Home Alone: Old Man Marley or The Pigeon Lady?

Well, John Hughes specialized in writing about wealthy people from the suburbs, so an inner city homeless woman might have been a little out of his depth. Case in point, Pigeon Lady's tone deaf backstory ("I *chose* to be homeless because I had a bad relationship") and having her problems cured with a tree ornament. I think because Kevin is a spoiled rich kid surrounded by privilege, Hughes was trying to show the other side with her as well as those sick hospital kids, but it doesn't really land.

Although I was never really big on Marley, either. I get his significance to the story and Kevin's character arc, but their conversation in the church is the definition of a bathroom break scene.