Wednesday Addams Thanksgiving Play Monologue

If you have watched Addams Family Values, you might be familiar with the Thanksgiving Play scene where Wednesday Addams (played by Christine Rucci) and Pugly Addams (played by Jimmy Workman) are sent to summer camp thanks to their new nanny Debbie (played by Joan Cusack) who encouraged their parents Gomez and Morticia Addams (played by Raul Julia and Anjelica Huston) to send them to Camp Chippewa. At camp, they meet the counselors Becky Martin and Gary Granger (played by Peter MacNicol and Christine Baranski), Amanda (played by Mercedes McNab), a rich snobby girl who has dreams of becoming an actress, and Joel (played by David Krumholtz), a nerd boy who Wednesday first sees and met at the camp. Throughout the film, Things didn't go well at Camp with Wednesday and Pugly, they were having a horrible time at camp and they tried to escape. They cast Wednesday as Pocahontas in Gary's Thanksgiving visionary play. When she refuses to participate, she, Pugsley, and Joel are sent to the camp's "Harmony Hut," where they're forced to watch several upbeat, heartwarming Disney and family films. After they were done watching all the family friendly movies, the three exit out of the Hut. Wednesday realized she is not perky, which we all know that, she ends up smiling with a creepy smile creeping the fellow campers including Amanda. The play opens with the "Thanksgiving Day" song then Pugsley dressed as a gigantic turkey saying "Eat me" . Amanda playing as Sarah Miller a pilgrim introducing Wednesday as Pocahontas and her tribe giving the gift the turkey/Pugsley as the turkey (which I thought all this time what Thanksgiving is about). Sarah was pleased with the gift, she welcomes her and her tribe, Pocahontas thanks her then compliments her. Miller tries to get them to sit until Wednesday as Pocahontas snaps and improved into a dark Thanksgiving monologue.

Wednesday Addams

"“We cannot break bread with you. You have taken the land which is rightfully ours. Years from now, my people will be forced to live in mobile homes on reservations. Your people will wear cardigans and drink highballs.We will sell our bracelets by the roadsides. You will play golf and enjoy hot hors d’oeuvres. My people will have pain and degradation. Your people will have stick shifts"

After her monologue ends, the whole tribe destroys the set, attacked the cast of the Pilgrims and attacked the counselors and some audience members who happened to be the parents watching the play.

What was Wednesday Addams trying to prove?

If you have watched the scene from the Addams Family Values and you thought that Wednesday snapped back to reality or tricked the fellow campers and the camp counselors just to escape the camp, you are half right but half wrong. In the scene, Wednesday was trying to prove the dark history of Thanksgiving. In what I have learned in my childhood, Thanksgiving was all about giving thanks and in the "history" of Thanksgiving of Pilgrims and Indians bringing thanks and racial harmony between Pilgrims and Indians or some shit like that. Wrong!!!! Her speech still looms large as perhaps the most biting social commentary we’ve seen about Thanksgiving in any piece of American media, let alone a family movie. The moment has become iconic, with gifs of Wednesday’s words shared with fervor every Thanksgiving. But even beyond its weird-girl credibility, it remains an important reminder of what the holiday means. And it is especially apt to revisit as we collectively grow more culturally aware. In an era of frequent protests and social awareness, American youth are ready for conversations like these. To witness it through the eyes of one of pop culture’s most salient and worshipped young female characters makes it even more empowering and towering. Feeling moved by the scene doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy Thanksgiving. Nor does it mean we cannot feel proud of our identities, or need to steer clear of stuffing and pie. But reflecting on Wednesday Addams and her Thanksgiving speech is a nice way of remaining conscious of our cultural identity. Though we are celebrating Thanksgiving, we cannot forget the history of our country and those who met pain throughout its creation.

Sources

YouTube

Nerdist

Go Check Out "Wednesday" the series starring Jenna Ortega as Wednesday Addams on Netflix