Sliding Dragons
Winner for Social Good at the British Animation Awards 2024, Alzheimer’s Research UK’s ‘For A Cure’ campaign furnishes our comms channels with Change The Ending. It's a remarkable, visually startling animated tour de force that both subverts the well-known fairy tale structure while colouring over established narrative lines with emotive inks.
Woven into an epically poignant exploration of the self, self-love, and tragic loss of self, producers Passion Pictures and Yonder Media lament the devastating impacts of Alzheimer’s disease that make it one of the top 10 killers in the UK today. But to fully appreciate this film, it’s important we understand (or rather foreground) a simple yet critical aspect of fables and children’s stories. It is this: Fairy tales don't teach children that dragons are real; children already understand this to be the case. Rather, fairy tales show children that dragons can be defeated. Alright…
The estimated combined total income of dementia charities in the UK for 2024 was somewhere in the range of £100 to £150 million. This figure reflects the collective impact of both large and smaller charities in the sector. The cost of dementia in the UK was estimated to be somewhere around £42 billion for the same year. That’s expected to rise to £90 billion by 2040. The only way to topple such a Leviathan is through donations, fund-raising, and research. To ensure the gravity of that disparity is communicated effectively, dramatic pedigree is also needed.
Bafta, Emmy and Oscar royalty Olivia Coleman lends her unmistakable voice to traditionally hand-drawn sequences which, rather than resurrect the sufficiently depleted motif of fawning-damsel-in-distress-awaits-rescue, ask us to imagine a much more accurate fiction of a traditionally victorious prince, the slender finger of dementia’s hand, and the princess who tries to save him ever after. Coleman, The Queen Unseen, first sets out a world of glorious colour, well-met sunsets, a smote abomination, and before long it feels like all is as it should be.
But this is a tale with no happy ending, no magical cures, only the relentless passage of time and the sorrow of watching love slip away. In this world, our world, the steadfast princess’s archetypal nemesis is a very real and invisible force robbing her true love of his memories. For both princess and audience, this is a foe made more formidable simply because of its reality. Partnerships like ARUK and Coleman’s solidify Moving Image’s position on the message heft that comes with such intelligent communications team-ups.
What really stands out in this piece is genre choice. The fairy tale format—one typically filled with hope, magic, timely downfalls, revelations, last-minute triumphs—becomes a vehicle for a darker reality of battles charting the slow yet inevitable progress of Alzheimer’s. And there’s a careful balance between storytelling, animation style, and emotional weight to be found too. The use of sound is understated but powerful—particularly the quiet moments where we hear the whispers of memories and the soft sound of a fading voice. Colour bleaches as circumstances grow desperate, leaves fade and fall back toward the root. Now we recognise the descent and trickery: this is no ordinary fable, we’ve unwittingly stepped into a tragedy. It’s thematic sleight of hand that, at least in some small part, pushes audiences to imagine those feelings of suspicion, fear and unsteady footing that those living with advanced stages of the condition must navigate each day.
The average cost per person for mild dementia in the UK is £28,700, while the average cost for severe dementia is £80,500. With such a heavy financial burden placed on the individual, the only way to defeat a monster like that is together. If life is the so-called ‘long song’ then memoires must surely be the notes we use to spell out our tune along the way. Changing The Ending chooses to wrestle with the Great Misshapen Beastie that’s only ever interested in making sure you no longer remember how to play.
