With so few Thanksgiving movies out there, I’m thankful that we have A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving to always remind us of the importance of Thanksgiving: to simply give thanks. Along with this obvious message, several other undertones within the short film are worth talking about. Here are a few plot holes and hidden messages I found throughout the Peanuts gang’s Thanksgiving celebration.
Per usual, Lucy has her football ready for Charlie Brown to kick in the very first scene. She tries to coax him to follow through with the kick, promising that she won’t pull it away because it’s Thanksgiving. Furthermore, she explains how important football is to the holiday. Of course, she still pulls the football back at the last second so that Charlie Brown falls. She then asks, “Isn’t it peculiar Charlie Brown how some traditions just slowly fade away?” Yet, this tradition seems to be far from dying out!
After he recovers from his fall, Charlie Brown accompanies Snoopy as the beagle fetches the mail. Sally comes along and complains about Thanksgiving— how it’s come too fast and she has a lot of work at school. She mentions “Stanley Miles” by which she means Myles Standish, with anger and the result of more work to do. Myles Standish was a colonizer in Plymouth Colony, which is in present-day Massachusetts, according to Britannica. He was also a military leader in the colonizing efforts; no wonder Sally is so angry. Amongst her anger, Sally cries out that she hasn’t finished her Halloween candy. What Halloween candy does she have? She spent Halloween night in the pumpkin patch with Linus waiting for the Great Pumpkin. She didn’t go trick or treating, and it’s not like Charlie Brown had a lot of candy to give her since he got mainly rocks anyway.
In the next scene, Charlie Brown receives a call from Peppermint Patty, asking what his plans are for the holiday. He stated to Linus earlier that he and his mother, father, and Sally will go to his grandmother’s for dinner. Not that Patty is aware of this, or rather, not that she would care anyway, she invites herself over to Charlie Brown’s house. Before Charlie Brown can even process the phone call, Peppermint Patty calls back inviting Marci over as well. A few scenes ago, there was a brief moment highlighting a colonizer but Peppermint Patty exhibits very similar behavior here, what with inviting herself and a friend over without Charlie Brown’s explicit approval. She doesn’t even give him a chance to react, positively or negatively and instead forces Charlie Brown to host. This triggers a chain reaction, with another pal, Franklin, coming as well.
Linus appears to object to this but understanding how forceful Peppermint Patty is, he sees why Charlie Brown can’t call back and say no. Instead of trying to help Charlie Brown, he strategizes how Charlie Brown can cook and host everyone before he goes to his grandmother’s. He gave a short message in the mailbox scene about how important it is to give thanks, and this is the thanks he gives to Charlie Brown? Planning more work for him? Both Peppermint Patty and Linus are looking quite like they’re in the beginning stages of taking over Charlie Brown’s house right now. As nice as they try to be while they go about it, there are certainly colonizing undertones present here. It only gets worse when this is projected on Snoopy, who is ordered to set up tables and chairs, and struggles to do so. Instead of actually helping him, Linus only comes out to redirect Snoopy as if he’s his commander. This is also reflected in how Snoopy salutes Linus.
Linus then gives Snoopy permission to come inside and to his credit, Linus and Charlie Brown both help Snoopy and Woodstock with preparing the food. They’re making popcorn and toast while also serving pretzels and gummy worms. Keeping in mind that there are no adults, this is a pretty good spread! After everything is ready, Snoopy puts on his pilgrim outfit and he’s ready to feast. However, he goes to the front door of Charlie Brown’s house and has to knock on the door to be let in. This is eerily similar to indigenous people having to fight for their freedom and their own land from colonizers. Snoopy set up everything and prepared the meal but somehow he still couldn’t come right into his own house? This isn’t a great look for Charlie Brown, that’s for sure.
Speaking of looks, he criticizes Snoopy’s look. As they come into the kitchen, Charlie Brown suggests Snoopy put on his chef’s hat which is hanging up next to the stove. This is odd because Snoopy just came in from his dog house, where he took his chef’s hat off. How can it be hanging there inside the house? Also, if Snoopy feels that he has to knock to come in, why would he have his personal belongings there? Snoopy’s doghouse is truly iconic, but is that where he lives all the time, only able to come into an actual house when Charlie Brown lets him in?
There isn’t much time to deliberate this as Charlie Brown rushes Snoopy along to serve everyone outside. Before they start eating, Peppermint Patty suggests that they say a prayer first. Bold of her to not only invite herself over, but impose her own beliefs on everyone else. There is no direct mention of religion or any specific practice, but praying implies a sense of religion, however the exact following isn’t clear to the audience. Linus then recites the story of the “first Thanksgiving” with pilgrims and Native Americans coming together to share a massive feast. He closes with a prayer that thanks God, to which Peppermint Patty responds with an “amen.” These thankful feelings don’t last long because she yells “what’s this?” when she sees what’s on her plate. Peppermint Patty really needs a prayer if she invites not only herself but other friends to Charlie Brown’s house where she expects to be waited on and cooked for and then feels the need to criticize the food.
As if Snoopy didn’t have enough of a beating today with the charades everyone had him up to, he feels bad when Peppermint Patty calls him a “blockhead” for his cooking. She then turns to Charlie Brown and blames him for not hosting a “traditional Thanksgiving dinner” with a turkey and mashed potatoes. Marci serves as the voice of reason with her, pointing out that she was rude to Charlie Brown. Peppermint Patty, full of rage, questions “Did we come all the way across town for this?” This alludes to the pilgrims traveling overseas and getting off their ship for a feast with Native Americans, as if that’s all they came for. Again with the colonizer energy, Peppermint Patty continues to take over.
Marci recognizes what’s going on and finally stands up to Peppermint Patty, for a moment. Marci asks her, “Did he invite you here to dinner or did you invite yourself, and us too?” This is meant to be reflective for Peppermint Patty, and it works. She recognizes that she was tough on Charlie Brown and feels bad about how she treated him. Of course, she doesn’t feel bad enough to tell him herself and reverts back to bossing Marci around and her next order is to apologize on behalf of Peppermint Patty. Before Marci goes inside to speak with Charlie Brown, Linus states “This is not unlike another famous Thanksgiving episode. Do you remember the story of John Alden and Priscilla Mullins and Captain Myles Standish?” According to Mayflower History, John and Priscilla were married after John proposed to her, except that he was proposing on behalf of Myles. Allegedly, Priscilla encouraged John to “speak for himself” and thus they ended up together. While this relates to the current scene as Peppermint Patty is looking for Marci to speak to Charlie Brown for her, it’s also a metaphor as Peppermint Patty has acted in many ways like a colonizer this Thanksgiving.
When Marci goes in to apologize to Charlie Brown, she explains what she believes is the true meaning of Thanksgiving. She eloquently professes, “We should just be thankful for being together. I think that’s what they mean by Thanksgiving, Charlie Brown.” This is one of the most thoughtful lines in the whole film as it directly addresses what Thanksgiving is meant to be about. The entire crew is then thankful to all go to Charlie Brown’s grandmother’s house and have another dinner there.
“We should just be thankful for being together. I think that’s what they mean by Thanksgiving, Charlie Brown.”
-Marci
This doesn’t include Snoopy or Woodstock though. They stay back and take a table, chairs, and a turkey out of Snoopy’s doghouse. This raises quite a few questions. First, when did Snoopy put the turkey in? It takes several hours to cook so it had to be earlier in the morning. If he was making it all along, is there a reason he didn’t offer it to everyone else? Perhaps he was planning on having it for himself and Woodstock all along after everyone at home left for the grandmother’s house. Also, if there was a table and chairs in there, why did he wrestle with taking everything out from the garage to set it all up before? Another obvious question is, how does he manage to fit so many things inside such a small space? Snoopy is a dog full of secrets, and unfortunately this Thanksgiving special ends before he can give any of them away.
As a kid, I never picked up on the Miles Standish references. I didn’t understand the truth behind “the first Thanksgiving” and the true story of the colonizers. Although this was produced back in the 1970s, there was still an important understanding back then that English colonizers were not admirable people and it is wrong to invite yourself somewhere. I’m thankful that as an adult, I can understand the implications of history but also have a sense of gratitude for everything I have and everyone I share it with.
I hope you had a happy Thanksgiving and keep these messages in mind for the holiday season.