Whether you consider the John Lewis Christmas advert to be one of the most eagerly anticipated aspects of any calendar, never mind just the festive – the annual wintery short filling you up like a cup of creamy cocoa and just like your favourite pair of slippers, leaving your tingling toes all cosy and warm – or whether the whole thing leaves you utterly cold and increasingly despondent, still at least it tends to follow a coherent narrative.
Even last year’s rendition, in which a lonely old moonman received a telescope from a young female admirer, however much it stretched the bounds of credulity, could be interpreted as a sort of metaphor for youthful generosity, excessive isolation, and the scarcely met communicative needs of the old.
But now an A-level student named Nick Jablonka has created, as part of his coursework, something akin to an homage. It has resulted in twin invitations, the 18-year-old granted by John Lewis a glimpse ‘behind the scenes’ of the real thing, while the public relations agency W Communications has extended a job offer which will hold until Jablonka turns 21. Uploaded in June, his ‘Snowglobe’ advert has surpassed a million views on YouTube, and all things considered counts as a glittering if miniaturised success.
Yet does it make sense? The short centres upon a snowman who appears to be trapped inside a snowglobe for the better part of each year. Only once, every Christmas, is he able to roam free and spend some quality time with his similarly-shaped love. Back in his box, the faint melancholic smile of memory tells us that we should ‘Appreciate the moments’, but one has to wonder, why is the snowman all locked up?
Who briefly releases but mostly confines our snowman to what amounts to his cage? How did they manage to capture a real-live snowman in the first place, and is his partner maintained in a similar state? Can snowglobes provide the sort of steady temperatures necessary for snowmen to persevere? And when it comes to love, freedom, and happiness, should we settle for nothing more than a few hours a year? Even if those hours come bearing gifts?
Far from a comfy and heartwarming Christmas brief, Jablonka’s advert amounts to a critique of modern society, briefly ameliorative but mostly repetitive and overworked. Rather than getting all wrapped up and bouncing like bobble hats down to our nearest department store, this variation on a theme would have us alone in the bathroom, our feet chilly and damp as we contemplate our wrists.
Jablonka’s advert is elegantly animated, and probably stirs the emotions more than John Lewis’s latest effort, Over the Hedge-lite starring a dog and a trampoline. Jablonka says he has been ‘overwhelmed’ by the response to what was ‘a very rushed piece, I’ve left it until the last month to do it. Creating a short film is a lot of work especially when it’s CGI. I was responsible for things outside of my comfort zone like character animation and lighting’.
