Kiwi as: Like chocolate fish and jandals, the excitement behind Air NZ's videos doesn't always translate. Photo / Supplied
Kiwi as: Like chocolate fish and jandals, the excitement behind Air NZ's videos doesn't always translate. Photo / Supplied
From the outside looking in, the national obsession with the Air New Zealand safety videos is something that borders on a cult. As a Pom living in the Land of the Long White Cloud, it's just one of those things that fail to translate.
Like chocolate fish or jandals (huh?) the excitement is something I can just about understand, but would be hard to explain to the uninitiated.
They're reliably big news here. Yet on the other side of the world most of the safety videos barely register. Air New Zealand's recent expedition to Antarctica, which caused such controversy in Aotearoa, is one of those on its way to lie undisturbed in the NZ film archives, having untroubled public discourse beyond these shores.
Air Safety: Men in Black vs All Blacks cross over remains a personal favourite. Photo / Supplied
However, like an apocryphal moth beating its wings, in the right conditions these five-minute safety shorts can lead to a twitter storm that engulfs the globe.
The first time I saw an Air New Zealand safety video was the Sir Peter Jackson Special, which replaced flight crew with Tolkien's creatures in the 'brace position'.
Fresh from basking in the glow of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, it was an easy point of reference for flyers from around the world. Later, the much-maligned Men in Black crossover with the All Blacks became a personal favourite.
The script to almost all of these videos read like a panicked grasp for small talk by someone meeting a New Zealander for the first time. Which is a scene that must be familiar to any Kiwi that's ever attended a house party aboard: "Oh yes, you guys like rugby, right?… and elves?"
Cool reception: Some Air NZ safety videos, like Adrian Grenier's trip to Antarctica, are destined not to be remembered. Photo / Supplied
But then that's the magic of this medium on an international Kiwi carrier, it's about the sometimes awkward meeting of cultures.
It's less bowing to stereotypes and more playing to what people know before dropping them in the deep end of the waiariki. And if the rest of the world wants to imagine a nation of rugby players in picturesque Middle-earth, you're going to own it.
The videos blur boundaries between a clever bit of PR by an international airline and the forming of New Zealand's national myth. For a little bit of propaganda hidden in a five-minute informational video, it travels a long way.
The big screen: With 16 million passengers, Air New Zealand's safety videos have hollywood size audiences. Photo / Supplied
Last year New Zealand's national carrier ferried 15.95 million passengers as far afield as Blighty.
We presume plenty of these seats are occupied by international passengers (not even the most jetset Jaffa could clock up all those air miles). If all those passengers diligently sit through the pre-flight safety flick - as you are obliged to do – this makes the Air New Zealand safety video one of most significant on-screen events since Taika Waititi's Hunt for the Wilderpeople.
Where Air New Zealand led, others have followed.
From humourless computer-rendered Lufthansa videos to the inexplicable Lego brick production for Turkish Airlines, global carriers are opting in for a touch of silver-screen magic.
We've even had BA phone up the luvvies, casting Michael Caine and Joanna Lumley to help find the exits in an emergency.
While some safety videos are destined to be more memorable than others, Air New Zealand's have changed air travel forever.
