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Which actor had the better childhood career: Macaulay Culkin or Elijah Wood? Text Me Back co-hosts Lindy West and Meagan Hatcher-Mays battle it out today. Lindy argues that Macaulay’s childhood career undoubtedly has had the bigger impact on popular culture. Meagan counters that Elijah’s 90s repertoire proves his superior range as an actor, and foreshadows his more successful adult career. Ronald Young Jr. considered this very debate when he was a kid during the height of Elijah and Macaulay’s childhood stardom. But how will he rule today?

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Transcript

SPEAKERS

Meagan Hatcher Mays, Ronald young Jr., Lindy West

Ronald young Jr.  00:00

If you’re a child of the 80s and 90s, it’s more than likely you’ve seen films like Home Alone, Uncle Buck, The Adventures of Huck Finn North and the good son. These films have in common that they starred Macaulay Culkin or Elijah Wood, or, in the case of The Good Son, both through the 90s, these two child actors pumped out film after film, many beloved with, of course, a few box office bombs, but overall, as adults, many millennials still have a soft spot in their hearts for both actors, but whose childhood career is preferred, Elijah Wood or McCully Culkin? We decide, once and for all, right here and right now on Pop Culture Debate Club.

 

Ronald young Jr.  00:51

Welcome back to Pop Culture Debate Club. I’m your host, Ronald Young Jr. Let’s meet our panelists for the day, representing McCully Culkin. She is a New York Times best selling author of the memoir, Shrill; notes from a loud woman, and she also co hosts the comedy podcast. Text me back. Hello and welcome, Lindy West.

 

Lindy West  01:09

Hello, thank you for having me.

 

Ronald young Jr.  01:12

Also joining us representing Elijah Wood is a lawyer and democracy expert who has been featured in The New York Times, Washington Post and MSNBC, and also co hosts The Text Me Back podcast with Lindy, please welcome Meagan Hatcher-Mays.

 

Meagan Hatcher Mays  01:26

Hello, that’s a lot of firepower for Elijah Wood, but he deserves it.

 

Lindy West  01:33

So excited to be here. I’m already losing

 

Ronald young Jr.  01:42

Well, are y’all ready to fight?

 

Lindy West  01:45

Yeah.

 

Meagan Hatcher Mays  01:45

Yeah, I think so, yeah. Well, let’s get

 

Lindy West  01:48

No not me. I’m just here to have a nice time.

 

Ronald young Jr.  01:56

Let’s get into our debate, Macaulay Culkin versus Elijah Wood. Maegan, we’ll start with you opening argument. Elijah Woods childhood career. And to be clear, we’re covering their childhood careers. Basically, we have a loose standing until they were like, 14 through 16. You can reference their adult careers, fine. That’s fine, but we’re really talking about them when we were watching them. The most everyone here is a millennial. So we’re talking about the careers when we were watching them growing up, which is in the 80s. Now, in the 80s, 90s, probably maybe early, 2000s something like that. So all of that in mind. Megan Hatcher maze, mage, Megan Hatcher maze, give me your opening argument. Elijah Wood is better than Macaulay Culkin.

 

Meagan Hatcher Mays  02:37

Ronald, I do not envy the task ahead of you. These two powerhouses truly are twin flames of the child actor sphere, who ultimately survived the Hollywood meat machine in ways that I think we can find honorable and quite incredible, really, given what they probably both went through, Elijah, our doe eyed King, simply though was destined for lasting greatness and cultural relevance. Sure, Macaulay can boast roles in classic John Hughes films such as home alone and I believe Uncle Buck, but I forgot to look it up. Yes, but only Elijah can say his first role was in a seminal David Fincher film. I refer, of course, to the music video for Paula Abdul’s forever your girl. That’s right. David Fincher directed that music video. I bet you didn’t know that, and Elijah Wood was in it. Baby was Macaulay Culkin, no, he wasn’t. Elijah was in the trenches. Now listen, Elijah has the range. There’s no other way to put it, from the good sun to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Perhaps that’s unfair to bring up to that random episode of The Osbornes to that weird show where he talked to a man sized dog. I don’t really know what that was about, because I didn’t watch it.

 

Ronald young Jr.  03:54

Really dipping into his adult career there. But keep going.

 

Meagan Hatcher Mays  03:57

So sorry.

 

Lindy West  03:58

I feel like the childhood of Elijah. What has never ended. He is eternally youthful, and he still looks he still looks like a baby.

 

Ronald young Jr.  04:05

Don’t you give her ammunition. Don’t argue against yourself. It’s a main rule of PCDC. Do not argue against yourself. Sorry, Maegan, complete your opening argument. This is unprecedented.

 

Meagan Hatcher Mays  04:20

The man is an author. We cannot and will not forget his star making turn as Middle Earth savior, Frodo Baggins, those baby blues marching all the way to Mordor. He did it for us, Ron, he did it for us, and His portrayal really expressed the stakes without being heavy handed. But it all comes down to this. Does Macaulay have that kind of juice? The answer is no. Thank you and I return the balance of my time back to you.

 

Ronald young Jr.  04:51

Maegan, thank you so much. That’s one of the best opening arguments, best composed opening arguments. I should I should say I’ve ever heard the show that you were thinking of is called Wilfred. It ran from 2011 to 2014 on FX. I remember watching that show. I remember thinking, What business does this man have doing on this show? With all of that being said, that’s just Ronald commentary. Y’all are y’all are bringing it out of me today. Lindy West, give me your opening argument. Macaulay Culkin is better than Elijah Wood.

 

Lindy West  05:19

Well, I’d like to really quickly rebut one thing that my colleague on the other side of the aisle said, which is no Macaulay Culkin was not in the video the David Fincher directed video for forever your girl, but he was in the Michael Jackson video, black or white. And which song do you listen to more often? Maegan and does the Paula Abdul video for forever? Your girl have a thing? I think the, I think before CGI was invented, and they actually had a wizard or witch perform this trick where the people turn their head to the side and turn their head back, and then they turn into a different race. So that doesn’t happen in Paul Abdul’s videography anywhere at any point. So I’m just that’s a clear point for Macaulay Culkin, I want to say.

 

Ronald young Jr.  06:11

Your awarding points.

 

Lindy West  06:17

I’m just pointing out the facts.

 

Ronald young Jr.  06:20

Go for it.

 

Lindy West  06:21

It’s objectively true that there’s a point there.

 

Ronald young Jr.  06:23

Go for it.

 

Lindy West  06:25

So I just feel like, look, we can compare filmography to filmography all day long. Has Elijah been in more? Yes, probably. But we’re not here to talk about like, tit for tat, skill for skill, film for film. We’re talking about an impact on popular culture. And I just don’t think that you can argue that anything has had the impact of Kevin McAllister swinging the paint can to down to hit whichever one of the Wet Bandits it was in the head, or was it the nuts? I don’t remember and that.

 

Meagan Hatcher Mays  07:10

I believe it was your friend, Daniel Stern, star of shrill Wow. Can’t believe you forgot that getting bonked in his noggin with a paint can.

 

Lindy West  07:18

I think he took most of the I feel like he took most of the beatings in home alone because he also got burned on the face with the iron. Did. Is that true?

 

Ronald young Jr.  07:24

He was the better physical comedian of the two of them. But we’re, don’t let us. Don’t let us take you off track. Lindy, do your thing.

 

Lindy West  07:29

Oh my God, the winner is. Daniel Stern, okay, okay. New episode, spin off. Episode, I mean, Daniel Stern, come on, anyway. Okay, so here’s what I want to say, a YOLO spirit to Hollywood that is refreshing, is era defining, is changing prestige, television regular, television, movie television as we know it, yes, movie television, even as a child in the movie the good son, Macaulay Culkin, was smoking cigarettes, and that’s cool as hell. Elijah Wood does not make me want to smoke cigarettes. He makes me want to, like, eat a salad, and that’s not cool. And so I just want to say that I think everyone already knows the answer of who has created a bigger impact, and it’s my client who has retained me to defend his honor. Mr. Macaulay Culkin.

 

Ronald young Jr.  08:37

Let’s, uh, let’s double click on a couple of things that you all have said, and I think it’s, it’s interesting that we can, we could compare these two actors because they were the same age and also acting in Hollywood, but we could compare them more directly because they were in the same movie, the good son, and essentially build at the same level against each other, which is kind of, you kind of wonder the stuff like that still happen today, In time of team up movies, if you will. So Maegan Hatcher maze, my question for you is, if you remove Elijah Wood from The Good Son, what movie do we have there?

 

Meagan Hatcher Mays  09:12

I mean, you can’t have The Good Son without Elijah. There’s something about him that is so such the perfect balance to macaulays sort of innate psychopathy in that film, if I may say, he brought a lot of natural unsettlingness to the role. You really without that sort of doe-eyed innocence of Elijah I’m not sure that the film works like Sure. Maybe there were other child actors you’ve could have busted out for this year. I don’t know if Ricky Schroeder was probably an adult by then, but he was the first person who came to mind. I’m sorry, but you know, who are you going to get? Who can bring that pathos to a psychological thriller surrounding two children, by the way, who was the audience for The Good Son?

 

Ronald young Jr.  09:59

I was a parent too young for it, but I my parents saw it, and I was like, why can’t I see it? They’re like, you cannot watch this.

 

Meagan Hatcher Mays  10:04

Is this not a movie with two of my favorite actors who are my age. I can’t go see this film. It’s just a movie for adults who are scared of kids. It makes no sense. Anyways, you just can’t have it without Elijah Macaulay. You know he’s he does play a critical role in the film, I will admit. But I just feel like without that counterbalance of the innocence of Elijah. You’re just not getting the same you’re not getting the same heft. You know?

 

Ronald young Jr.  10:26

Lindy, same question. Let’s remove Macaulay from the good sun. What do you have?

 

Lindy West  10:30

You got nothing. You got nothing, my friend, you got absolutely nothing. If you take Macaulay Culkin out of the good sun, what you have is a movie about a boy named Elijah Wood, whose mom dies, and then his dad, who has to go on a two week business trip to Tokyo, uh, drives him from South Dakota to Maine. I don’t know why he has to. They have to drive there. It is Jeep Wrangler. They drive there. He leaves his son with the his sister in law or whatever, and then the Son has a great two weeks in Maine, playing around in the yard and doing puzzles with his cousin Connie, and then goes home and has a good life. What kind of movie is that?

 

Meagan Hatcher Mays  11:18

It sounds like a really heartwarming one, my favorite actor starring that’s what sounds like to me.

 

Lindy West  11:24

Sounds like a freaking snooze. And let me tell you something else. Let me tell you something else. When Macaulay Culkin opens his little sardine tin and it’s full of cigarettes, he pulls out a cigarette. He smokes that cigarette next to the old well in the cemetery. He hands that cigarette to Elijah Wood. You know what Elijah Wood does? First, he says, Those give you cancer. Then, how nice of him? No, that sounds like dork. Talk to me. He takes a drag off the cigarette, and then he’s like, my lungs, is that cool? Does that sound cool?

 

Meagan Hatcher Mays  12:01

Is being a narc so bad? Leave him alone.

 

Lindy West  12:06

Of course, being a narc is bad. Also you want to talk about range. You want to talk about range with Elijah Wood, Macaulay Culkin in the good sun. He murders a dog with a crossbow.

 

Meagan Hatcher Mays  12:19

Oh, my God.

 

Lindy West  12:20

He pushes his mother off a cliff. He did you guys want me to give away all this spoils, whatever it’s been years. He he drowns his baby brother in a bathtub. He creates a realistic life size mannequin named Mr. Highway, and then he throws Mr. Highway off an overpass into the path of a Winnebago, which then careens off the road, causing a many, many, many car pile up on the icy main roads, and presumably many deaths. The movie claims that no one died, but I think they retconned that. I think it was a mass murder. So he did. We watched him do all of those things, and yet, still, when I see that boy die of a bee sting in my girl, I say.

 

Meagan Hatcher Mays  13:12

Honestly, will be too soon.

 

Lindy West  13:13

I say, would that I could gladly die in his place? And I watched this boy push his mother off a cliff.

 

Meagan Hatcher Mays  13:24

Yeah, and, you know what? And I can’t prove this, Macaulay Culkin requested all those things be added to the script because He’s crazy. He thought that the good son was a documentary, and he added all that stuff because he’s insane. I can’t prove it, but I just feel like that’s true. Elijah Wood would never throw Mr. Highway into a Winnebago.

 

Ronald young Jr.  13:43

I’ve never had anyone introduce this type of evidence in a debate of pop culture Debate Club. But let me reel it in. Let’s talk a little bit about Home Alone. Home Alone is the big Macaulay Culkin movie and Lindy in terms of impact on culture. Obviously, that’s the one that has the biggest one, if we take that off of Macaulay Culkin slate, are we even having this discussion right now?

 

Lindy West  14:09

Yes, because you still have home alone too, which is no which would assume the position of home alone? I don’t think so. What about an Uncle Buck when they flip the very, very big pancake? How about that? That is, how important? How about in what about also in Richie, rich when he is what if it says, it asks the question, what if a child was rich? Again, I mentioned my girl, which is, uh, absolutely a, I mean, genuinely a true classic that I have watched many, many times. And also he had a band, and all of the band songs were about pizza. So that’s an ally. That’s a legend, like I said. And there is no replacing him. There is no removing him from the universe, because to remove him from the universe would unravel the very fabric of space time, because he is one of the, one of the, the staunch pilings that is driven into the firmament to hold all of us and everything that we know our reality together.

 

Ronald young Jr.  15:20

We’ll be back with more Pop Culture Debate Club after this break.

 

Ronald young Jr.  15:32

Maegan, what we’re talking about here is removing home alone from the photography of Macaulay Culkin. When you think about the movies that came out, Lindy West did just name some very significant movies. Richie Rich home alone. My girl like there’s some classics there. Go ahead.

 

Lindy West  15:49

Can someone? Can someone name for me more than four Elijah Wood […]

 

Meagan Hatcher Mays  15:56

More than four of your own book?

 

Lindy West  15:58

My girl, Home Alone. Home Alone two, Uncle Buck, The Good Son. I got you five. McCall […]

 

Meagan Hatcher Mays  16:05

How about flipper? How about North starring Bruce Willis, I bet you forgot about that bad boy. How about The Good Son? How about Forever Your girl, it’s a movie that’s not a movie directed by David Fincher. About that lays wavy commercial with Dan Quayle. He also has hobnobbed with the political elite.

 

Ronald young Jr.  16:25

Well, Maegan. The question here, though, is without those types of hits on his on his filmography, not saying he has none, but saying, in terms of the classics that endure, like we have, probably the Lord of the Rings, which is still as he’s becoming an adult there outside of that, in terms of bangers, not dramas, but like just bangers, Kid classics that we could return to. No Elijah Wood doesn’t have many of those.

 

Meagan Hatcher Mays  16:52

Well, maybe that’s true, but when he appeared in a movie that apparently everyone hated, with Kevin Costner, Roger Ebert said he was the greatest actor of his generation of that age, and he, at that point, the good son, had already come out. It, of course, was called the war.

 

Ronald young Jr.  17:08

Oh, yeah.

 

Meagan Hatcher Mays  17:08

Starring Kevin Costner, yes. And Elijah Wood, it got negative reviews. Everybody hated it, but Roger Ebert, who’s famously never been wrong, said that Elijah Wood has emerged, I believe, as the most talented actor in his age group in Hollywood history. So now this is a kid who has the sauce. He can bring it even in a relatively small oeuvre as a child, and it’s because of his versatility as a child. I even, even my opponent, Lindy West, has said he’s like a little adult. He was bringing the sauce in the good sun. That’s why he’s had the longevity and the relevance of his career. That brings us to his like adult films that are returnable classics. Eternal Sunshine is still in my rotation. Obviously, I watch Lord of the Rings multiple times a year, much like home alone. I consider it a Christmas classic.

 

Ronald young Jr.  17:58

Hold on.

 

Meagan Hatcher Mays  17:58

You know?

 

Ronald young Jr.  17:59

You watch Lord of the Rings, all of them multiple times a year?

 

Meagan Hatcher Mays  18:04

Yes, Ronald, the extended versions. That’s right.

 

Ronald young Jr.  18:08

That’s over 12 hours of viewing.

 

Meagan Hatcher Mays  18:11

That’s correct. That’s how much I love Elijah Wood.

 

Ronald young Jr.  18:18

That’s fair.

 

Meagan Hatcher Mays  18:19

Look, as I said at the top, this is very difficult, because their childhood careers are very similar. And then I think Macaulay sort of retired to a comfortable normal life, which, frankly, I Stan good like good for him, whereas Elijah kind of extended his career a little bit later into his life, and now he gets to enjoy a sort of peaceful life of just going to cons and making millions of dollars, getting his picture taken with Sean Aston, which, Wouldn’t you love to do that for a job? Sounds amazing, but that’s because of his that’s because of the even like a relatively small filmography, big impact. You know, that’s the Elijah Wood guarantee.

 

Ronald young Jr.  18:57

Yeah, and I mean what we say relatively small? I would say quality over quantity, in some cases, as a child. But Lindy, I’m wondering, when you think about the fact that Elijah Wood kind of continued acting, and I think we can all agree, did blossom into a good actor in Hollywood. IE, if Elijah Wood is in a movie as an adult, we probably want to see it, whereas Macaulay Culkin, kind of, you know, sat down. What does that mean to you as someone who is like defending his his work? Do you think that? Do you think that that’s significant in terms of maybe he couldn’t cut it as an actor in the way that Elijah would as an adult?

 

Lindy West  19:31

I think it’s evident of beautiful self care and self honoring behavior, taking care of one’s heart, because he had been through it. He had been through the darkness of the child actor machine. And he said, You know what? There’s something more important to me than that. It’s family specifically, getting rid of mine and emancipating myself. For my shitty parents and taking all my money and being a smart boy and not being a little sort of goody two shoes freaking workaholic. He was like, I’m gonna go smoke cigarettes and hang out with Michael Jackson and be cool controversial.  And is that?

 

Meagan Hatcher Mays  20:23

Well, okay, sorry, seems like you’re you had your chance to do your opposition research, and you didn’t, so we’re not talking about Michael Jackson, and I think that it shows a great deal of sort of, you know, self assuredness, self awareness, that’s inspiring to me. And then when he was ready, he came back. He was in the movie saved, which I used to have on DVD before I let my physical media collection fall by the wayside in misplaced trust, in these streamers. Now I have to rebuild it. And he now he just does whatever he wants. He says again. He says, YOLO. He says, YOLO. I’m gonna smoke cigarettes and I’m gonna hang out with Seth Green, and I’m gonna make a weird cartoon or whatever, and I’m gonna, like, have fun, and I’m gonna be and I’m gonna have a winky self awareness, which is very cute, like he will do, sort of like a Macaulay Culkin, you know, self deprecating Macaulay Culkin moment. He’ll do a cameo appearance in a commercial where he runs around the home alone house. And I don’t know why I brought that up. That’s not really, actually that appealing, but I do like that. He has a good humored self awareness. He seems funny, and I would hang out with him, except I’d be a little intimidated, because he’s very cool. Due to the cigarettes, yes, have you seen them?

 

Ronald young Jr.  22:00

Do think.

 

Meagan Hatcher Mays  22:01

I could never.

 

Ronald young Jr.  22:02

Do you think that that like that sense of and Maegan, we’re talking about a sense of charm that comes from Macaulay Culkin, which I think definitely exists for him as an adult, in a way where he does get to be Winky and stuff, because he’s not necessarily selling a movie doing anything, his image is kind of like it’s a different path for him. Whereas, I don’t know if I see it. Do you think that same charm kind of exists with Elijah Wood?

 

Meagan Hatcher Mays  22:25

Oh, yeah, man, of course. I think that both well, actually, I think this is true for both of them. So I will give credit where it’s due. I think they both kind of have a sort of they’ve detached themselves from Hollywood in such a way it does seem that it was for caring for themselves a little bit. I think if you grow up in the meat machine as a child, it’s probably very satisfying to take a step back from it, and then to have that luxury to pick and choose what you want to do, because you had some success when you were younger. I think they both enjoy that, but that means that they can be more casual, more loose, more fun when they do interact with whether it’s fans or like Lindy said, Actually, I will also admit the Google commercial where Bucha Culkin was in the Home Alone house was incredibly charming. So.

 

Lindy West  23:08

Okay, cut out the part where I said that it wasn’t because I was just,  I was trying to be cool, but it was good.

 

Meagan Hatcher Mays  23:16

But I was like, I’m gonna give her this one, that one.

 

Ronald young Jr.  23:17

No, we’re gonna keep that, and we’re gonna keep this remake […]

 

Meagan Hatcher Mays  23:20

But, but Elijah has that too. I mean, I think he does have those sort of similar, similar to Culkin, kind of trades on his his past roles in a way that people love and find cozy. I watch Lord of the Rings every year. I’ve seen it so many times that That, to me, is cozy. It’s like a cozy watch to watch a bunch of orcs get, like, decapitated or whatever. But part of that is because of him, because of his the way that he played that role. I don’t think anybody else could have brought that same level of like care. I mean, if it wasn’t Elijah Wood, it could have been Jake Gyllenhaal guys, he he tried out for that role. Now think about that and think about what we’d be missing without Elijah Wood in our lives. It’s not a road I’d like to go down, you know.

 

Lindy West  24:06

Okay, but that’s not relevant. Strike that from the record. Jake Gyllenhaal is not on the docket today. I want you to imagine Lord of the Rings.

 

Meagan Hatcher Mays  24:14

You brought up Michael Jackson.

 

Lindy West  24:16

I may want to imagine Lord of the Rings with Macaulay Culkin now, what do you think Macaulay Culkin? No, adult, adult. Macaulay Culkin, bags under the eyes, British accent.

 

Ronald young Jr.  24:32

We’ll be back with more PCDC after this break.

 

Ronald young Jr.  24:43

You know, and I’m just to save Lindy, I’m gonna go ahead and pivot the closing argument, because you almost put a nail in your own cough in there. You want to replace Elijah Wood with von okay, I’m not. Let’s get to closing arguments, Lindy. We’ll start with you. Your closing argument. Macaulay Culkin is better than Elijah Wood.

 

Lindy West  25:03

Yes, speaking of his estranged and allegedly abusive father, kit Culkin, Macaulay Culkin said everything he tried to do in his life, I excelled at before I was 10 years old, he called his own father jealous. That’s cool as hell, and I’m sorry, but Elijah Wood couldn’t even emancipate himself from Gollum, okay? I think it’s I think it’s brave to call someone jealous, and what it says to me is, I know I’m the best. We don’t have to have a debate. I’m above the debate. I would never even come to the debate, I’m too busy playing in my pizza themed rock band in closing. Sure is Elijah Wood. Does he have the acting chops of a tiny adult? Yes, is that what we want for my child actors a tiny adult? Is that what we’re looking for? No. We’re looking for a fresh faced, bright eyed, impish child with perfect lip gloss, rosy cheeks and the range to play a psychopath and a little boy with allergies make us cry from fear and cry from grief and laugh because Joe Pesci got kicked in the nuts and stepped on a nail and Got tetanus and died, and that’s what we get from Macaulay Culkin, wow.

 

Ronald young Jr.  26:25

Oh my god. That was an excellent closing argument. It was excellent. You really went for it. Maegan Hatcher-Mays closing argument. Elijah, what is better than Macaulay Culkin.

 

Meagan Hatcher Mays  26:39

When we talk about impish child actors with ruddy cheeks and big doe eyes, 100% of the time, 10 times out of 10 people’s minds are gonna go straight to Elijah Wood. What you’ve described ma’am is Elijah Wood. Macaulay Culkin has played psychopaths in most of his child movies. If you’re gonna sit there and act like Kevin McAllister is well behaved, well balanced. I don’t think so. He wished for his family to disappear, and when they did, oh, he celebrated. He celebrated, and then he went on the attack like the little maniac that he is. That’s right, and you know, I’m right, but here’s what it comes down to, at the end of the day, at the end of the day, and you brought it up yourself. Linda, you walked right into it. Elijah Wood, hands down, no problem. Could play Kevin McAllister, could Macaulay Culkin play? Frodo Baggins, you and I both know the answers now. Ronald, I urge you to vote in favor of my client, Elijah Wood, that’s right, his middle name is Elijah too, I think. And vote him best of these two people. Thank you.

 

Ronald young Jr.  27:56

Wow, are you all ready for my ruling?

 

Lindy West  28:01

Yes.

 

Meagan Hatcher Mays  28:02

Yes.

 

Ronald young Jr.  28:03

Okay, this is so this is so interesting for a couple reasons. One, I knew y’all were both gonna break the heat, but the second part of this is that I genuinely did not have an opinion on who was better. I know we pit them against each other, and it was something that Hollywood was doing back in the times we were watching them, I remember reading a Disney adventures magazine, and that’s a throwback. I don’t know if y’all know about that. It was a little Yeah, okay, psychology, yes. Oh my god, I love them so much. It’s probably what got me into pop culture. But I used to read those, and I remember one of the quick hit questions was Elijah Wood, or Macaulay Culkin? And I’m like, Holy COVID, what are you talking about Elijah Wood, and by then, I’d only been exposed to home alone, but as an adult, I’ve been exposed to just about everything that y’all have been saying. Like I watched Wilfred, I watched Lord of the Rings, I watched Radio Flyer. I did not watch the war. I watched home alone, I watched the good son, I watched Richie Rich I watched my girl, all of those, right? And I noticed that we don’t really talk about my girl too, because Macaulay Culkin isn’t in it. So like, if we want to know, what is my girl without Macaulay Culkin? Well, it’s my girl too, and it just wasn’t as good, and they replaced him with someone else, some other child actor at the time who I don’t even remember his name. I don’t know if he’s still acting, and someone is screaming it at me right now, looking it up on my girl too. But the point is, without him. It does not, it does not work as well. However, if we get into an acting debate over who is a better actor between the two of them, if you like, go back and you are generous, looking back and forth at their their actual careers, I think Elijah Wood has edged out Macaulay Culkin, specifically in acting. I think that’s something to point out, like in terms of and there’s a reason why Elijah Wood continues. It’s because I think he is a better actor than Macaulay Culkin. Macaulay Culkin also had a lot of struggles and all that, but a lot of those struggles came from being the coolest kid at school. You are absolutely correct about that. Lindy, he is the coolest kid. We want to be like Macaulay Culkin. He was smoking cigarettes hanging out with Michael Jackson. Before we knew the problematic nature of Michael Jackson, like he was out there. Just always, every time you open the Disney adventures magazine, it saw Macaulay Culkin doing something, whatever it was, it was cool. And then he was in like, movies that, like when he showed up and Richie Rich were like, Of course he’s gonna be in Richie Rich. Why wouldn’t he be at Richie Rich? Of course he’s gonna be in that and so he was picking these big, cool, splashy rules, and then when he showed up and saved we all stood up and cheered. Maegan Hatcher-Mays, you know you cheered. Would you say, wait, Macaulay Culkin back? This is cool.

 

Meagan Hatcher Mays  30:29

I will admit nothing, Ronald, nothing.

 

Ronald young Jr.  30:33

It was cool. So, but unfortunately, I feel like what’s happened here is y’all have both very much convinced me of both of your arguments. Like it is, I think Macaulay Culkin is cooler than Elijah Wood, but I think Elijah Wood is a better actor than Macaulay Culkin, but that leaves us here at the debate to say, like, well, who’s better?  Who do we do better? And a couple of things happened. What? Lindy gave some kudos to Megan early in the episode, which is just a PC, DC, not start. You do not argue your other point. That gave a little bit of an edge. But I think what slams at home is Maegan Hatcher-Mays, you bring up a very good point. And Lindy, you know this is true.  There is no way in the world Macaulay Culkin could be Frodo Baggins for 12 hours of movie in The Lord of the Rings. And for that reason, and that reason only, I’m going to give this one to that. I want to be clear. That’s the only reason, Lindy, nothing else, everything else you said, was great, except for that. And for that reason only, I have to give this one to Maegan Hatcher-Mays.

 

Meagan Hatcher Mays  31:44

Winner, can I say something though I’m kind of sad, because honestly, you know, yeah, I have to take a side, and I argue vociferously for my client, but it’s I love Macaulay Culkin. He is really cool, and his cultural impact is unquestionable or unquestioned. I mean, there’s no way, you know.

 

Ronald young Jr.  32:03

I think you got high on hubris at one point when you started to say that you’re like, what put Macaulay Culkin in in Mordor? And I’m like.

 

Meagan Hatcher Mays  32:13

Well, I mean, the thing about Macaulay Culkin is especially but this is what makes it so charming, is like when he shows up in something, he’s showing up as Macaulay Culkin, you can’t like divorce, to see him and, yeah, it’s harder to see him in a movie as that, as a character. It’s like, oh my god, Macaulay Culkin’s back, which is not a bad thing. It just, you know, is what it is.

 

Lindy West  32:29

But he’s also, I want to say, and I’m not going to look this up, and please don’t look it up and don’t contradict me. I’m going to say the first and only Macaulay. I think that’s right, Macaulay. Now it’s because of him.

 

Ronald young Jr.  32:40

Yeah, right, yeah. It’s kind of like how I feel about there’s a rapper named Denzel curry, and I’m fairly certain at the age and exact that he is named after Denzel Washington. Because I’m like, I don’t know any Denzel. Matter of fact, I’m assuming that every Denzel that was named in the 80s and 90s is after Denzel Washington. So I would probably say the same of Macaulay Culkin. But in meantime, thank you both so much for being here.

 

Lindy West  33:02

Thank you.

 

Meagan Hatcher Mays  33:03

This was so fun time in my life. Thank you so much.

 

Ronald young Jr.  33:10

Thanks again to Lindy West and Maegan Hatcher-Mays. You could find them both on the text me back podcast that you could support through Patreon. Thanks so much for listening to Pop Culture Debate Club. If you haven’t yet, now is a great time to subscribe to Lemonada Premium. You’ll get bonus content like Lindy and Maegan discussing how they met and their biggest argument prior to this child star debate, just hit the subscribe button on Apple podcasts or for all the other podcast apps, head to lemonadapremium.com to subscribe. That’s  lemonadapremium.com. Pop Culture Debate Club is a production of Lemonada and the BBC.   It’s produced by Jamela Zarha Williams, Kryssy Pease,  Dani Matias and me, Ronald young Jr. Our mix is by Noah Smith. Rachel Neel is VP of new content. Our Senior Vice President of weekly content  and production is Steve Nelson. Commissioning editor for the BBC is Rhian Roberts. Executive Producers are Stephanie Wittels Wachs and Jessica Cordova Kramer.   Follow Pop Culture Debate Club, wherever you get your podcasts.