Anti-materialist Thanksgiving movie from the Cold War
Master archivist Rick Prelinger sez,
It's 1951, and America fears Communism and the Bomb. Since the Johnsons, a working-class Midwestern family, can't afford a Thanksgiving turkey, they decide to spend an evening writing up what they're thankful for, and share their thoughts around the dinner table.A Day of Thanksgiving (1951)Unlike almost every other Cold War educational and industrial film, this film doesn't equate freedom and happiness with material things. Made by Centron, the same visionary company that spawned Herk Harvey and his "Carnival of Souls," and written by Margaret "Trudy" Travis, one of the few women creating ephemeral films at the time, it's deeply patriotic, yes, and anti-Communist as well, but it runs counter to many of the Fifties clichés we hold dear.
Download a high-quality version from the Internet Archive and watch it with your family!
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Thanksgiving (with respect to the part relating to giving thanks at least) sort of reminds to continue improving upon the 'skill' of being generally thankful the rest of the year.
In any case, a good way to "materialize" that concept is to help someone that has little/nothing, so that's what I hope to inject amidst all the year's 'me' time.
Also I think Thanksgiving is a good time to show your best side to people who have helped shape you as a person.
Also, consider laughing a lot. Because next year... not so much.
Happy Thanksgiving.
...Bah! Where's Tiny Tim McBoing Boing to ask about whether there'll be any razzleberry dressing this time?
You make it sound like that's a bad thing.
Metlin, there's a difference between personally disagreeing in a communist philosophy and going around with McCarthy-like anti-communist propoganda, especially when it's government sponsored. These "educational" films and, more to the point, 50s culture in general, never separated opposing communist philosophy and those who held it enough, which is how blacklisting came about. Besides, in theory communism isn't evil anyway, it's just very impractical and prone to corruption.
I've been looking for a cartoon for years, I think it was in a Whole Earth supplement. It's my favorite.
It showed a house and the ground under it. The wall of the house was 'transparent' and we saw a nice family eating turkey.
The ground under the house was 'transparent' too, and showed that the foundation of the house was built on the bodies of indians.
1951 huh? I bet that some of the Hollywood Ten were still cooling their heels in jail when it was made. That would explain the explicit anti-communism.
Rimskykorsakov, I was being flip.
The reason for my comment was that I found the statements to be jabs at the USSR, not communism per se.
But for the record, I do agree with you that propaganda is not a good thing; however, one must not forget that during a war, ideas and propaganda are more powerful than any weapon.
That said, I do not see anything fundamentally wrong with a government preaching a particular set of ideals (which in my mind is different from propaganda). Especially when you are engaged against an enemy with opposing ideals and values.
Despite the fact that the 50s were still the "bad old days" as my mom and I like to call them, I really do respect and try and embody in my own life the old-skool ethics of hard work and self sufficiency that some excellent propaganda like this movie tried to drill into people. That and I really want to get ahold of mother's house dress and apron. Stylin' duds for the home-canning and victory garden set.