Whilst reading Tom Gunning’s analysis on the ‘mischief gag’ in early cinema, Home Alone (Chris Columbus, 1990) stood out to me as an example of a film which features a series of its own ‘mischief gags’ that form the backbone of its narrative. Indeed, in the final act of Home Alone, there are multiple ‘mischief gags’, as the young ‘rascal’, Kevin McCallister, repeatedly outwits two buffoonish robbers, Harry and Marv, who fall victim to the comically elaborate and creative traps that Kevin has set around his house. Gunning contends that the ‘mischief gag’ in early cinema can be broken down into two phases, the ‘preparatory action’ and the results from that action (Gunning, 2013: 90). In Home Alone, the ‘preparatory action’, consists in Kevin’s planning and construction of multiple different traps, and this is presented in fragments via a montage, rather than a single shot, which characterises the formal language of early cinematic gags. Thus, unlike the ‘mischief gags’ of early cinema, there is greater temporal distance between the preparation of Kevin’s traps and the results, which creates a heightened sense of anticipation, as the audience is forced to wait and try to figure out how each trap will play out.
A key similarity between the mischief gags of early cinema and those in Home Alone, is the use of what Gunning terms ‘connection devices’, whereby the ‘rascal’ attaches objects and people together using string (Gunning, 2013: 91). For example, one trap in Home Alone features an iron tactically placed at the top of a chute which is attached to a piece of string, cleverly disguised as a light switch. When an unsuspecting Marv yanks the string, the iron comes thundering down to land on his face.
This trap also provides a key example of the way that the ‘mischief gag’ in Home Alone builds upon and subverts early comedic gags whose ‘connection devices’, according to Gunning, were often wielded by the ‘rascal’ to ‘wreak havoc’ on a number of ‘domestic scenes’ (Gunning, 2013: 92). In Home Alone the ‘mischief gags’ are inextricably linked to their domestic context, through the setting of Kevin’s family home and his hilariously brutal use of household objects. However, the traps that Kevin conceives are used to preserve domestic harmony by defending his home from transgressors, rather than disrupt it. Furthermore, Gunning notes that watching the apparatus work in ‘mischief gags’ is a kind of spectacle in itself, and can hold much enjoyment for film audiences, which is certainly the case in Home Alone. Additionally, it is perhaps the juxtaposition between the use of common household objects within the setting of a family home, a symbol of comfort and civility, to produce acts of such exaggerated violence, that arguably makes the ‘mischief gags’ in Home Alone so entertaining.