Thanksgiving movie lessons

Although Thanksgiving is a very important holiday in the United States, in other countries, all the information about Thanksgiving has been leaked through movies and TV series. As turkey party night falls, here we’ve rounded up some of those productions that directly and sometimes indirectly share a lesson about the characteristics of Thanksgiving.

Films like Planes, Trains, and Cars (1987), “Dutch” (1991) and “The Smell of a Woman” (1992) cover genres like comedy and drama that have nothing to do with each other, except for two details: Thanksgiving is a key element in the plot and in every They highlight how this national holiday is one of the most important family celebrations in the United States.

It’s not very common for films and television to show the dark side of Thanksgiving, specifically all the abuse that Native Americans have suffered throughout US history. However, in “Addams Family Values” (1993) there is an entire sequence dedicated to this topic and it is completely covered in “The New World” by Terrence Malick.

Needless to say, a disproportionate amount of turkeys are consumed on Thanksgiving Day, and although this might be a very delicate issue to approach from a bird’s-eye view in a movie or documentary, it was then researched in a humorous way. The situation in productions such as the animated film “Free Birds” (2013).

There are an impressive number of TV series episodes devoted to the Thanksgiving theme, but among the most popular are Friends. This popular show included a special Thanksgiving episode in each of its seasons and among the most memorable is the episode in which all the characters played football, there is also an occasion where Brad Pitt joined in the celebration and Monica participated in it. Her head is in a turkey and she danced in front of Chandler.

There are also films where Thanksgiving dinner becomes the perfect setting for developing dramatic moments and emotional struggles between family members. This appears in such films as “Home for the Holidays” (1995), “The Ice Storm” (1993), “Pieces of April” (2003) and “Brokeback Mountain” (2005).