Thanksgiving may be one of the most underrepresented holidays when it comes to movies, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t some real hits in the lineup. But the movie that best embodies the Thanksgiving spirit (if there is such a thing) is not one that advertises any heavy-handed references to the annual occasion in its title. No, the movie that truly takes the Thanksgiving holiday and really does a deep-dive into its history, meaning and underlying tensions is actually the 1993 comedy sequel Addams Family Values.
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Here’s why:
It Deals With Complicated History The Best Way
There are very few people left who are unwilling to admit that Thanksgiving has got some complicated history surrounding it. There’s a reason most families have moved into different sorts of celebratory aesthetic than the classic ‘Indians and Pilgrims’ iconography – which is (as the kids would now say) quite cringe. No film arguably captures that reality – or has more fun tearing down the ludicrously dated imagery of Thanksgiving – more than Addams Family Values.
The sequel takes place largely during the summer, but Thanksgiving sets a major spotlight in a subplot involving Wednesday (Christina Ricci) and Pugsley Addams (Jimmy Workman) being shipped off to the snobby Camp Chippewa by their nefarious nanny Debbie (Joan Cusack). There, Wednesday, Pugsley, and their weird friend Joel (David Krumholtz) all get conscripted into an insane Thanksgiving play called “A Turkey Named Brotherhood” by head counselors Gary (Peter MacNicol) and Becky (Christine Baranski).
Here, director Barry Sonnenfeld and writer Paul Rudnick take a hard detour into social commentary, as Gary and Becky dole out roles in the production according to obvious (if unspoken) socio-ethnic mandates, with the whitest / blue-blooded campers like wealthy Amanda Buckman (Mercedes McNab) playing the Pilgrims, while any kid that is ethnic, differently abled, or just labeled “weird,” is relegated to playing the tribe of Native Americans who attend the first Thanksgiving dinner.
The commentary gets hammered home when Wednesday eventually turns the tables during the play, ambushing the Pilgrims with a violent attack. In a now-classic monologue to her rival, Amanda, Wednesday breaks down how knowing the tragic future of Native American Tribes compels her not to pantomime the pretty fantasy of Thanksgiving – but instead act as the Indians should have, when they had the chance.
It’s actually pretty deep stuff to have in a family film – even one with a PG-13 rating. But the tightrope walk between horror, comedy, and scathing commentary is what keeps Sonnenfeld’s Addams Family films so uniquely distinct – and beloved – for decades now, and millions of kids have been raised on that Camp Chippewa sequence and its Thanksgiving play. In fact, “A Turkey Named Brotherhood” is now one of the most famous Thanksgiving-themed movie scenes, ever.
Thanksgiving Is All About Family Values (And Tensions)
On a more low-key note: Addams Family Values manages to tell a story about the kind of family tensions that always seem to come to a head around Thanksgiving, as well as the kind of themes the holiday is tied to.
The story of Addams Family Values sees a murderous widow name Debbie (Cusack) set her sights on Uncle Fester (Christopher Lloyd), in attempt to steal the Addams Family’s wealth. Debbie’s plan entails posing as the family’s bright, cheery, nanny, while secretly driving a wedge between them. She gets the kids shipped off to camp; convinces Fester to change his personality and appearance, and eventually causes a schism between Fester and his brother Gomez (Raul Julia), leaving them estranged. The family ends up in a twisted form of therapy: Debbie straps them all into electric chairs and forces them to listen to the ‘tragic story’ of having to murder all her previous spouses. The Addams’ finally reconnect when the infant son, Pubert, causes Debbie to be the one who gets zapped to death.
Does any of that have anything to do with Thanksgiving? Obviously not in any kind of direct way. However, it’s no random coincedence that the other part of the film includes a Thanksgiving subplot: the theme of trying to break bread as one family, and all the problems and issues simmering under the surface, is both an echo of Debbie and Fester’s arc – and smart commentary on the turbulent experience of dealing with family, and the unique shared values that ultimately unite us with our kin.
That’s a “Thanksgiving lesson” if ever there was such a thing: a reminder that our family may be weird, demented, or downright psychotic, but they’re the tribe we belong to, for better or worse. Thanksgiving 2024 will likely be a uniquely trying time for quite a few families – Addams Family Values is a peace offering that everyone at the table can enjoy.
Addams Family Values is now streaming on Paramount+ and Pluto TV.