‘Mary Poppins’ Is a Subversive Critique of Modernity

The Gospel Coalition ^ | 2017 | Dean Abbott

[wally_bert]

I always thought it was a dumb movie.

[ETL]

[BenLurkin]

One does not have to scratch very hard at the paint job on Mary Poppins to see that it is selling socialism.

[dfwgator]

Seems like there’s a common them to almost every Disney movie, children rebelling against their parents.

[dfwgator]

them=theme

[Steely Tom]

Also recall that Mrs. Banks (Jane and Michael’s mom) was a suffragette, appearing in an early scene with a suffragette ribbon (bearing the words “votes for women”), on her way to a womens’ suffrage meeting; kind of an early example of an “activist,” a prototype for things to come.

She has no time for her children because she’s making the world a better place.

[wally_bert]

I never thought about that until you mentioned it.

[Artemis Webb]

“Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot.
—Mark Twain

[rfp1234]

[2ndDivisionVet]

Here On The Island - by Lewis Napper

A Scholarly Critique of the Style, Symbolism and Sociopolitical Relevance of Gilligan’s Island
http://www.fightthebias.com/Resources/Humor/island.htm

[Steely Tom]

One does not have to scratch very hard at the paint job on Mary Poppins to see that it is selling socialism.

I think that's going too far. Walt Disney was directly involved in making Marry Poppins, and I don't think there's any evidence that he was a lefty.

He fired a cartoonist on Fantasia because the guy was a union activist who personally attacked him. His name was Art Babbitt, and he animated the mushrooms (and many other things).

[GOP Poet]

bookmark

[Steely Tom]

Seems like there’s a common them to almost every Disney movie, children rebelling against their parents.

Perhaps, but in Pollyanna the child in question pays a pretty heavy price for rebelling.

I would agree that there's a common theme of children undergoing the process of discovering that they have minds of their own and can explore the world in their own ways, but that's just life.

I suppose one could argue that Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn are about children rebelling against authority, also.

In Mary Poppins, the children discover that their father is not the perfect tower of strength they had thought he was; we see Mr. Banks as a man who is reluctantly but resignedly taking on the pressures and responsibilities of adulthood and fatherhood, but within whom still lives a boy, who wishes he could enjoy his own children as playmates for a time, but cannot, due to the need to earn a living and keep them in the manner to which they have become accustomed.

[originalbuckeye]

There’s frequently a dead mother in there, too.

[katana]

Saw an excellent two part biography of Walt Disney a couple weeks ago. Your observation is spot on. Disney himself rebelled against a father who was, by all accounts, a dour task master who never succeeded at anything he tried. Some "failures" can still enjoy life, but not Disney Senior. Walt was a perfectionist too, hard driving, demanding, and sparing with praise for his workers. But he also was hugely creative, knew how to have fun, and was a doting father.

Saving Mr. Banks is a very good account of how Mary Poppins was made in spite of the author P.L. Travers' objections to Disney and her own deep seeded issues with a failed father. In her case an alcoholic bank manager, fired from his job out in an isolated country town in Australia.

[Jeff Chandler]

There’s frequently a dead mother in there, too.

Yep.

[Jeff Chandler]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2T5_0AGdFic

[Charles Martel]

One does not have to scratch very hard at the paint job on Mary Poppins to see that it is selling socialism.

At the end, doesn't Mr. Banks end up restored to his position at the Fidelity Fiduciary Bank - or possibly even promoted? Did Mary Poppins enable him to "climb the corporate ladder"?

[Steely Tom]

For some reason, the words of the song that Mary Poppins and Mr. Banks sing together have always stuck with me:

They must feel the thrill of totting up a balanced book
A thousand ciphers neatly in a row...

Those words, sung by Mary Poppins, have always struck me a clever and droll joke, when you realize that "cipher" is another word for "zero."