A Time of Homecoming

Popular Culture

The nature of the Thanksgiving holiday, in what has grown to be its dominant form since the middle of the 20th century—a largely domestic, family-centered feast largely shorn of its earlier qualities of shared, communal, and sometimes wild revelry—may explain why its presence in popular culture is considerably less than that of Christmas. Nevertheless, it has been a theme of significant interest to moviemakers, television producers, songwriters and performers in certain areas of pop music, and comic-strip artists. In general, it is tapped in contexts where the emotional connection to family, or the culture's calendrical rhythms, are paramount concerns.

This part of the Project's 'Time of Homecoming' section takes a look at some of the holiday's presence on the movie and television screens, in popular song, and in other parts of the terrain of popular and pop culture.

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Comedian Ron White on Thanksgiving and family tension
In They Call Me Tater Salad, Ron White of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour gave expression to a somewhat 'underground,' though certainly well-known, aspect of Thanksgiving: family tensions. Tater Salad was the title of White's 2004 filmed comedy show.

My brother's a doctor, my sister's an attorney. Man, do I hate Thanksgiving.


"Thanksgiving Ought To Be Interesting at Chez Weaver"
An summer 2006 Associated Press story on rookie pitcher Jered Weaver also alluded to Thanksgiving-time rivalry between grown siblings. The excerpt below is taken from the full story, which ran Aug. 13, 2006.

NEW YORK (AP)--Thanksgiving ought to be interesting at Chez Weaver, when the pitching brothers, Jered and Jeff, sit down to dine. That's because the younger Weaver cost the older one his job with the Los Angeles Angels.

On Sunday, Jered demonstrated why that happened.

Weaver, unbeaten in his first major league season, worked six brilliant innings at Yankee Stadium, allowing just three hits, and won his eighth straight decision as the Angels defeated the New York Yankees 5-3.

Weaver gave up just three hits and struck out eight and dominated on the same mound where Jeff struggled when he pitched for the Yankees.