Alright, this is getting out of hand. Home Alone could’ve taken place during Summer vacation?! There’s a bunch of Xmas-related plot points (I doubt the family has trouble catching a flight home in August), not to mention the overall look of the film and the constant Xmas music playing.
This is where we disagree. There’s way more of an argument to be made for Die Hard being able to take place at any time of year. Home Alone, on the other hand, doesn’t work if it’s not set during Christmas.
Home Alone can't happen at any other time of year? A family I know left one of their children behind when they went to church for a day. It absolutely could take place at any other time where travel is required as a family. You just need an excuse to be traveling and something preventing the family from turning back in a quick fashion. A tornado, a hurricane, a fire, a sharknado, whatever, it could be done.
Die Hard uses Christmas for the heist to take place and for Mr. McClane to be there. There are references to Christmas everywhere, from wrapping paper, Santa hats, music, trees, lighting, to jokes. The whole plot is centered around McClane being a wholesome guy who just wants to spend Christmas with his family, despite his wife having left him (and changed her name!). It has a great lesson in the end, if you're a good person you'll survive and if you don't, you won't (Takagi was greedy and wouldn't give up the codes so he could keep the money all to himself). They each learned to love each other for who they are and they realized how much they each mean to each other. Then there's Al, who has a redemption story for the ages. He unfortunately shot a thirteen year old kid because he thought he had a gun and was obviously pained by this, but he redeemed himself by killing Karl at the end.
I don't know how you can look at this and come to any other conclusion than it is a Christmas movie.
