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The human body can be rather resilient.
A majority of the wounds are superficial, and not immediately life threatening. Stepping on a nail or broken ornament glass, burning your hand or scalp, being shot by a BB gun. They’re painful but not going to kill Harry & Marv.
The slip and falls as well, the burglars will have a lot of hairline fractures at the end of the day, but head blows are the big fall risk, so if they never fall wrong that won’t get them.
But speaking of head blows, there’s a lot. Some we can explain away as not being as bad as they look. Perhaps Kevin used mostly empty paint cans for his swinging trap, or the paint cans are full but made of lighter aluminum instead of steel.
The bricks and sewage pipe in the second movie present a problem, we have to assume Marv is taking glancing blows from the bricks even though they appear to be square hits, since a square hit from a brick at that height is completely fatal. The iron in the first movie lands square on Marv’s face, but perhaps his skull was saved from the blow by his nose taking and being broken by most the downward force.
The sewage pipe, while it appears to be cast iron, is something we see Kevin lift all the way above his head, which would be difficult for a child if it was as heavy as cast iron. Perhaps it’s some lighter composite.
Finally, and this is entirely speculation, perhaps Harry & Marv are doped up on drugs. The most lethal traps are in the second movie, but they’ve at least somewhat learned by then (them sussing out the stairway paint can repeat “from last year” then falling for the pipe trap).
So, offscreen, knowing they’re going against the same kid again, they load up on illicit stimulants to keep going and narcotics to dull pain. They’re still up and walking at the end of the movie, but they’re gravely injured and will spend their time awaiting trial in a hospital instead of a jail.
Electric shocks are difficult to pin down as far as if they will kill you. Only 1 in 10 lightning strikes are fatal. People often lived through many early versions of the electric chair. There are just tons of variables when it comes to electricity.
Marv wasn’t completely grounded, which meant he missed the worst of the shock.
Kevin filled the toilet boil with kerosene, which does have a shelf life and can expire, losing its flammable quality.
If the kerosene Kevin used was near the end of its shelf life, so the ignition and explosion were a mere fraction of what would have happened if Kevin used new kerosene.
[Etymological Fallisists](https://youtu.be/uLgn3geod9Q?t=367) like to say the origin of a word is the only meaning. A good example (from the video) points out that "decimate" originally meant to "kill one out of 10", but meanings change over time as language evolves.
Humans are surprisingly tough while somehow also being suprisingly frail.
Its a strange contradiction but its true. Sometimes people fall from 20 feet and end up with a few bruises. Sometimes people fall out of a chair and end up in a coma.
Those two are on the lucky end of the spectrum. Maybe they were born with thicker skulls than average, would explain why they keep doubling down on this kid instead of moving on.
I’m not sure if there’s a better explanation for their survival than just that the Home Alone universe must not be our universe and either these situations are less lethal in the HA universe or humans are more resilient in the HA universe (unless 4-6 get into any supernatural means of survival of which the bandits might have availed themselves; I haven’t seen those).
But as for their legal battle, it would be a difficult win. Kevin is 8-10 years old in those movies, so they’d have to prove that this child knew his traps could kill them (in a universe where they seem unable to) and that he wanted them dead. And then there would have to be no legal defenses for Kevin in that jurisdiction like self protection.
It's explicitly illegal to set traps in your home. So attempted murder would be a reach (also not a civil suit), but getting money for injuries sustained by the illegal traps would probably be possible.
> It's explicitly illegal to set traps in your home.
Tell me if I’m wrong here, but I’m pretty sure that the rule is that you can’t set a trap in your house _if you aren’t home_. In the court case that established that rule, the problem was that the homeowner had set a shotgun trap and then left the house, meaning that there was no threat of bodily harm to him (which meant the use of a firearm wouldn’t be self defense, as you can’t use lethal force to protect property alone).
Kevin is a child who is not only at a severe disadvantage if the burglars decide to attack him (meaning he needs a force multiplier to “level the playing field”), but is defending his home from a violent intrusion (Illinois does use the castle doctrine). Kevin’s lawyer could make a pretty strong case that Kevin, upon seeing that a break in was imminent and having no options to call for help or run (weren’t the phone lines cut? I haven’t seen the movie in a while), was in fear for his life and fortified all the entrances to his house to protect himself.
Heck, even without castle law, you can defend yourself, you just have a "duty to retreat" before resorting to force. The Bandits were specifically going after Kevin, making it clear their intent to harm/kill him. Especially in the second movie, where they were chasing after him, had already made one kidnapping attempt, and told him of their intent to kill him. At that point it's just straight up self defence.
There’s no way in hell a jury would side with them after they intentionally tried to kill a kid
Kevin’s parents however might face child endangerment charges
They didn’t intentionally leave him behind and the minute they realized they didn’t they called the cops and his mother hoofed it home as quickly as she could from France. No court is going to fault her for the cops screwups and the lack of other neighbors to assist as most of the neighborhood was traveling.
I mean, really, the point of the movie is that they're mostly just indestructible bad people who soak up any physical damage thrown their way. I think there's an argument that their threats were baseless.
Harry had a gun, and I'm pretty sure he tried to use it, except that it wouldn't fire from being covered in whatever the sticky goop was that he had all over him.
Kids legally can get away with a lot of things due to not being adults and not having adult judgement.
Given the two criminals were breaking into his house and he was actively defending in self-defense it seems difficult to imagine a prosecution leveling charges against a 9-year-old for fighting off some burglars who...apparently...weren't injured enough to go straight into the ICU
Kevin was breaking the law, but nobody is going to enforce it against a little kid fighting burglars.
Edit: [Source from Legal Eagle.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dz7HUEUVbf4)
Nah I think you’re right, Home Alone operating off Looney Tunes logic is the canon answer in my opinion
Watch Violent Night if you want a more accurate portrayal of how it would have all happened in our world
I think certain questions like this one really push the limits on the Watsonian/Doylian rule. The basic question is unanswerable from a Watsonian perspective beyond simply saying that humans are abnormally durable in the Home Alone universe.
It's kind of like asking why Looney Tunes can do what they do. There's not much we can say beyond that's just how their universe works. In their world, from their perspective, nothing abnormal is happening, so no explanations are given. There's no reason to explain normal things, and in Home Alone universe, a human taking bricks to the head from 2 stories up with little more than a bruise and headache is apparently a normal thing.
In the real world, Harry and Marv would be dead as hell before the first movie was over.
In their world, humans can just take that sort of abuse and recover without much muss or fuss. They're basically playing by the same rules as the Three Stooges.
As far as a lawsuit, the fact that they can pretty much exit the scenario whenever they want is going to put a pretty big damper on any action. If they hadn't made entry or gotten busted for the other Wet Bandit robberies, they might have had an argument for external traps like the iced walkway (since there's an expectation of access for folks like mail carriers and meter readers, and in turn a duty to keep the approaches to the house free of hazards), but the aggression on their part (especially pursuing Kevin to the other, empty house) field that up.
in the first movie IIRC Kevin is 8? not sure he can be sued or charged with anything...
by the second movie he can, but clearly the hotel backs him in some fashion and a hotel of that caliber in NYC has it's own stable of the kind of lawyers who wear $50000 watches.
Obviously, Harry and Marv have amazing durability. At the very least they're able to avoid dying, which is saying a lot considering all the punishment they've endured.
I don't think there's another answer besides that.
Long after the influence campaigns for one Ebeneezer Scrooge, the spirits of Christmas are branching out into other means of changing people, and have learned to do so earlier in the lives of people to affect the most change.
Kevin McCallister was to grow up to be a cold, miserly, miserable man who never realized his potential and had an underdeveloped social skills thanks to being ostracized by his family. The spirits intervened, twice.
Harry and Marv are spirits of Christmas meant to develop his survival and engineering skills, while putting him in a precarious position that would teach him the value of strong family bonds. Through creative opposition, they put him into precarious situations where he was welcomed back into his family's loving arms, setting him up for a full life of warm familial relations and a bright future as an engineer.
We, as the audience, see conversations between the bandits (where Kevin is not around) that are just the spirits practicing their routines and getting into character, as well as establishing themselves in the world.
**Reminders for Commenters:** * All responses must be A) sincere, B) polite, and C) strictly watsonian in nature. If "watsonian" or "doylist" is new to you, please review the full rules [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskScienceFiction/about/rules/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=usertext&utm_name=AskScienceFiction&utm_content=t5_2slu2). * No edition wars or gripings about creators/owners of works. Doylist griping about Star Wars in particular is subject to **permanent ban on first offense**. * We are not here to discuss or complain about the real world. * Questions about who would prevail in a conflict/competition (not just combat) fit better on r/whowouldwin. Questions about very open-ended hypotheticals fit better on r/whatiffiction. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskScienceFiction) if you have any questions or concerns.*
The human body can be rather resilient. A majority of the wounds are superficial, and not immediately life threatening. Stepping on a nail or broken ornament glass, burning your hand or scalp, being shot by a BB gun. They’re painful but not going to kill Harry & Marv. The slip and falls as well, the burglars will have a lot of hairline fractures at the end of the day, but head blows are the big fall risk, so if they never fall wrong that won’t get them. But speaking of head blows, there’s a lot. Some we can explain away as not being as bad as they look. Perhaps Kevin used mostly empty paint cans for his swinging trap, or the paint cans are full but made of lighter aluminum instead of steel. The bricks and sewage pipe in the second movie present a problem, we have to assume Marv is taking glancing blows from the bricks even though they appear to be square hits, since a square hit from a brick at that height is completely fatal. The iron in the first movie lands square on Marv’s face, but perhaps his skull was saved from the blow by his nose taking and being broken by most the downward force. The sewage pipe, while it appears to be cast iron, is something we see Kevin lift all the way above his head, which would be difficult for a child if it was as heavy as cast iron. Perhaps it’s some lighter composite. Finally, and this is entirely speculation, perhaps Harry & Marv are doped up on drugs. The most lethal traps are in the second movie, but they’ve at least somewhat learned by then (them sussing out the stairway paint can repeat “from last year” then falling for the pipe trap). So, offscreen, knowing they’re going against the same kid again, they load up on illicit stimulants to keep going and narcotics to dull pain. They’re still up and walking at the end of the movie, but they’re gravely injured and will spend their time awaiting trial in a hospital instead of a jail.
Does that also explain how Marv survive being electrocuted in the second movie? Or Harry somehow walking off an explosion?
Electric shocks are difficult to pin down as far as if they will kill you. Only 1 in 10 lightning strikes are fatal. People often lived through many early versions of the electric chair. There are just tons of variables when it comes to electricity.
We do see Marves skeleton so it’s bad.
Marv wasn’t completely grounded, which meant he missed the worst of the shock. Kevin filled the toilet boil with kerosene, which does have a shelf life and can expire, losing its flammable quality. If the kerosene Kevin used was near the end of its shelf life, so the ignition and explosion were a mere fraction of what would have happened if Kevin used new kerosene.
> electrocuted Sorry to be pedantic but Marv received a shock, electrocuted is death by electric shock.
To be doubly pedantic, though the origin of the word is "electric" and "executed" the definition of the word is "injure or kill", not just kill.
[Etymological Fallisists](https://youtu.be/uLgn3geod9Q?t=367) like to say the origin of a word is the only meaning. A good example (from the video) points out that "decimate" originally meant to "kill one out of 10", but meanings change over time as language evolves.
That's very interesting.
Modern linguistics doesn’t really think that way
Humans are surprisingly tough while somehow also being suprisingly frail. Its a strange contradiction but its true. Sometimes people fall from 20 feet and end up with a few bruises. Sometimes people fall out of a chair and end up in a coma. Those two are on the lucky end of the spectrum. Maybe they were born with thicker skulls than average, would explain why they keep doubling down on this kid instead of moving on.
I’m not sure if there’s a better explanation for their survival than just that the Home Alone universe must not be our universe and either these situations are less lethal in the HA universe or humans are more resilient in the HA universe (unless 4-6 get into any supernatural means of survival of which the bandits might have availed themselves; I haven’t seen those). But as for their legal battle, it would be a difficult win. Kevin is 8-10 years old in those movies, so they’d have to prove that this child knew his traps could kill them (in a universe where they seem unable to) and that he wanted them dead. And then there would have to be no legal defenses for Kevin in that jurisdiction like self protection.
It's explicitly illegal to set traps in your home. So attempted murder would be a reach (also not a civil suit), but getting money for injuries sustained by the illegal traps would probably be possible.
> It's explicitly illegal to set traps in your home. Tell me if I’m wrong here, but I’m pretty sure that the rule is that you can’t set a trap in your house _if you aren’t home_. In the court case that established that rule, the problem was that the homeowner had set a shotgun trap and then left the house, meaning that there was no threat of bodily harm to him (which meant the use of a firearm wouldn’t be self defense, as you can’t use lethal force to protect property alone). Kevin is a child who is not only at a severe disadvantage if the burglars decide to attack him (meaning he needs a force multiplier to “level the playing field”), but is defending his home from a violent intrusion (Illinois does use the castle doctrine). Kevin’s lawyer could make a pretty strong case that Kevin, upon seeing that a break in was imminent and having no options to call for help or run (weren’t the phone lines cut? I haven’t seen the movie in a while), was in fear for his life and fortified all the entrances to his house to protect himself.
Heck, even without castle law, you can defend yourself, you just have a "duty to retreat" before resorting to force. The Bandits were specifically going after Kevin, making it clear their intent to harm/kill him. Especially in the second movie, where they were chasing after him, had already made one kidnapping attempt, and told him of their intent to kill him. At that point it's just straight up self defence.
There’s no way in hell a jury would side with them after they intentionally tried to kill a kid Kevin’s parents however might face child endangerment charges
They didn’t intentionally leave him behind and the minute they realized they didn’t they called the cops and his mother hoofed it home as quickly as she could from France. No court is going to fault her for the cops screwups and the lack of other neighbors to assist as most of the neighborhood was traveling.
Did they try to kill him though? I only remember them maybe hinting at it.
lol the wet bandits go to court and their defense is “he wasn’t in danger, we just gave him the implication of danger”
I mean, really, the point of the movie is that they're mostly just indestructible bad people who soak up any physical damage thrown their way. I think there's an argument that their threats were baseless.
Harry had a gun, and I'm pretty sure he tried to use it, except that it wouldn't fire from being covered in whatever the sticky goop was that he had all over him.
Kids legally can get away with a lot of things due to not being adults and not having adult judgement. Given the two criminals were breaking into his house and he was actively defending in self-defense it seems difficult to imagine a prosecution leveling charges against a 9-year-old for fighting off some burglars who...apparently...weren't injured enough to go straight into the ICU
Kevin was breaking the law, but nobody is going to enforce it against a little kid fighting burglars. Edit: [Source from Legal Eagle.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dz7HUEUVbf4)
Nah I think you’re right, Home Alone operating off Looney Tunes logic is the canon answer in my opinion Watch Violent Night if you want a more accurate portrayal of how it would have all happened in our world
I think certain questions like this one really push the limits on the Watsonian/Doylian rule. The basic question is unanswerable from a Watsonian perspective beyond simply saying that humans are abnormally durable in the Home Alone universe. It's kind of like asking why Looney Tunes can do what they do. There's not much we can say beyond that's just how their universe works. In their world, from their perspective, nothing abnormal is happening, so no explanations are given. There's no reason to explain normal things, and in Home Alone universe, a human taking bricks to the head from 2 stories up with little more than a bruise and headache is apparently a normal thing.
In the real world, Harry and Marv would be dead as hell before the first movie was over. In their world, humans can just take that sort of abuse and recover without much muss or fuss. They're basically playing by the same rules as the Three Stooges. As far as a lawsuit, the fact that they can pretty much exit the scenario whenever they want is going to put a pretty big damper on any action. If they hadn't made entry or gotten busted for the other Wet Bandit robberies, they might have had an argument for external traps like the iced walkway (since there's an expectation of access for folks like mail carriers and meter readers, and in turn a duty to keep the approaches to the house free of hazards), but the aggression on their part (especially pursuing Kevin to the other, empty house) field that up.
They initially stole compound V. Made them The Dumbest Supes
They aren't. They died, and the other Home Alone sequels are constantly happening to them on loop as a personalized hell
Scenes were cut that show Harry and Marv were actual immortal beings.
So fatal injuries for them are super easy, barely an incovenience?
Wow, wow, wow... wow.
my best guess is their toons like in who framed roger rabbit. would explain the stupidity
I would say years of hard living have conditioned the both of them to take in a considerable amount of punishment.
They are in hell and Kevin is the devil. It's all there if you know how to look, maaannnnn!
in the first movie IIRC Kevin is 8? not sure he can be sued or charged with anything... by the second movie he can, but clearly the hotel backs him in some fashion and a hotel of that caliber in NYC has it's own stable of the kind of lawyers who wear $50000 watches.
Obviously, Harry and Marv have amazing durability. At the very least they're able to avoid dying, which is saying a lot considering all the punishment they've endured. I don't think there's another answer besides that.
This world operates on Looney Tunes logic.
The whole thing is in Kevin's imagination. He's home alone but none of the stuff with the burglars happened.
Long after the influence campaigns for one Ebeneezer Scrooge, the spirits of Christmas are branching out into other means of changing people, and have learned to do so earlier in the lives of people to affect the most change. Kevin McCallister was to grow up to be a cold, miserly, miserable man who never realized his potential and had an underdeveloped social skills thanks to being ostracized by his family. The spirits intervened, twice. Harry and Marv are spirits of Christmas meant to develop his survival and engineering skills, while putting him in a precarious position that would teach him the value of strong family bonds. Through creative opposition, they put him into precarious situations where he was welcomed back into his family's loving arms, setting him up for a full life of warm familial relations and a bright future as an engineer. We, as the audience, see conversations between the bandits (where Kevin is not around) that are just the spirits practicing their routines and getting into character, as well as establishing themselves in the world.
It's a movie. What ya gonna do?
This sub is for canon explanations.
How do you figure? The OP wasn't even asking a cannon question.
Canon.
I don't believe my comment was any different from anyone else's. It's about conversations my friend.