No one is cutting onions around you. You are probably just crying.
Many netizens turned emotional over the latest advertisement released by Disney UK on Monday, November 9, for this year’s Christmas celebration which highlights a family with Filipino roots.
Introducing the 2020 Disney Christmas Advert. #FromOurFamilyToYours ✨ #DisneyChristmasAd2020 pic.twitter.com/IU7ihjP2xQ
— Disney UK (@Disney_UK) November 9, 2020
The first seconds of the three-minute video began in a nighttime city full of colorful parols (Christmas lanterns) in 1940 where a young girl was seen jumping into her father’s arms as soon as he arrives. She did the “mano po,” a Filipino gesture showing respect to elders, and to her surprise, she was given a Mickey Mouse stuffed toy by her dad.
As time passed by, the setting changed into a modern city covered with snow in 2005, with the little girl now being a grandmother who is living with her granddaughter. The grandmother passed her cherished Mickey Mouse stuffed toy to her granddaughter and taught her how to make star-shaped parols.
The granddaughter grew up making those lanterns with her grandmother every holiday season, until one day, changes between them happened. The now grown-up granddaughter was seen kissing her grandmother on her cheek before heading out on a snowy night and leaving the elder alone at home. In the dull living area, the grandmother held the worn-out stuffed toy, but without the presence of her grandchild, she dropped it on the table and just went upstairs.
The grandmother then woke up the next morning to a dreary living room turning into a lively one with the colorful parols hanging from the ceiling that reminds her of the glowing city she grew up in. The granddaughter, who had realizations the night she came back home, showed up and gave her grandmother a red box that contains the stuffed toy she repaired. The video ended up with the two sharing a warm hug, and a text that read, “From our family to yours.”
This advertisement made a lot of netizens, especially Filipinos, to admit that they indeed shed tears while watching the video, with most of them saying it made them think of their grandparents. Apart from the story itself, the song played in the advertisement, “Love Is A Compass” performed by Griff, added a whole lot of deep emotions to people.
Two of those whose heart was touched by the advertisement are Filipino-American singer AJ Rafael and Hannah Montana and Camp Rock star Anna Perez de Tagle-Kline.
“A Filipino Christmas story from Disney… from the Mano Po to the Parol… makes me miss my Lola so much. Y’all don’t know how much this means to me,” AJ tweeted.
https://twitter.com/ajRAFAEL/status/1325649177611816960
“I miss spending the holidays in the Philippines and this video just gave me the ultimate feels” Anna, meanwhile, said.
https://twitter.com/AnnaMariaPdT/status/1325690249171775490
The advertisement posted on Disney’s official Facebook page has over 11,000 shares, as of publishing. In Disney UK’s Twitter account, it currently has 32,900 retweets, 27,200 quote tweets, and 95,600 likes.