What if Home Alone is more than just a holiday staple, more than the merry slapstick marathon we’ve come to cherish each Christmas season? What if Kevin McCallister’s battle for survival—armed only with his wits, an arsenal of improvised 1930s innovations, and a rebellious spirit—mirrors the existential loneliness of our age of hyperconnectivity?
In this updated version of my Christmas scripted audio musical podcast, I revisit Home Alone as an unlikely metaphor for self-tutelage and self-mastery in the face of abandonment—by parents, by the state, by society. From the haunted yet hopeful nostalgia of my childhood in Apartment 710 on the Southside of Jane Street to the barren streets of a Mike Harris-era Toronto, I connect Kevin’s lonely yet inventive struggle to our shared navigation of a neoliberal world where we’ve been left to fend for ourselves.
This is not a tale of mere survival. It’s a story of transformation. Of Hip-Hop’s birth in the ashes of abandonment. Of finding harmony in cultural difference. Of using metaphor as the royal road to the collective unconscious. It’s a story of the mind’s ability to grasp itself, and the promise of a future where our minds can grasp each other’s.
Join us as we uncover the hidden genius of Home Alone—a Christmas classic that resonates far beyond the snow-globe fantasy of the McCallister mansion. And remember: the connection is already made. My mind to your mind. Merry Christmas, ya filthy animals.
Produced by: Matt & Aharon
Written by: Aharon
Music provided by: TrethWest
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