Thursday, November 12, 2020
Macaulay Culkin: More Than Just "The Kid' In Home Alone
You may recognize Macaulay Culkin as the intelligent, witty, and scheming child in the famous Christmas movie, Home Alone. In this movie, Culkin plays Kevin, a young troublemaker who is accidentally left at home alone while his family takes a Christmas vacation. As Kevin’s house is now a target for a set of burglars, he surrounds his house with home-made booby-traps in order to protect himself and his possessions. Culkin’s character, Kevin, is extremely crafty with his makeshift contraptions, and this creativity serves to extend into the actor’s personal life.
Macaulay Culkin, now referred to as Mack, was born in New York City in 1980. He starred in his first Broadway musical at age four and was featured in a series of commercials. In addition to Home Alone, he starred in many other movies as a child, such as Uncle Buck, The Nutcracker, Home Alone 2, and My Girl. Although Macaulay enjoyed the freedoms and intricacies of acting, he despised the spotlight and pressures of the media. Culkin proceeded to take a major career break, in which he developed other hobbies besides acting.
In 2013, Culkin debuted his rock band, The Pizza Underground. This band was originally formed as a joke, as Culkin realized that most words could be replaced with ‘slice’ or ‘cheese’ and still make sense. The band proceeded to parody songs by the Velvet Underground by creating pizza-themed lyrics and song titles. Furthermore, Macaulay dared to access another creative domain and improved his vocal, percussion, and kazoo skills.
In 2017, Culkin launched his satirical pop culture website, Bunny Ears. It started as a space for Culkin to publicly post his thoughts and feelings about an array of random topics through blogs, podcasts, and videos. The website now employs full time-staff and is formally edited and constructed by Culkin. He collaborates with his employees to convey his thoughts about random topics and nuances. Although Culkin could have singlehandedly ran this website, he trusts that his employees will help inspire his content. Furthermore, he hopes they will write and record their own amusing pieces that will serve to give the website’s viewers a good laugh.
Culkin also struggled with an immense drug problem. He veered away from the spotlight, lost an unhealthy amount of weight, and was hopelessly addicted. As Culkin attempted to go sober, he appeared to be boring, mute, and unresponsive. Culkin, referring to his drug use as an illness, decided to take a more gradual approach. As he still participated in recreational drug use, he began his painting career. Culkin’s paintings are often described as a combination of pop culture from the 90’s with a dark, playful twist. Painting quickly became Culkin’s new passion, inspired and arguably made possible by his addiction.
Culkin states, “No matter how much I act like a curmudgeonly old man, it’s still fun to get back in the saddle once in a while and play around.” Culkin is able to engage in multiple creative domains due to his bold commitment to exploring other realms besides acting. Additionally, he has inspired the creativity of both himself and his surrounding individuals by collaborating with them as a band member, website coworker, or model painter. Lastly, Culkin uses his mental illness and physical addiction to help project his thoughts and imagination into his artwork. There truly is more to Culkin than his childhood career!
Citations:
https://www.biography.com/actor/macaulay-culkin
https://pitchfork.com/news/66911-macaulay-culkin-working-on-pizza-underground-record/
https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a30680749/macaulay-culkin-interview-life-now-after-home-alone-2020/
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Getting this perspective on the life of Macaulay Culkin was great! We (the general public) don't often follow-up or put as much attention into the lives of most child stars once they grow up (unless, of course, they remain in the spotlight as performers or some other "high-profile" career, as is the case with the Olson twins from "Full House"). It was really interesting to see how Culkin combatted his drug addiction and referred to it as an "illness" rather than an "addiction" and adopted a gradual weaning instead of a "cold-turkey" approach. Furthermore, by branching off and doing activities that interested him, rather than trying to force a career of acting or living off of his "name," we see a shocking and honest turn of humanity that isn't present with many former child stars as they age. Culkin will always be remembered as mischievous "Kevin," but I'm glad to see he has made his own path as "Macaulay" as well.
ReplyDeleteWow, I thoroughly enjoyed this blog post! There's so much more to him than just being a kid actor, I never knew he had taken part in so many other fields throughout his life. For one, I could've never told you he was on broadway or was in a band, this was so fun to learn about. I also really liked how you tied it back into class material by discussing his mental illnesses and how those have impacted his creativity, both positively and negatively.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea that Culkin became a musician or painter after his acting career! It's incredible how his creativity can be spread between so many different mediums. I wonder if they saw his creative abilities when casting him as Kevin!
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting how Culkin has become someone who found ways to actively contribute outside of his big famous moment; most of the creatives I've seen have been highlighted for how they changed their industry, or how they broke into said industry, or why they are so greatly respected in the industry, but Culkin decided to do his best to contribute outside of the world of film and theatre, and there's something impressive about reading that; it must have been hard on Culkin, and it seems to be backed up by the fact he turned to drugs, but it's good to see him get back on his feet and attempt to make something productive of himself.
ReplyDeleteWow, what a great post! Culkin was always one of my favorite child actors and seeing this new side of him was a great eye opener. I think he fits in great with the class, as both a creative actor and professional as well as someone who manages a mental illness. The way that you described Culkin when he became sober reminded me of the movie A Beautiful mind. In this movie, John lost a bit of his creative, wild self when he was taking meds for his schizophrenia, just like how Culkin's personality changed with drugs. I think this was a great connection to class material and a well written post. Thanks!
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