To mark Thanksgiving, we revisit Canadian author and artist Douglas Coupland’s take on the celebrations, first featured in a special edition of Wallpaper* in 1998.
Back in the 1700s, Benjamin Franklin wanted the official bird of the United States to be the turkey, not the bald eagle. Back then, turkeys were not only juicy and delicious, but smart, too – justifiably wary of hunters and excellent flyers – whereas the bald eagle was, and remains, essentially a seagull with a good hairdo. The mutation of the turkey across three centuries, however, from smart to dumb (over-hybridized turkeys are now well known for drowning on rainy days by raising their heads to the sky and then forgetting to lower them) also provides rich symbolism for the 200-year devolution of Thanksgiving.
