Authors /
Seth J. Bartee
Seth J. Bartee is a visiting scholar at the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College. Bartee researches American intellectual history with an emphasis on the interplay between texts, hermeneutics, and mimesis.
How Home Alone started a debate about rebellious children
This holiday season marks the 25th anniversary of the release of the Christmas movie Home Alone. The film fascinated a generation of latchkey children and their baby boomer parents with its portrayal of eight-year-old Kevin McCallister, who not only survives while his family is out of the country but anchors them when they forget the real meaning of Christmas. It spent four weeks at no. 1 in box office sales and grossed nearly $300 million in the United States. It also sparked a debate over the authority of parents.
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