The original Home Alone analysis from two years ago–wherein we explore the Story Driver…
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Just to be clear for people playing along at home, your storyform is:
Changed
Stop
Do-er
Linear
Decision
Optionlock
Success
Good
OS Domain: Universe
OS Concern: Present
OS Issue: Attempt
OS Problem: Evaluation
?
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I love the new arrangement. The Present is such a perfect fit both for being home alone and being away from family at Christmas!
FYI this was @jhay’s work on the drivers from the other thread. I agree with Mike that Kate accepting the ride is part of that midpoint driver too.
For the final driver, deciding not to tell anyone seems a bit weak to me. Is that really what resolves the inequity? Maybe it’s, Kevin decides not to tell anyone what happened AND they all decide Kevin did a pretty great job taking care of the house? This seems a decent way to resolve the problems created by the first driver where Kevin isn’t respected, acts up and gets punished.
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I think that may be right. Or that could be Driver + Author’s Proof, but either formulation leaves the meaning the same.
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Yeah, that sounds way better! It’s a nice illustration of the OS solution too: they re-evaluate Kevin’s ‘incompetence’.
To be honest, in that list of drivers I only included that last one because I couldn’t find another significant decision at the end of the story. To me, him keeping this whole episode to himself seemed more a part of his MC judgement than a driver, or maybe even a part of his resolve (I’d have to see it again with this new storyform in mind to make that argument).
The family deciding he did a great job with the house works much better as a final driver, in my opinion.
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It certainly mirrors them deciding he’s incompetent at the beginning.
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Wouldn’t the end of Act 1 story driver be when the eldest kid counting heads in the car?
Action: Counts the right number of heads, but miscounts because the neighbor kid is there, not Kevin.
Leads to Decision: Trust that everyone is there, and board the plane without double-checking.
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Just FYI, I have not done a full analysis of the movie, so I have no stake in either choice for Driver. Though, I trust Jim and you should go back and read the thread he linked to earlier.
But, if you are saying that the pole falling leads to panic leads to miscount leads to the decision to trust the headcount, then sure, that is definitely a good find and worth considering. I believe there is even a comment from one of the parents saying, “Are you sure you counted everyone?” or something and a brief deliberation before they accept it.
It even occurs to the mom kind of out of nowhere that they forgot Kevin and she decides to go back to the States. So all of these things are floating around. The trick is to tie them back to shifts in perspective, which is part of what would be required for a super deep look.
If it’s an Action Driver, what is the first driver?
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Isn’t there something that happens to the plane tickets when Kevin and (I think) Buzz are fighting? I’m sure one of them gets knocked into the trash can or something, and then the decision is made to expel Kevin to the attic. I’ll see if I can find a clip. (Edit: Yes! Kevin and Buzz fight, someone spills drinks over the tickets and Kevin’s is accidentally thrown away in the mess – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q79Q14ASedg – totally an action)
I also wonder if Kevin is an ‘Unwilling’ MC in this story. As you said, @MWollaeger, Kevin is defending his house before anything happens. He wishes to be alone, he doesn’t really have a problem with any of it (except for the occasional freakout from Old Man Marley or the basement), and he gleefully takes on this pair of burglars. He seems really willing and able throughout, so I’m not sure he’s a Do-er in a Decision story.
An Action driver also puts the Benchmarks into the Progress/Doing/Preconscious/Being area which makes more sense to me than Past/Understanding/Memory/Conceptualizing.
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I’m probably going to watch the movie again in several weeks, and that is probably the best time for me to really think about the Driver.
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Hi guys. The first Driver is him Kevin pushing his older brother, which then forces his mother to send him up the attic. If he hadn’t pushed his brother, she wouldn’t have made that decision. Thats why I think its the first driver. Without it(Cause) , there would be no punishment(Effect).
About the OS in Mind, sounds about right.
Act 1: Memory (Forgetting Our Son).
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Yeah, I think that was what we said in the other thread (prior to Jim coming in), where we had chosen Action drivers. @Greg mentioned that first driver action starts with Buzz eating all the cheese pizza.
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I was a bit confused at first. I mean with Kevin having that moment where he surveyed all the people in the room before pushing his brother. That seemed like a strong Decision to me but then I was like “The decision itself didn’t start the cycle. The action did.”
Really interesting take on the OS.
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Agree, OS is totally in Situation.
I’m not sure if I agree that the Drivers have to do with the family yelling at Kevin, banishing him, eating pizza, or even the ticket getting thrown in the trash.
How would any of those affect everyone and drive the OS?
Isn’t that all just RS stuff in Mind? Maybe MC stuff too?
If I were to wager a guess at the drivers, I’d say the following:
OS = Being Home Alone during Xmas at the McAllister House.
Action Drivers
Initial Story Driver: McCallister Family reveal their plans to leave the house unoccupied at Xmas --> Fake Cop Wet Bandit decides to make that house their primary target.
This is the major thing that affects everyone, right? Potential for the whole story rests on the family leaving, and the criminals invading the empty house. Kevin being there alone is the major problem. The benchmark would probably have something to do with the family (mom in particular) hitting one roadblock after the next to get home, so Kevin wouldn’t be in danger, alone at home.
Act 1 Driver: Family miscounts heads, leave Kevin behind, Home Alone --> Family decides not to double-check before they leave/board the flight.
(This sets up Act 2: Kevin is now Home Alone and the Wet Bandits are poised to invade. Kevin and their house, and the neighborhood at large is in danger.)
Midpoint: The False Victory: Still Home Alone with bandits in pursuit, Kevin hosts a fake party at the house --> Wet Bandits decide not to pursue the house, figuring they got bad intel.
Act 3 Driver: Operating on their new intel, the Wet Bandits invade the McCallister home --> Still Home Alone, instead of telling an adult or any authority figures, Kevin decides to defend his home on his own.
Concluding Driver: Family comes home just in time for Xmas Day.
All the stuff after that with the family showing back up, reunion with the mom, neighbor reuniting with his son… all feels like RS, MC and IC stuff to me, not OS.
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In my original post, I acted as if the Relationship Story Problem of Probability and the Relationship Story Solution of Possibility was absolute confirmation that this new storyform was the real storyform.
Making the changes into Subtext, I discovered that the old storyform contained the same exact Problem and Solution for the Relationship Story Throughline.
Interesting that intuitively we felt those were the correct Elements in the initial analysis–we just assigned them to the wrong relationship.
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The guys who made the simulation we’re living in sure like dropping hints.
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I think @JohnDusenberry really nailed it with the action drivers, but I’m just going from memory (Home Alone was a childhood staple).
I did a quick diff on the action/decision storyforms so you could see at a glance what changes. To my eye, the action storyform has stronger benchmarks and signposts, but, again, that’s just from memory.
I’ll try to watch it again sometime soon. Here’s the diff in case anyone else finds it useful.
Overall Story (an 8 yr. old home alone on Christmas)
Action
BENCHMARK : Progress
SIGNPOST 1 : Present
SIGNPOST 2 : Past
SIGNPOST 3 : Future
SIGNPOST 4 : Progress
Decision
BENCHMARK : Past
SIGNPOST 1 : Present
SIGNPOST 2 : Progress
SIGNPOST 3 : Past
SIGNPOST 4 : Future
Main Character (Kevin McAllister)
Action
BENCHMARK : Doing
SIGNPOST 1 : Understanding
SIGNPOST 2 : Doing
SIGNPOST 3 : Obtaining
SIGNPOST 4 : Learning
Decision
BENCHMARK : Understanding
SIGNPOST 1 : Obtaining
SIGNPOST 2 : Learning
SIGNPOST 3 : Understanding
SIGNPOST 4 : Doing
Influence Character (Old Man Marley)
Action
BENCHMARK : Being
SIGNPOST 1 : Conceptualizing
SIGNPOST 2 : Being
SIGNPOST 3 : Conceiving
SIGNPOST 4 : Becoming
Decision
BENCHMARK : Conceptualizing
SIGNPOST 1 : Conceiving
SIGNPOST 2 : Conceptualizing
SIGNPOST 3 : Becoming
SIGNPOST 4 : Being
Relationship Story (Maternal)
Action
BENCHMARK : Preconscious
SIGNPOST 1 : Conscious
SIGNPOST 2 : Memory
SIGNPOST 3 : Preconscious
SIGNPOST 4 : Subconscious
Decision
BENCHMARK : Memory
SIGNPOST 1 : Memory
SIGNPOST 2 : Preconscious
SIGNPOST 3 : Subconscious
SIGNPOST 4 : Conscious
Additional Story Points
Action
REQUIREMENT : Progress
PREREQUISITE : Preconscious
PRECONDITION : Being
FOREWARNINGS : Doing
Decision
REQUIREMENT : Past
PREREQUISITE : Memory
PRECONDITION : Conceptualizing
FOREWARNINGS : Understanding
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Yeah I noticed that too when entering the Signposts. I was really hoping the last Signpost for the Relationship would be in Subconscious—and it is there with the Action driver.
Story Drivers and the Overall Story Throughline are tied together. When you switch the context from internal fixed to external fixed, the context for why the signposts move from one to another switches and Decision no longer holds together under closer examination.
I’m good with Action—unless there are some strong arguments for Decision still.
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I’ve been so busy with Nanowrimo that I forgot to reply to this topic! I absolutely love this new analysis, and not just because it verified my intuition about the mother/son relationship being in the RS. 
I was stretching to find illustrations for the IC throughline being in Physics, and never found any strong ones, besides him hitting the robbers with a shovel at the end. The “You and I Are Alike” moment in the church now makes more sense as well, since that moment would be illustrating only the MC and IC throughlines.
I also wanted to emphasize one of Jim’s comments in the film’s new analysis article:
"With the Overall Story Throughline now in Universe, the Act order for the Relationship Story Throughline plays out like this when driven by Decisions:
- Memory
- Preconscious
- Subconscious
- Conscious
Doesn’t quite feel right for the growth of the maternal relationship in Home Alone.
That same story now driven by Actions instead of Decisions:
- Conscious
- Memory
- Preconscious
- Subconscious
From we can’t stand each other (Conscious) to we love each other dearly (Subconscious), the Story Driver of Action simply makes more sense for Home Alone.
Emotional sense."
Absolutely amazing.
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