39,327
edits
Thanksgiving Episode: Difference between revisions
update links
m (clean up) |
(update links) |
||
Line 4:
A '''Thanksgiving Episode''' is a story or an episode within a larger series that focuses on the holiday of Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is a holiday on the fourth Thursday of Novemeber. Canada also has a Thanksgiving holiday on the second Monday in October. For more informations about the history of the holiday, see '''[[Thanksgiving Day]]'''.
Thanksgiving stories fall into two basic categories. The first category consist of stories that relate to the origin of the holiday. Traditionally, the holiday is dated back to a feast given in 1621 by Pilgrims of the Plymouth colony in Massachusetts to offer thanks to [[God]] for their survival past the first harsh year of the settlement. They invited the local Wampanoag tribe, who had been key to that survival, to share the feast with them—whence the traditional Thanksgiving iconography of steeple-crowned and bonneted Pilgrims alongside buckskin-clad Native Americans. Optimistic portrayals focus on the event as a time of inter-cultural cooperation and celebration . More cynical portrayals will place more emphasis on the long-term negative effect of colonization in displacing the Native Americans.
The second category is stories that revolve around the celebration of the holiday in latter years. As with Christmas, Thanksgiving stories tend to be very family oriented, with characters either going to visit relatives or hosting large gatherings of the extended family. Such gatherings are generally intended to be joyous times of celebration, but can also be times of tension and internal family conflict.
The major focus of the holiday on the Thanksgiving meal, which traditionally includes turkey, potatoes, pies, cranberry sauce, yams, and various vegetables. Preparing the turkey is a big deal, and an inexperienced cook seeking to prove him/herself by cooking a perfect meal will often find themselves making various blunders. Even experienced cooks will find themselves challenged by the expectations placed upon them. Health minded cooks may try to create healthier alternatives to the traditional fare, which will almost certainly not be well received.
Other activities include the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, watching marathons of TV shows, and watching or even playing American football. If the main character is a cartoonist, they might have the honor of their character being a balloon in the Macy's parade.
Thanksgiving stories will often have a variation on the [[True Meaning of Christmas]], by having characters focused on the stress off the holidays, interpersonal conflicts with other family members, or simply gorging on food learn a lesson about the importance and family and thankfulness.
{{examples}}
== [[Film]] (Live Action) ==
* Gleefully mocked in ''[[The Addams Family|The Addams Family Values]]'', where Wednesday pointed out just how badly Native Americans got screwed over.
* [[Eli Roth]]'s fake trailer ''Thanksgiving'' from ''[[Grindhouse]]'', a parody of [[Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday|holiday horror flicks]].
** For some actual Turkey Day horrors, there's ''[[Home Sweet Home (film)|Home Sweet Home]]'', ''[[Blood Rage]]'', ''[[Seance|Séance]]'', ''[[
* ''[[Hannah and Her Sisters]]'' begins at a Thanksgiving dinner party and follows the characters for a little more than a year. The ending is a semi-epilogue set at Thanksgiving a year after that.
* ''Home For The Holidays''
Line 33:
* ''[[Cheers]]'' has a Thanksgiving episode that culminates in a no-holds-barred [[Food Fight]] among the cast.
* ''[[Friends]]'' has a Thanksgiving episode in all but one season.
* On ''[[Gilmore Girls]]'', Lorelei and Rory attend four different Thanksgiving dinners in the episode ''A Deep Fried Korean Thanksgiving''.
* ''[[Mad About You]]'' had multiple Thanksgiving episodes over its run. Perhaps the most famous is "Giblets for Murray", where Paul and Jamie have to deal with overbearing parents trying to take over the meal, then having to replace the turkey ''multiple times'' after Murray (the dog, if you remember) eating the first one, without anyone finding out (everyone finds out eventually, but the parents don't tell the couple that they know).
* ''[[The Middle]]'' has had a Thanksgiving episode in all three of its seasons so far.
Line 52:
== Music ==
* Radio stations have been known to play the 18-minute song "[[Alice's Restaurant (music)||Alices Restaurant]]" on Thanksgiving to mark the transition from regular music to Christmas music—and to give hungry DJs a chance to gobble some turkey.
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* ''[[The Cleveland Show]]'' Thanksgiving episode has the blended family struggling to get along, not entirely helped by the appearance of [[Wholesome Crossdresser|"Auntie Mama"]], an eccentric advice dispenser.
* ''[[The Fairly
* ''[[Garfield]]'' had a Thanksgiving Day special, centered on Garfield being put on a diet by his vet shortly before Thanksgiving. Said vet comes to dinner that day, keeping the cat from pigging out as he wants.
* The ''[[Peanuts]]'' special ''A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving''.
| |||