We have lost the sense of story in most of our mass media. We express every unfinished thought, take pictures of our food and our cats and ourselves, share other people’s aphorisms. We convince ourselves that all we must know can be summarized in 144 characters.
So when a genuine story comes along, it feels … different.
This story—this commercial—was made by a couple German film students for Johnnie Walker, a whiskey company. They weren’t hired to make it. They sent it to Johnnie Walker to consider. It tells a story, with an intriguing beginning, a poignant middle, and an unexpected end. It is accompanied by words that float and sing and trudge along beside us, and they are powerful because we’ve grown unaccustomed to journeys with words.
Stories help us feel that we have control over our world. They let us see patterns in chaos, intent amid randomness. We tend to see narratives even when there are none because they can lend meaning to our existence. Yet … we have drifted into a comfortable existence without such stories.
Please take a look. And please share with someone. Every story must be received to be genuine, and that’s why we tell stories.
And here is the poem that accompanies the story:
Walking the roads of our youth
Through the land of our childhood, our home, and our truth
Be near me, guide me, always stay beside me
So I can be free
Free
Let’s roam this place, familiar and vast
Our playground of green frames our past
We were wanderers
Never lost
Always home
When every place was fenceless
And time was endless
Our ways were always the same
Calm my demons and walk with me, my brother
Until our roads lead us away from each other
And if your heart’s full of sorrow, keep walking
Don’t rest
And promise me from heart to chest to never let your memories die
Never
I will always be alive and by your side
In your mind
I’m free