Line #76 Main/ThanksgivingTurkey


1	[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/turkey_guys_photo_u1_73.jpg]]]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350: A toast to the turkey. Gobbledygook.]]
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4	Turkey is the most common meal eaten at Thanksgiving in the United States. Sometimes, this is taken a step further by having turkeys represent or symbolize Thanksgiving as a whole. The turkey in question (which can be either domesticated or wild) is almost AlwaysMale, most likely because real-life male turkeys are both larger and more colorful than the females. As such, Tom is a common name for said turkeys.
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6	SubTrope of HolidayPersonification. Expect one or more of these turkeys to appear in a ThanksgivingEpisode. Can also involve LetsMeetTheMeat if the turkey does or does not want be eaten.
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8	In the UK and Australia, Thanksgiving is not celebrated, and turkey is generally associated with Christmas. In Britain, there is an increasingly minor religious holiday called Harvest Sunday, which celebrates the bounty given by God for men to reap in Autumn, which has become less and less significant as Britain moved away from being an agricultural economy. Its significance here is that when emigrants took the Harvest Sunday celebration to the USA and Canada, it became Thanksgiving, albeit celebrated on different dates. The Pilgrims were actually celebrating Harvest Thanksgiving in 1621 as they would have done in England, for the same reasons. But they had access to turkeys.
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10	----
11	!!Examples:
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13	[[foldercontrol]]
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15	[[folder:Comic Books]]
16	* ''ComicBook/SantaVersusDracula'': A Thanksgiving turkey is one of the holiday embodiments (the others being Cupid and a leprechaun) the Easter Bunny teams up with to battle a vampirized Santa Claus.
17	[[/folder]]
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19	[[folder:Comic Strips]]
20	* ''ComicStrip/FoxTrot'': In one strip, the ghost of Tom Turkey shows up to give Peter "a heaping helping of post-Thanksgiving justice." However, Tom can't even pick up the nearby carving knife because Peter ate all his muscles.
21	[[/folder]]
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23	[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
24	* ''WesternAnimation/FreeBirds'': The protagonist Reggie is a turkey raised on a farm who fears he'll be cooked for Thanksgiving. However, he instead becomes a [[https://www.whitehousehistory.org/pardoning-the-thanksgiving-turkey pardoned turkey]]. He is then recruited by the rogue turkey Jake, and they steal a time machine to travel back to the first Thanksgiving in hopes of preventing eating turkey from becoming the holiday's tradition.
25	* ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'': When Jack Skellington wanders into the forest, he comes across a series of doors decorated with symbols representing various holidays. One door has a picture of a turkey on it, suggesting that it leads to a Thanksgiving-themed realm.
26	* For Canadian Thanksgiving in 2022, Pixar [[https://twitter.com/Pixar/status/1579616515665842176 tweeted out]] a ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'' promotional image featuring turkey.
27	[[/folder]]
28
29	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
30	* ''Film/AddamsFamilyValues'': {{Parodied\|Trope}} in the Thanksgiving play at Camp Chippewa, where the children are stuffed into turkey costumes to sing a cheerfully insipid song about eating them. When Wednesday sends the play OffTheRails, one of the turkeys stuffs an apple into the mouth of a pilgrim on a pyre.
31	-->''"Eat us! (Hey!) It's Thanksgiving day\
32	Eat us! We make a nice buffet"''
33	* ''Film/HolidayInn'': A cartoon turkey runs around the calendar for November as Thanksgiving moves back and forth between two Thursdays. This is a topical joke. Before 1941 (the film was released in 1942), Thanksgiving was the last Thursday in November, but there were efforts by merchants to move it a week earlier to extend the Christmas shopping season. In that year, President Roosevelt signed a joint resolution of Congress declaring Thanksgiving to be the fourth Thursday, whether it's the last one or not.
34	* ''Film/{{ThanksKilling}}'': The film stars an evil turkey who killed the pilgrims on the first Thanksgiving before going into hibernation. He wakes up 505 years later to commit another Thanksgiving massacre.
35	[[/folder]]
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37	[[folder:Literature]]
38	* In ''Literature/TheBerenstainBears Give Thanks'', Farmer Ben raises a tom turkey named Squanto and sells him to the Bear family for their Thanksgiving dinner. But Sister [[AdoptTheFood becomes attached to Squanto]], so in the end, Mama and Papa let her keep him in a pen as a pet and have [[StockAnimalDiet salmon]] as their Thanksgiving entree instead.
39	* ''Literature/BoneChillers'': During the ''Frankenturkey'' duology, two kids build a fake turkey so that one that they had grown attached to doesn't become Thanksgiving dinner. However, a bolt of lightning brings the fake turkey to life. The fake turkey turns evil and wreaks havoc on them.
40	[[/folder]]
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42	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
43	* ''Radio/OurMissBrooks'': Our Miss Brooks had two Thanksgiving episodes; both times Miss Brooks finds it difficult to procure a turkey for Thanksgiving dinner.
44	** In the television episode "Thanksgiving Show" (a remake of the radio episode "Thanksgiving Weekend"), Mrs. Davis only buys a tiny squab for thanksgiving dinner. Miss Brooks attempts to get herself invited to a more substantial dinner results in Mr. Boynton, Walter Denton, Stretch Snodgrass, and the entire Conklin family invited over to dine on Thanksgiving squab at Mrs. Davis' house.
45	** In the radio episode "Thanksgiving Turkey", facing buying a turkey with only $5 to spend, Miss Brooks and Mr. Boynton, with the assistance of Walter Denton, buy a live turkey from a farmer. Only thing is the turkey was a pet, and answers to the name Bernice (and falls in love with Mr. Boynton's pet frog McDougall to boot). HilarityEnsues.
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48	[[folder:Theme Parks]]
49	* ''Theatre/HalloweenHorrorNights'': Universal Studios' 2019 version of the event featured a haunted maze called ''Holidayz in Hell'' that has a demonic turkey murdering a family celebrating Thanksgiving.
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52	[[folder:Video Games]]
53	* The Thanksgiving HolidayMode in ''VideoGame/AliceInTheMirrorsOfAlbion'' features plenty of turkey-related objects. There's a special search location that is shaped like a turkey, a cartoon turkey you can trade with for bonuses, and a roast turkey AnthropomorphicFood which you can "arrest" for similar purposes.
54	* ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing'': On the fourth Thursday of November, the town celebrates the Harvest Festival. During this event, the player can go around town looking for Franklin, a turkey who was invited to the festival to be the main meal. Naturally, he doesn't want that and spends the festival hiding behind random objects in the game. If you give him knives and forks from the festival table, he'll give you furniture from the Harvest Set in return. Fortunately for him, starting with ''New Leaf'' he's re-imagined as a celebrity chef who's invited to ''make'' dinner rather than ''be'' dinner.
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57	[[folder:Web Comics]]
58	* ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'': During the "Holiday Wars" arc, a turkey general is used to represent Thanksgiving and is one of the holiday personifications Bun-bun the Easter Bunny kills and absorbs powers from on his quest to kill his archenemy Santa Claus.
59	* ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'': A filler strip [[https://www.egscomics.com/sketchbook/2004-11-25 references]] this with a sign prohibiting turkey forms until after Thanksgiving.
60	[[/folder]]
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62	[[folder:Western Animation]]
63	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'': The episode "[[Recap/AnimaniacsEpisode46 Turkey Jerky]]" takes place during the first Thanksgiving. Captain Miles Standish attempts to hunt down a turkey for the pilgrims. Unfortunately for him, the turkey he's hunting is pals with the Warner Siblings, and they don't take kindly to their friend being hunted for food.
64	-->'''Miles:''' Begone, pests, and give me the bird!\
65	'''Yakko:''' We'd love to, really, [[ThinkOfTheCensors but the FOX censors won't allow it]].
66	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'': “The Big Bugball Game” takes place on the frog equivalent of Thanksgiving, and the centerpiece of the celebration is an enormous turkey/insect hybrid. Anne is at first repulsed but admits she’d probably eat it anyway.
67	* ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'': In "[[Recap/BobsBurgersS9E7IBobYourPardon I Bob Your Pardon]]", the city has a turkey-pardoning ceremony, but the kids learn the turkey is being taken to a slaughterhouse because the nearest animal sanctuary is full. With a reluctant Bob in tow and a reporter looking for a big scoop tagging along, the Belchers have to steal the turkey and take it to a farm.
68	* ''WesternAnimation/CasperTheFriendlyGhost'': The 1953 theatrical cartoon "Do or Diet" has the friendly ghost attempting to save a turkey with an [[ObsessedWithFood insatiable appetite]] from becoming Thanksgiving dinner by trying to get the bird to lose weight before the farmer arrives.
69	* ''WesternAnimation/CatDog'': In the episode "Talking Turkey," Dog tries to save a turkey from being eaten by Rancid Rabbit (and Cat).
70	* ''WesternAnimation/HowMurraySavedChristmas'': A Thanksgiving turkey is one of the countless holiday icons living in the town of Stinky Cigar.
71	* ''WesternAnimation/TheHuckleberryHoundShow'': A short titled "Grim Pilgrim" involved Huck's pursuit of a turkey, which was hindered by an Indian.
72	* The Creator/TexAvery one-shot cartoon "WesternAnimation/JerkyTurkey" has a big schnook of a pilgrim hunting a wise-guy turkey modeled after Creator/JimmyDurante.
73	* ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'':
74	** Tex Avery's 1940 short "Holiday Highlights" features a Thanksgiving turkey clip among other blackout gags surrounding various American holidays.
75	** In February 1944's "Tom Turk and Daffy," WesternAnimation/PorkyPig is the P-p-p-pilgrim attempting to hunt the eponymous Tom for his Thanksgiving dinner.
76	** The January 1949 Merrie Melodies short "WesternAnimation/HolidayForDrumsticks" has Daffy tricking a redesigned Tom Turk destined for Thanksgiving dinner into dieting and exercising while Daffy stuffs himself with all the fattening food meant for the turkey.
77	--->'''Daffy:''' It's too bad you can't have ''duck'' for Thanksgiving dinner...\
78	''[the formerly deadpan farmer suddenly grins maniacally]''\
79	'''Daffy:''' ''[[LoudGulp [gulps]]]'' ...or [[OhCrap can]] ya?
80	* ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'': One segment had the President of the United States pardoning the Thanksgiving turkey but, unfortunately, this one was a maniacal axe murderer who goes on a rampage after being freed.
81	* ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'': In "[[Recap/RockosModernLifeS4E10TurkeyTimeFlounderingFathers Turkey Time]]", Rocko's house becomes a refuge for all of the Thanksgiving turkeys in O-Town.
82	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'': In "[[Recap/RugratsS4E13TheTurkeyWhoCameToDinner The Turkey Who Came to Dinner]]", the adults order a live turkey due to a turkey shortage. The babies befriend the turkey and try to save him from being eaten, but Angelica is determined to tell the parents about him.
83	* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': The episode "[[Recap/SouthParkS4E13HelenKellerTheMusical Helen Keller! The Musical]]" has the fourth graders preparing to put on a Thanksgiving-themed musical about UsefulNotes/HelenKeller in an attempt to outdo the kindergartners' play. Problems arise when Timmy chooses a disabled turkey named Gobbles to play the role of Keller's pet instead of a professionally trained bird.
84	* ''WesternAnimation/SuperMansion'': The Thanksgiving special "A Prayer for Mr. T" has Titanium Rex attempt to cook a better Thanksgiving turkey than his old adversary and ex-teammate Dr. Devizo, who has deliberately made things difficult by revealing that he gave Marjorie the day off (Rex was hoping Marjorie to help him cook his turkey). When Rex tells Robobot to administer growth hormones to the turkey he's chosen, Robobot mistakenly gives it one of Brad's drugs, mutating the turkey into an enormous monster.
85	* ''WesternAnimation/TeachersPet'': "The Turkey That Came to Dinner" has Leonard's Grandma Rose come over for Thanksgiving dinner. She brings over a live turkey named Lurkey, who is intended to become the turkey dinner. Spot, Mr. Jolly, and Pretty Boy are forced to spend the holiday away from the table because of Grandma Rose's [[spoiler:assumed]] allergies and then try to do what they can to prevent Lurkey from becoming cooked.
86	* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGo'': In "The Teen Titans Go Easter Holiday Classic," Santa Claus tries to take over both Easter and the rest of the calendar holidays. A turkey represents Thanksgiving.
87	* ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'': Scott's upbringing is suggested to be both pragmatic and eccentric. In "[[Recap/TotalDramaFoodFright Food Fright]]", he compares his fullness from overeating to a Thanksgiving pigeon being stuffed.
88	* ''WesternAnimation/XiaolinShowdown'': Discussed in "My Homey Omi" when Clay compares The Serpent Tail to a Thanksgiving turkey when he sees how fast the Wu is moving through the subway. Given he is the American monk and a cowboy at that, he seems to know what he's talking about.
89	[[/folder]]
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91	[[folder:Real Life]]
92	* UsefulNotes/MacysThanksgivingDayParade: The 1950s had a generic turkey balloon, 2003 featured the Gorgeous Gobbler (a recreation of the '50s turkey balloon), and 2004 included Alexander Mora's Turkey of World Peace (the winner of a 2004 Design a Balloon contest). And nearly every parade since 1973 has been led by the iconic Tom Turkey float.
93	* One interesting turkey-related tradition is the National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation, in which the president of the United States is presented with a turkey to pardon from becoming part of a turkey dinner. Some say it originated with Abraham Lincoln pardoning a turkey that his son had grown fond of.
94	[[/folder]]

Context Main / ThanksgivingTurkey