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Thanksgiving in the Movies: Myth vs. Reality

Drums Along the MohawkI would venture to guess that most Americans accept the myth of the first American Thanksgiving without question, and further that the source of their belief consists of information received from movies, books, and television. The images of the friendly Indians and Pilgrim settlers grateful for their help are pretty much imbedded in all our consciousnesses.

The reality is somewhat more complicated, of course, and probably quite a bit darker. There is a substantial body of scholars who believe that the Native Americans encountered by the English were systematically taken advantage of, killed, or sold into slavery, and that the Pilgrims were grim religious zealots who'd been kicked out of England because of their complete intolerance of the beliefs of others. They considered the Indians to be tools of the Devil. On the other hand, there were many other early settlers who joined up with the Native Americans, preferring their way of life to the one they'd grown up with. Some scholars believe that is what happened to the lost settlers of Roanoke Island!

To many, it's all water under the bridge; to others, it's an important lesson that must never be forgotten. In any case, it's Thanksgiving, a holiday which has become something pretty close to what it was when the Indians invented it hundreds of years before Columbus: While they ate fish and venison, and we eat turkey and stuffing, it's still a time for families to gather and give thanks for what they have. And, of course, to watch a few movies. (In most cases, you can click on the links to browse some places where you can purchase one of the films discussed.)

Probably the best known film on the subject is Plymouth Adventure (1952), starring Spencer Tracy as Captain Jones of the Mayflower, who tried to seduce the first wife of my great-great-great-whatever grandfather, William Bradford, played by Gene Tierney. The whole familiar bunch appears in this one, including Myles Standish, John Alden, Priscilla Mullins, and William Brewster.

A 1979 TV movie, Mayflower: The Pilgrims' Adventure, starred Jenny Agutter, Michael Beck, Richard Crenna, and Anthony Hopkins as the same basic cast of characters.

Then there's The Courtship of Myles Standish (1923), a silent film based on the Longfellow poem about the Myles Standish/John Alden/Priscilla Mullins love triangle, which I have to admit I have not seen (and which appears to be out of print).

While John Ford's Drums Along the Mohawk, starring Henry Fonda and Claudette Colbert, takes place later (before and during the Revolutionary War), it still has a great deal to say about relationships between early pioneers and Native Americans.

Surprisingly, aside from things like 1972's A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, which don't focus on that December weekend in 1620, there aren't many other full-length films that attempt to tell the story of the first Thanksgiving. There are plenty of references in various TV shows and books, of course, but probably our strongest impressions of the character of Native Americans were formed by films with settings other than colonial New England. There have been films, particularly during the last couple of decades, that attempted to correct the negative or mistaken impressions. Little Big Man (1970) and Dances With Wolves (1990) are two that stand out for me. Earlier films such as Broken Arrow (1950), starring James Stewart, and Cimarron (1960), starring Glenn Ford, attempted to set the record straight without being overly saccharine on the subject of the noble "redskin." But, on the whole, the images of Indians in the movies prior to the modern era have ranged from a servile Tonto to various portraits of bloodthirsty Apaches. In the early days of cinema, the stereotypes tended to be more of the former. While there were some Native Americans who appeared in silent films, the majority of the roles were performed by non-Indians. As time went on, we began to see more and more of the latter (following this site's policy of emphasizing the positive, I will refrain from listing the films that fall into that category), until the political climate changed for the better in the late 60s.

In terms of our traditional Thanksgiving activities, there's certainly nothing wrong with teaching children that people of different races and faiths can and should get along, but perhaps this year we can also set aside some time to think about what really took place and has yet, as far as I know, to be fully presented on film.

In addition to films about the first Thanksgiving and the colonial experience, of course, there are a number of classic era movies set before, during, or after Thanksgiving holiday celebrations. These include Convicted Woman (1940), Holiday Inn (1942), A Day of Thanksgiving (1951), Alice's Restaurant (1969), and A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (1973) (TV). I'm adding these by popular request, but that's not really what this article is about.