Non-realist advert

John Lewis Christmas advert

This advert is non realistic as it follows the tale of an old man alone on
the moon with no one to celebrate Christmas with. It is structured in a
linear narrative, fast-forwarding to events in chronological order
leading up to Christmas. Throughout the narrative the song Half The
World Away sung by Aurora Aksnes is played, with the lyrics
complementing whats happening in the narrative. An example of this
is when a close up of the mans face is present as the lyrics; my body
is old is sung. A relatively unknown artist sings the song, in order to
keep the attention to the story and not the artist.

The narrative starts of with a close up a little girls face looking bored.
This allows the audience to study the innocence of the girls face and
identify the differences between her face and the old mans. These
binary opposites help to create a sense of interest, as it shows how the
girl is able to easily overcome the differences between her and the old
man, and yet still show a sense of sympathy and care for him. This
ultimately creates an innocent and noble image towards the girl, thus
influencing the audience to instantly grow an attachment and liking to
her. A wide shot of her clean living room with her brother on his phone,
indicate to audience that this is a conventional family. This is another
binary opposite as this scene shows how completely normal this family
is, compared to the girl who is actively trying to complete such an
abnormal task. The fact that shed rather look through her telescope
than play on games like her brother, further supports how unique this
girl is compared to ordinary little girls, thus creating a memorable
character who defines conventions. A wide shot of the old mans home
on the moon, reveals to the audience how vast and desolate his home
is, which allow the audience to create an image of loneliness and feel
sympathetic towards the old man. When the girl waves to the old man
from her home, it conflicts with the idea of her being unique as it
reveals her ignorance which portrays her as an ordinary little girl from
the real world, as they arent completely aware of the entirety of a
situation. The shot is instantly cut to a close up of the old mans glum
face, connoting his misery and he is always facing this dilemma

everyday. The narrative then fast forwards time and shows moments of
the girl acting like an ordinary girl.
A close up of the old mans face expresses to the audience how
despondent he is, and how is looking back to Earth for some hope. The
setting of the moon is conquered by low-key lighting, which also covers
the majority of the old mans face. This connotes how the old man is in
a state of darkness and loneliness, and that there is no escape as he is
surrounded by a darkness and the fact that he is in space. An extreme
wide shot of the man sitting on a bench and looking to Earth, signifies
the sheer distance between the moon and the Earth as if the Earth is in
a whole new galaxy. The Earth in this shot is represented as a small
sphere, which further emphasizes its incredible distance, and is
accompanied by pure nothingness of space and the moons surface.
This indicates how desolate this place is and how there is absolutely
nothing here for the old man. An extreme close up of the old mans
eyes reveal his innocence, which reflects to the innocence of the girl,
thus showing how similar these two characters are. Another montage
shows the girl coming up with several creative ways to send a message
to the old man which all fail, revealing how much the girl cares for this
old man and is determined not to give up. The next scene shows how
the old man closes his eyes and looks down, connoting how the man
feels as if there is no hope and is giving up. Its Christmas day and
everyone is seen being happy and enjoying themselves, while the old
man is still looking down. This juxtaposing of the two difference scenes
messes with the audiences feelings as they dont know whether to be
happy as the family are celebrating Christmas, or to feel sad for the old
man on Christmas day alone. The music then pauses for a brief
moment to allow the diegetic sound of the gift landing on the moon
surface to create a sense of tension.
The end of the narrative reveals the overt message of, Show someone
theyre loved this Christmas. This reflects the target audience of
elderly people and anyone feeling alone, as loneliness is one of the
main themes of the advert. This is one of the two only written codes in
the advert, as the attention should be focused on the characters and
the story, instead of encouraging the audience to read the text during
the story being told. This is also the reason why there is an abundance
of dialog from any of the characters. The old man is represented as the
princess from Propps character functions, whereas the girl is
represented as the hero. This defies the conventional visual codes of
these characters, which creates interest for the advert and further
supports the genre of this advert of a non-realist narrative.