Ep16 Positive Cinematic Spotlight - Free Birds - a podcast by Academy for Success

Welcome back, Wolf Pack, to another Positive Cinematic Spotlight! It’s Thanksgiving week and so we are looking at the Relativity Media animated movie from 2013, Free Birds. Free Birds is the story of two turkeys who travel back in time to try and keep turkey off of the first Thanksgiving menu, thus saving turkeys from all following Thanksgiving dinner tables, in theory. The two turkeys are Reggie, voiced by Owen Wilson, and Jake, voiced by Woody Harrelson. Reggie has been an outsider in his farm flock, trying to convince the rest of the flock that they should be trying to escape and they should be eating so much, because the farmer’s just fattening them up. Jake, on the other hand, has never been a part of a flock, being a free turkey. He was recruited, as a child, to seek out Reggie so the two of them can go back in time and get turkeys off of the Thanksgiving menu.

While it seems the main story is a turkeys versus Pilgrims external conflict, the real struggle is for Jake and Reggie to see past their differences, and for Reggie to find value in a flock rather than trying to be el solo lobo, the lone wolf. After being rejected by his flock for his conspiracy theories, and being selected to be the pardoned turkey, pardoned by the president from being relegated to turkey dinner table, Reggie fixates on a Hispanic soap opera, El Solo Lobo, and the idea of being a lone wolf. But Jake and the 1621 turkeys they work with to save turkeys from the Thanksgiving menu teach Reggie the value of a flock.

Similarly, we need to remember the importance of a flock, or, for the AFS, a pack. Working together towards a common goal is how things get done. And the best way to work together is to be accepting of our differences. We all have our own unique experiences and points of view, interests and skills, and drawin gon our variety of strengths, we can achieve success

I am thankful for my pack. Thank you for all that you do, thank you for being the best, and thank you for working together for the success of our students..

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