Thanksgiving, the newest holiday horror movie, was released last Friday. No, I haven’t seen it—I barely have time to do whatever it is that I do normally. I suspect, however, that many will object because Thanksgiving is still a quasi-religious holiday. If we’re giving thanks we must be giving it to someone, or something, that may or may not govern our lives. Ironically, in many business calendars it is the only annual four-day weekend. Christmas could come on a Wednesday, so we can’t go giving time away! Ironically, Thanksgiving was fixed as the fourth Thursday of November (moved from the last Thursday) to ensure about four weeks of shopping time before Christmas. Me? I’m just glad to have a couple days off. 2023 has been a challenging year on a personal level and having a couple days out of the office is just what the doctor prescribed.
Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash
It may seem strange to be thankful for horror movies, but I know I’m not the only person whom they help. I also believe that the genre has been misnamed. When you think of all the different kinds of films that get lumped under the moniker it really is odd that we have any idea at all what we’re talking about. What are horror movies, then? The common equation with slashers is patently wrong. There’s nothing slash-like in the old Universal monster movies that started the whole thing. Time and again critics point out that “horror” is generally intelligent, and often funny. And not infrequently therapeutic. Yet it has a bad name. Some even consider it satanic although it produces good. Being satanic is a matter of how you look at things.
Thanksgiving is a time for reflection. Reflection without the distraction of work constantly trying to poke holes through our concentration. The holiday season properly starts at Halloween and sadly ends at New Year. It’s our reward for having made it through another one. The holidays that fall into this season all have a great deal in common. Early Americans celebrated Independence Day, Thanksgiving, and sometimes Christmas and New Years. We’ve reached the point now where we have a distinctive string of holidays like stones across a rushing river. We can just make it from one to the next. From Halloween we can see to Thanksgiving. From today Christmas is on the near horizon. New Years follows only a week after. And it’s a time for reflection and thankfulness. Even if what we appreciate isn’t the same as everyone else.
