The Big Picture
Black Friday’s consumerism and greed have fueled a culture where capitalism and the wage gap force people into gladiator-like games just to buy gifts for their children. The horror movie Thanksgiving takes inspiration from the dark undercurrents of Black Friday, highlighting the disturbing contrast between the few at the top with immense wealth and the masses with so little. The film serves as a commentary on how this corruption infiltrates and ruins the meaning of holidays like Thanksgiving, where people can no longer come together for a peaceful dinner.
It’s that time of the year again. Family engagements, feasts, and gift-giving are on the way, which also means that the biggest day for capitalism is upon us. Over the years, Black Friday has fed into a questionable culture fueled by greed and consumerism – from the 1996 rush on Tickle Me Elmos to the Cabbage Patch Riots of 1983. As folks scramble to get the best deals and put themselves first, no matter what the cost to others, unbelievable instances of injuries and even death have occurred. Taking the idea of a Black Friday gone horribly wrong and spinning it into a genius idea for the basis of a horror movie, Hostel director, Eli Roth, found his inspiration behind Thanksgiving in the capitalist holiday. During an interview with Collider’s Steve Weintraub, Roth broke down what exactly made him and his writing partner, Jeff Rendell, choose the big consumerism day as their film’s jumping-off point.
Although Rendell and Roth had the idea for Thanksgiving since they were “12 years old,” the filmmaker admits that the pair had a difficult time solidifying an engaging plot. “It was about 10 years ago we started watching those viral videos that were of these midnight Black Friday sales, which is a relatively recent phenomenon,” Roth says, “and all the people trampling over each other in these riots to get the products first.”
With a lightbulb going off, the filmmaker continues,
That’s what gave us the idea, thinking like, ‘Oh, this is real fertile ground,’ because not only can it give you your inciting incident that you can go back to later, but it’s actually thematically about the consumerism and greed, and the panic of not getting the item before someone else does bleeding over into this holiday that’s all about being thankful for what we have, for our health, for our family. Then, two hours later, you’re trampling over someone for a flat-screen TV.
Capitalism Is the Real Villain in ‘Thanksgiving’
Digging into the idea of corporations driving the Black Friday insanity, Roth adds, “There’s also a lot of dark undercurrents because why do those gladiator games happen? It’s because some rich overlord has decided, and people aren’t paying people enough. Wages have been cut to shit, so there’s no middle class anymore, so people have to go to the Black Friday sale.” The director further explains one of the ways consumers are forced into the chaos of the Black Friday sales, stating, “It’s the only time they can get stuff on sale to buy everything for their kids. The kids need Christmas gifts, so they’re forced into these gladiator games.”
Displaying the full spectrum from the big wigs at the top to the working class affected by the wage gap, Roth explains,
So, while you have the Rick Hoffman character kind of sitting in his mansion while they’re listening to violin music, drinking their wine, everyone else is fighting at the gates, scrambling over a waffle iron. So I think that it’s more just a commentary on this kind of sick culture that we have of a very few at the top having so much and the masses having so little and being forced into these gladiator games, but all of that sort of corrupting the holiday. People can’t even sit and have dinner together anymore.
Thanksgiving is in theaters now. Check out the trailer below.
Thanksgiving
After a Black Friday riot ends in tragedy, a mysterious Thanksgiving-inspired killer terrorizes Plymouth, Massachusetts – the birthplace of the infamous holiday.
Release Date November 17, 2023
Director Eli Roth
Cast Rick Hoffman, Gina Gershon, Patrick Dempsey, Milo Manheim, Addison Rae
Runtime 107 minutes
Main Genre Horror
Genres Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Writers Jeff Rendell, Eli Roth
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