Dancing, Asexual Cellphones

Grade: A

I see no reason to write only about commercials currently airing on American television. As such, here's one from Ireland, that probably is not on the air anymore, but is great. It involves anthropomorphic mobiles. The music is Hot Butter's version of "Popcorn," though from what I read the original song is by Gershon Kingsley.

And here's a detailed summary that may not be necessary but which I want to write in order to facilitate my analysis and point out some of the interesting technical aspects of this ad.

So the commercial opens with an assortment of cell phones with and arms and legs run toward the viewer. They all have the same shape, but each is differentiated by accessories. One has a soccer ball. Another has a bandana and chain. The leader has a viking helmet and shield (This plays upon the stereotype that Vikings are malicious man-bulls. No viking helmet with horns or holes for horns has ever been discovered. Furthermore, Vikings had a complex civilization whose trade connections help bring about the Renaissance.) So while similar, then, each character is nevertheless independently recognizable. This is an important thematic element I'll address later. When all the phones reach a set distance away from the camera they arrange themselves into a line.

But when the melody comes in over the underdub, changes beginto happen. The accessories of each phone morph in time with the music. Suddenly one has a cowboy hat, another a mortarboard, another a bathing suit and beach ball. The phones look around confusedly for a moment, examining their new accoutrements, but seem to say to themselves, "Hey, this ain't no big deal. Let's form a circle and dance."

Except instead of dance, they spontaneously regenerate. Six new phones spring out of the first six, including a Groucho Marxy type and a snorkeler blowing bubbles. We also see that the bringer of the beach ball is wearing a thong. Then everyone lies down and starts rolling in sync with each other, which somehow generates and degenerates phoneclones. Then all the phones leap back up and decide to head the beach ball around. The magic beach ball gives each phone it touches a new perphona, until one phone heads the ball at the camera. This acts as a cut in what has thus far been a single shot.

When the beach ball disappears the viewer sees several phones drifting to the ground among large bubbles, presumably bubbles from the snorkeler. When each of these bubble pops, a new phone comes out. All these phones then line up in a semicircle, where a magician phone makes them disappear with his wand. He then turns to face the screen, and it appears he has multiple hands a la Goro when, lo and behold, the disappeared phones have reappeared behind him to create what is only an illusion. They jump out into a semicircle, and the center phone unfurls a screen-blocking umbrella.

The umbrella, like the beachball before it, acts as a cut. The new shot shows a birds eye view of dozens of different phones all dancing, and others appearing in the free space. The voice-over begins, and the camera rolls down to show that these dozens of phone represent just one side of an enormous phone prism. There are likely hundreds of phones off-screen.

End Scene

Here's why I think it works:

Each phone in this commercial has an identical body: A rectangular torso, two micky mouse arms, and some spindly legs. This corresponds to how every cell phone is the same, or is used for the same basic function, which is to allow audible verbal communication between to users regardless of a user's proximity to another (A phone call!). What makes a phone different from another is its accessory features. That is, whether it has a full keyboard, a color screen, a camera, internet capability, email, MP3 capability, how big is it, what color is it, how many British villages has it plundered, how much afrosheen does it need, really, afrosheen does not get underlined by spellcheck? In the commercial, these features are represented by hats, hairstyles, bathing suits, sports gear, and rune stones.

Well that's a pretty clear representation, I think. Less clear, perhaps, is how such a representation transcends the line between user and object. Through personification, the phones in the commercial can not only be seen to represent the phone itself, but the prospective user of each phone. Every person, apparently, has a phone that it is built just for them, whether they be greasy lothario (0:04, second from left) or axe wielding maniac (0:28, one left from center).

But why, you may ask, are phones constantly morphing into other phones? Here are two postulations: First, a person's taste in cell phone changes frequently, perhaps correlating with a change in that person's personality or profession; from say cowboy to professor. The Carphone Warehouse wants you to know it accommodates such shifts. The second reason is magic realism. Well, maybe not quite that, but the ability of the phones to clone themselves, and to synchronize a beach party, and to change their outfits at the tap of a moog make them seem like pretty magical devices. And they are kind of magical, what with the phone calls and the bluetooth and the texting and the sexting. But also very real.

The commercial has super visuals, aurals, and visual-aural synchronization. The simple artwork for each phone allows their differences to be highlighted. The green background allows for the phones to be fully visible yet maintain their simplicity, the way green phones on a white background would not have. And the shots are pleasant. Actually, the whole commercial is a single, long, magical shot (though the beachballs and umbrella, as I said before, serve as cuts), but what a shot it is! There is no sudden movement or out of place object to jar the eyes, and the choreography is hypnotic. I've watched this commercial two dozen times in the past two days and each time find something new to enjoy about it.