Taika Waititi Christmas Commercial

The New Zealand filmmaker puts his spin on the Hero’s Journey.

2020 may have been a rotten year for most folks, but Taika Waititi is doing his level best to make it better. His movie Jojo Rabbit charmed audiences and won the writer-director an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Now he brings us this delightful, heartwarming commercial.

Frankly, I can’t think of a better representation of Joseph Campbell’s quote about the hero’s journey:

The cosmogonic cycle is presented with astonishing consistency in the sacred writings of all the continents, and it gives to the adventure of the hero a new and interesting turn; for now it appears that the perilous journey was a labor not of attainment but of reattainment, not discovery but rediscovery. The godly powers sought and dangerously won are revealed to have been within the heart of the hero all the time.

The Father goes all the way to the North Pole only to realize what his daughter’s deepest wish was: for Daddy to be home for Christmas. He had that potential within him all the time.

Thanks to Taika for bringing some light and love into this dark time.