Media and the American Holiday

Being immersed in the delights of Thanksgiving for the past few days, I was struck by how much even this ostensibly turkey- and family-centered holiday is profoundly enmeshed in media. The media involvement in Christmas is pretty obvious--"holiday" music on the radio, Christmas-themed ads on television, coverage of the White House Christmas tree selection, etc.

Thanksgiving, however, seems comparatively a much less commercialized and therefore less mediated holiday. But as became clear over the weekend, this distinction cannot be made so neatly. Watching football on television, for instance, has become one of the traditions of Thanksgiving and the following Friday; similarly, the same handful of NFL teams usually play every year. A newspaper article I read recently described watching football (I'm paraphrasing) as being basically as American and central to the day as turkey and dressing. I'm not sure why this first became a trend, but it probably endures in part because Thanksgiving is generally supposed to be a day about spending time with one's family and/or close friends, and watching sports together fosters a certain sort of camaraderie for many people. The Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, probably the most widely watched parade in the U.S. each year, also embodies a sense of TV-mediated Thanksgiving tradition.

In addition, Thanksgiving has television ads somewhat analogous to those surrounding Christmas. Grocery stores herald foodstuffs likely to ensure a foolproof, crowd-pleasing meal, and retail stores advertise "Black Friday" shopping as an essential part of the holiday. Television shows and even newspapers have food segments promoting the best way to cook a turkey or creatively use leftovers. In these ways, it seems that Thanksgiving--while still certainly about food and family--has become characterized by media representation.