You're my present this year :)

For me it’s something of a Christmas tradition to watch this Folgers commercial from 2009. Yes, I’m among those who have always detected an inappropriately close bond between this brother and sister. Her sticking the bow on her brother’s shoulder and saying, “You’re my present this year” is awkward enough; but the way it goes to a close-up of him looking back with that fixed gaze, which after a moment is diverted downward, makes the incest undertones seem less like sloppy writing or a poor casting decision (for I’ve heard the sister was supposed to be played by a much younger actress, perhaps giving the bow and the “You’re my present this year” line a veneer of innocence it can’t have coming from a girl in her late teens) and more like something purposely constructed in the editing room itself. I mean, why is he giving her that determined look? And what feelings expressed by it are so intense that he can’t bear to hold it on its object for more than a second or two?

I have met some people who don’t see anything inappropriate about the way this brother and sister interact with each other, but I have a theory on this: in my limited experience it’s individuals who didn’t grow up with a sibling of the contrary gender whom the incest theme is lost on; it’s brothers who have sisters and sisters who have brothers who, presumably having developed an innate sense of healthy boundaries between family members of the opposite sex, notice right away that there’s something off about these actors’ chemistry with each other.

For I have basically no acting experience, but I would expect it’s difficult for two unrelated actors of the opposite sex to believably simulate a sibling relationship without accidentally suggesting an element of romance. This show was a little after my time, but on the Disney Channel there used to be a sitcom my younger siblings watched called Life with Derek, which was kind of a Brady Bunch scenario where two divorced parents with children melded their families together, and it seemed to me that the eldest son (“Derek”) of the stepfather and the eldest daughter of the stepmother had a little too much chemistry in scenes.

But there are a lot of weird things about this commercial. The sister has apparently been looking out the window all morning waiting for the brother’s taxi from the airport to arrive, but if she loves her big brother so much she’s keeping vigil in the living room why wouldn’t she drive to the airport herself to pick him up? Maybe she doesn’t have a driver’s license. But then what are we to make of the brother’s comment when the sister opens the door for him without his even having to knock: “I must have the wrong house”? Her inane exclamation “Sister!” is obviously for the benefit of the viewers at home who might otherwise be confused about her relationship with this young man, but is he saying that he’s been gone so long that she doesn’t recognize his own sister who was a foot or two shorter when he left for west Africa? Maybe it’s a very subtle joke about how long he’s been gone, I don’t know. But as far as I can tell the sister’s claim that their parents “waited up for” the brother “all night” is a complete lie, for two scenes later we see their mother in bed with her husband, to whom she whispers “He’s here!” Why would the smell of coffee signal to the mother that her son is back anyway? Maybe her daughter, who may really have stayed up all night waiting for her brother’s massively delayed flight from west Africa to arrive, started up the coffee maker to perk herself up. Doesn’t she drink coffee? Maybe not. However, I think the brother can be forgiven for expressing relief at finding Folgers, “real coffee,” at home. I’ve seen some online commenters say he would have had ample supplies of better coffee than Folgers in west Africa, but perhaps not: for one thing, it’s really Ethiopia and Uganda, on the other side of the continent, that are the chief African producers of coffee beans. And just because these countries are growing high-quality coffee beans doesn’t mean they’re actually making coffee with them: the global economy being what it is, the producers of raw materials are not necessarily the ones processing them into the finished product. Besides, we can’t rule all the possibility that the brother is a Mormon missionary returned home after his two-year tour of duty; that would actually serve to explain some of the sister’s otherwise excessive excitement at his return and explain somewhat the brother’s odd joke about not recognizing his own sister. Then, “real coffee” would be literal: maybe he’s been drinking Postum these past two years!