With midterms approaching this holiday season, there is no better way to take a break from intense cramming sessions than to watch some classic Christmas movies, such as A Christmas Story, The Santa Clause, A Christmas Carol, Rudolph, and many more… OTHER THAN HOME ALONE.

The movie series Home Alone does not classify as a true Christmas movie, but rather a movie taken place during Christmas. In order to be considered a “Christmas movie,” a film must clearly display a Christmas message and/or contain one of the many trademarks of Christmas, such as Santa, elves, reindeer, the gift of giving, etc.

The plot of Home Alone would still be exactly the same if it were to take place at any other time of the year. Sure, there would not be Christmas decorations in the house, snow on the ground and Christmas music on the soundtrack, but the same premise would be achieved — a child is forgotten on vacation and has to protect himself from burglars until his family returns.

Many people believe there is a deliberate Christmas message in Home Alone– that an underappreciated child is given the recognition he deserves after wishing his family would come home and apologizing for his poor behavior.

However, this statement is fairly vague in its ties to Christmas. I believe any family with a reasonable sense of decency would feel awful about forgetting their child on vacation and shower said child with love, affection, and apologies, regardless of the time of the year.

Call me Mr. Scrooge, but I thoroughly believe Home Alone was marketed as a Christmas movie solely for the increased capitalistic opportunity.

By having the story take place during the holidays and creating loose connections to Christmas traditions, the audience is tricked into believing this ordinary movie is indeed a Christmas movie, thus encouraging consumers to purchase a copy of the movie and watch it annually as a factor of Christmas tradition.