Oral Commentary

Q. Compare and Contrast an advert and a prescribed text

Sky Movies
The Arrival

Themes chosen –

Belonging
Used really well-known movies
Gain a deeper appreciation for the movies
Movies bring families closer together
In the end the character in the advert goes home – same thing in book
DRAFT
Theme Chosen – Belonging, Family Unity, displacement (somewhat)

Have you ever been somewhere and felt, this is where I belong?
Well, that is what I will be talking about today; how the sense of belonging is strongly
emphasised on in the advertisement of ‘sky movies’ and Shaun Tans ‘The Arrival’.

First, let’s define ‘themes’; a theme is a universal idea explored throughout the text or
motive.
The major theme I chose is ‘belonging’ and I will also be exploring intertextuality through
‘sky movies’ and ‘The Arrival’.

Firstly, let’s take a look at the overall idea of both ad and text.

WHATS THE PURPOSE OF AN ADVERTISEMNT –

To convince an audience that they need whatever you are trying to promote.

WHATS THE PURPOSE OF ‘THE ARRIVAL’ –

‘Pictures say more than words’ is what I get from this book.
MAJOR THEMES MEANINGS –
Belonging
Family Unity
MINOR THEMES –
Using very well-known movies
Gain a deeper appreciation for the movies on what’s being promoted.
GIVES THE READER MANY POINTS OF VIEW AND THE SKY MOVIES AD HAS DIFFERENT
MOVIES AND he is sharing his point of view with us whilst being in every movie.

Contain the same message or overall theme

 Proper Draft - ORAL COMMENTARY
Q. Compare and Contrast an Advert and a prescribed text.

Have you ever been somewhere and felt, this is where I belong?
Well, that is what I will be talking about; how the sense of belonging is strongly emphasised
on in the advertisement of ‘sky movies’ and Shaun Tans ‘The Arrival’. I will be comparing and
contrasting the ‘sky movies’ advertisement and Shaun Tans ‘The Arrival’

To do that I have picked the themes ‘Belonging and Family Unity’- first let’s define themes –
A theme is a universal idea that is explored throughout the text or motive.

Now, what’s the purpose of an advertisement in general – an advertisement, has 3 primary

objectives – to inform, to persuade and to remind. Spreading awareness of brands,
products, services. What’s the purpose of a ‘wordless’ book – it’s stuck on the idea that one
picture can say more than words ever will. The book is 128-pages with absolutely no words
yet, it has such a deep meaning. The Arrival is an immigrant story but in a more universal
sense, it conveys the feeling that we all have had at one point – which is the feeling of
loneliness or feeling lost or frightened or confused in an unfamiliar environment.

One thing that both advertisement and text consisted of was their struggle to get home – or
somewhere they feel safe. In the advertisement, the main character is running through
various movies – literally, just to get home. In the book, we are somewhat sharing the
experience with the main character, who is an immigrant, on getting to a safer place in such
circumstances.

Another similar thing is that both of the main characters are in parallel universes and this
helps us out with our imagination – the sky movies ad shows Oscar-winning movies as an
adventure and in arrival the world isn’t pictured to be real.

Another way we can identify that the sky movies ad and the arrival are similar are that the
main characters are both men, who have left their wives and children. But only for different
causes, one is going to find a new safe place and one has come back from what looks like a
business trip to see his family. Another similarity is that when the two main characters come
back home, they come home with hope, joy and the relief of coming back home.

Another similarity is that both advertisement and book are shown from the perspectives of
the main characters. The main characters are the most important in both advertisement and
book, only their perspectives are used throughout the book and advertisement.

The structure of the Advertisement is very much like any other advertisement. At first, he
gets into a bit of a hard situation; which is getting his car jammed, and then because of that
fault, he gets to experience so many things and eventually find his way home.
(TALK ABOUT STRUCTURE OF THE BOOK ASWELLLLLL) there are about 3 – 4 panels on every
page and each of them are like you’re clicking a photo and your capturing every moment
and ever facial expression without having to explain it.

DIFFERENCE - SHOWING DARKNESS ASWELL BUT THE SKY MOVIES ISNT IN THE DARK
CATEGORY. Dark as in sad

There isn’t much to say about the language in both advertisement and text. Except that in
the Arrival, instead of evoking emotion through written language, they used characters
expression quite majorly. On one of the pages in The Arrival, there is a picture of an Asian
girl who was reading a book, her face expression showed fascination and she looked as if
she felt relieved and interested, but then the hand of a man comes and snatches the book
from her and she seems so frightened and afraid, then he drags her to the fire where she
burning coal, now, without any words explaining what was happening, we got the idea
perfectly, by her face expressions.

As we can see in the sky movies ad (show sky movies advertisement) at the start of sky
movies when the characters car breaks down in the middle of the woods and that’s where
his journey begins, and this is telling us that you can find your way home or in other words
you can feel at home, through the smallest of things.

Now onto my minor point. Family Unity. First, what is Family Unity? Family Unity is when a
family is united in harmony and have a very healthy relationship with each other. For
example, their entire journey is for the betterment of their own families. They have left
countries and/or left home just to either buy their kids presents or find a safer place to live
or do a job and get money for it.

Family Unity is also shown by their eagerness and rush to get home, both the advertisement
and book show that from the start both main characters are in a rush to get home after they
have found hope, joy, just something cheerful to tell their family or have just missed their
family.

In conclusion,
I believe that the sky movies advertisement and Shaun Tans Arrival majorly connect through
the themes of belonging and family Unity.

Thank you