Mary Poppins was the original feminist

Time ^ | Aug 26 2014 | Sarah Begley

[WilliamIII]

Fifty years after Julie Andrews starred as that practically perfect nanny, the character is still a role model for young women.

Like all Disney movies, Mary Poppins is full of whimsy and adventure, good guys and, if not bad guys, at least shades-of-grey guys.

And as we celebrate the film today, on its fiftieth anniversary, let’s not forget its feminist perspective.

[MrsEmmaPeel]

I thought Minerva was the original feminist. She was in charge of mathematics and battle strategy.

[ROCKLOBSTER]

I always thought Catherine the Great was the original feminist...or something.

[MichaelCorleone]

Maybe she was and maybe she wasn’t. But she didn’t dishonor women with rude behavior and vulgar language. Mary didn’t shake her fist at God and yell: “womyn have a right to kill the child that You have fearfully and wonderfully made!”

Mary Poppins was a lady. She didn’t take any nonsense from anybody. And she didn’t have to ‘prove’ her worth to anybody either - she knew who she was.

[MNDude]

I thought Jezebel was the original feminist.

[onedoug]

Deborah.

[Beowulf9]

The original feminist was God.

[AZLiberty]

Mary Poppins was the original feminist

Can't be. Mary Poppins had a sense of humor.

[bray]

Mary Poppins wasn’t a lesbian.

Pray America wakes up

[Tzimisce]

....a woman who stays home and raises children is a feminist icon?

[Oztrich Boy]

Good point. so the orginal feminist is still Wonder Woman

[Tax-chick]

Surely it’s Mrs. Banks who’s the feminist, since she’s paying someone to bring up her children while she engages in political activism.

[a fool in paradise]

Time-Lies was the original fan of Adolph Hitler.

[Moltke]

let’s not forget its feminist perspective

On the contrary, let's.

[GeronL]

lolz

true

[Tzimisce]

Can I ask why Mrs. Banks wanted a woman taking care of her children instead of a man?

Or would that be sexist?

[Tax-chick]

When the little boy was older, he would have a male tutor or go to an all-boys boarding school. Then he could go into the Army just in time to be killed in World War I.

[tom h]

If Mary Poppins was the first feminist then Eleanor Roosevelt was the first transvestite and Hillary Clinton was the first transgendered (female to male).