculate what the consequences of Kevin's actions really could have been if you embrace the series' darker side. Maybe there is the potential for a Home Alone story that sees Kevin fight off criminals from his prison cell?