In the 1990s Classic Christmas Home alone, a boy fighting against the Wet Bandits, a duo of cartoon thieves motivated by greed and the desire to say the movie’s name in one sinister voice while flashing a golden tooth. Three decades later, Home Sweet Home Alone, a reboot of the story streaming on Disney+, sees a young boy battling another pair of thieves—struggling parents Pam and Jeff McKenzie, who just want their money back. A priceless doll was stolen from them so they wouldn’t be financially ruined and forced to sell their family home.
Not sure exactly why Home Sweet Home Alone The writers have decided that a thief is no longer simply a thief, but that they are following a precedent that has been firmly established over the past few years. Last summer, audiences learned that a puppy killer can’t just be a puppy killer when Disney Cruella revealed that infamous 101 dalmatiens Villains have had a difficult history with dogs. (Spoiler alert for the movie, but also spoiler alert for everything good, decent, and right: They killed her mother.) Netflix’s 2020 series. Ratch similarly discover the origin of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s NestNurse Rised’s bitter, bitter antagonist portrays her as a victim of child abuse.
Where will this trend end? In infinity and beyond. Toy Story prequel Light year will decrease next summer; The animated film follows human astronaut Buzz Lightyear, which means a toy is no longer simply a toy. Everyone — whether made of plastic or wrapped in animal skin — now needs a complex, emotional, psychological plot, whether it’s presented in a lengthy, part-premium origin story. story or a plot reboot takes a lot of work. It’s confusing at best, and at worst it’s cheap.
It’s clear why studios are making prequels and spin-offs: This is an easy way to monetize popular intellectual property and tap into existing fan bases. Though I instinctively roll my eyes Light year, I also know I’ll probably go see it – it’s hard to resist the next (or previous) chapter in a beloved series that’s almost 30 years old. But the obsession with behind-the-scenes stories means that everywhere you look, writers are adding depth to characters who really, really need no depth: When watching Home Sweet Home Alone, should we cheer when a desperate thief turned into his mother’s legs burned and collapsed in defeat, sobbing in the snow?
Believe it or not, back in 2009, Den of Geek published an article asking whether it was “time to lose the obsession with prequel and origin stories.This supposed 12-year-old Tome unequivocally reveals just how long we’ve been in the clutches of the Big Backstory – it laments the ‘dark, heartbreaking’ Werewolf mutant and “the company’s cookie cutter production line” led to Hannibal Rising and Underworld 3. But this work was written five years before the Disney movie came out Sleeping Beauties prequel cruel, the film opens the studio’s obsession with re-examining their classic villains. In 2019, DC Films gave us Joker, and next year Illumination will bring us to the story of I am despicableof the anti-hero in Minions: The Rise of Gru. In 2023, the musical film Wonka will see Timothée Chalamet portray the past of everyone’s favorite chocolate factory owner. We’re deep inside the origin story era, and obsession is seeping into the backstories we give to outright villains.
