Every year, as Thanksgiving approaches, families across the country start debating the same thing: What are we watching after dinner? While some households lean on football and others return to traditional holiday specials, there’s a place for The Wiz — yes, the 1978 musical adaptation starring Diana Ross and Michael Jackson — to deserve a place in the Thanksgiving canon.
In light of the recent release of Wicked: For Good many fans are going back to revisit some of the films within the Land of Oz lore. And The Wiz should be no exception. But let’s go back to our question, is The Wiz a Thanksgiving film?
For some, the answer is an instant and emphatic yes, almost an emotional reflex. For others, it’s a curious proposition. After all, The Wiz isn’t marketed as a holiday film, and it never mentions Thanksgiving. But ask some fans and those who grew up with stacks of VHS tapes, cable marathons, and aunties who curated movie nights like they were mixtapes, and you’ll quickly find that The Wiz has quietly carved out a permanent space in the Thanksgiving viewing tradition.
And honestly? It makes perfect sense.
First of all, the story is set during Thanksgiving at Dorothy’s Harlem apartment along with Aunt Em and Uncle Henry. Dorothy cleans up after the meal, her dog Toto runs out the open kitchen door into a snowstorm, and it transports her to the Land of Oz.
To understand why The Wiz occupies this unique space, you have to consider the way culture gets passed down in households, particularly Black households where generational tradition often blends with nostalgia. But in many living rooms, The Wiz was the post-dinner ritual, the cinematic palette cleanser after hours of cooking, storytelling, and debating who messed up the macaroni last year.
This wasn’t accidental. Throughout the 80s and 90s, broadcast networks routinely aired The Wiz during holiday weekends. It was never officially labeled a “Thanksgiving movie,” but it showed up right when families were gathered, full, and ready to relax together during that holiday. Over time, that repetition transformed the film from just a beloved musical into a holiday-season fixture. Fandom doesn’t always follow studio intention, it follows emotional lineage. The film was also promoted with a float in the 1978 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Even beyond tradition, The Wiz aligns uncannily well with the spirit of Thanksgiving. At its heart, the story is about home, belonging, community, and gratitude. These are core themes that underpin what the holiday is meant to represent.
Dorothy, played with soft vulnerability by Diana Ross, begins her journey feeling out of place, uncertain, and disconnected. Throughout her adventure in Oz, she builds an unlikely but devoted community: a scarecrow, a tin man, and a lion who each reflect her own longing for something more. Together they learn that courage, love, and wisdom are cultivated.
And when Dorothy sings about home being a place where she feels “safe and warm,” the lyric lands especially deeply during a season built around returning to family, however you define it. For many fans, that emotional resonance is precisely what makes the film feel like a Thanksgiving companion piece, even without a single turkey leg on screen.
One reason The Wiz became a Thanksgiving favorite for so many Black families is simple: representation. For decades, there were few fantasy films where Black performers filled every role: from heroes to villains to whimsical worldbuilders. Holidays amplify our desire to see ourselves reflected onscreen, especially when we’re gathered with loved ones who grew up longing for that representation.
The Wiz offered a world where Black artistry, beauty, and imagination were front and center. Watching Diana Ross as Dorothy or Michael Jackson reinvent the Scarecrow was affirming. It remains a visual celebration of Black creativity woven into a classic narrative, and during Thanksgiving that means something.
Ultimately, the fandom’s insistence that The Wiz belongs to Thanksgiving isn’t about genre classification or holiday themes. It’s about emotional memory. It’s about the way certain movies become stitched into family rituals without anyone officially declaring them “holiday films.”
So, is The Wiz a Thanksgiving movie?
If you grew up easing on down the road sometime between dessert and round two of leftovers, the answer is a resounding yes. In a world where traditions evolve and fandom guides what we hold dear, The Wiz doesn’t need to be a Thanksgiving movie by design. It’s a Thanksgiving movie by heart.
