Summary
- The Buzz girlfriend Home Alone scene, with the boy dressed as a girl, raises questions about its appropriateness in today's culture.
- The facial expression of the child in the scene is what makes it funny, not the fact that it's a boy dressed as a girl.
- The filmmakers were aware of the potential harm and chose to focus on the awkwardness of the photo rather than mocking the child's appearance.
There is something strange about the Buzz girlfriend Home Alone scene. The film has become a Christmas classic since it was made in 1990 but began as an underfunded pipe dream for director Chris Columbus, who had to call in many favors to get the film made. Few thought Home Alone would become the highest-grossing live-action comedy for two decades (until The Hangover Part II stole the title in 2011), and now Buzz girlfriend Home Alone moment has been memorialized — helped in no small part by Macaulay Culkin's delivery of the "Buzz... your girlfriend. Woof!" line being a masterclass in comic timing.
Following Kevin’s realization that he has been left behind, he enjoys having the whole house to himself. Among the forbidden things he is able to do freely, Kevin rummages through the room of his older brother, Buzz (played by actor Devin Ratray who was the only original cast member to appear in Home Sweet Home Alone). While scavenging, Kevin finds a picture of Buzz’s girlfriend, makes a disgusted face, and slams the picture back down, insinuating that the girl in the photo is an ugly dog. Home Alone has become so popular, and this could be a tragic legacy for a young girl — but there is more to the Buzz girlfriend Home Alone scene than meets the eye.
The Wholesome Reason Behind Buzz's Girlfriend's Looks
According to Devin Ratray when discussing the Buzz girlfriend Home Alone scene, (via Yahoo Entertainment), they didn't want to cast a girl in the part because it would've been mean-spirited. Ultimately, the art director's son gladly volunteered to fill in for the comedic part. However, he and his father had no idea the Christmas movie would become as popular as it did and spawn a Home Alone movie franchise. Ratray predicted the son would probably have second thoughts about agreeing to playing Buzz's girlfriend if he had known it would grow to be one of the funniest moments of the 1990 movie. Of the casting, Ratray explained:
“[They] decided it would be unkind to put a girl in that role of just being funny-looking. The art director had a son who was more than willing to volunteer for the part. I think if he had known it would become the highest-grossing family comedy of all time, he might have had second thoughts about it.”
Knowing that Home Alone producers (one of whom was the 80s movie legend John Hughes) considered the legacy of the subject of the photo, it still seems a poor choice to have the insulted girlfriend in the photo be a boy dressed as a girl. The scene, which played as hilarious in 1990, would likely be received very differently now and sheds light on popular culture’s evolution over the past three decades. While Home Alone has aged well in many ways as it continues to be watched each Christmas season, this is one aspect that is questionable to some viewers.
What Makes Buzz's Girlfriend So Funny Is The Facial Expression
While the Buzz girlfriend Home Alone joke may not hold up to today's standards, the funniest part about the scene isn't that it's a boy dressed as a girl — it's the facial expression the child makes that creates the comedy. The mixture of shock/surprise and cheesy grin is a combo that ends up working in Home Alone, pinpointing it as one of the movie's funniest moments. One of the few reasons that the movie hasn't been skewered for being transphobic is the facial expression is what makes the moment hilarious. The boy deserves full credit there as an unsung member of the Home Alone cast— especially since many viewers weren't aware Buzz's girlfriend wasn't even a girl.
The character is purposefully making a cheesy grin very common towards that awkward stage of life for comedic effect. The scene certainly isn't meant to draw offense, and while observations about its appropriateness are valid, there is something to be said of the filmmaker's awareness that they are dealing with young children who deserve to be protected from ridicule. Though the decision to pass off a boy as a girl in this manner can be questioned, they were also intelligent enough to ensure the Home Alone joke was about the awkwardness of the photo rather than the looks of the child himself.