This post is an entry in the 100 Years of Disney Blogathon at Silver Scenes.
(Please note that everything I say in this post pertains to the 1964 Disney movie of Mary Poppins, not the original books by P.L. Travers, nor the stage show Cameron Mackintosh wheedled P.L. Travers into agreeing to.)
Over the years, one of the traits I’ve grown to really appreciate in stories is the art of subtlety. There are many, many stories which have good messages, but which have a delivery that gets in the way and makes the story have less impact. We’ve all experienced those stories where it feels like the plot and characters are purely a tool for getting across the message. This kind of story captures our attention less, and that can lead to the message of the story capturing our attention less, too. Besides, no one likes to feel that a message is being shoved down their throat.
A better approach is that of presenting a situation and showing its consequences within the context of a story that you can care about and enjoy for its own sake. If a story and its message accurately represent real life, the story itself will tell the message. Not only that, but it will do so much more powerfully than merely stating it. If I can see the consequences of an action unfold in a story, without a big fuss being made about it, it hits home a lot more. It makes me mull over the implications. It makes me draw my own conclusions about what I should think – but, if the story is well-told and the message is a true one, the conclusions I draw will still be the conclusions that the creator of the story wants me to draw.
And that’s what Mary Poppins does.
The message of Mary Poppins is that a unified, loving family is a beautiful thing. The message is that having an invested mother and father is even more awesome than having Mary Poppins as your nanny. But it’s not shoved down the viewer’s throat. In fact, when I was a child I thought there was no message to Mary Poppins. (I was, perhaps, an unobservant child. But that is beside the point.)
The first two-thirds or so of the movie lures us into not even thinking about whether there’s a message. We get to revel in popping through chalk paintings and in throwing tea-parties on the ceiling. We watch the awesome music and dance sequences. We enjoy spending time in the chaotic but endearing Banks household, watching what is simply an enjoyable, engaging movie…
…and then, rather like the medicine concealed in the spoonful of sugar, we get the message slipped in. But now, having spent so much time in this universe, we care what happens. The future of the Banks family matters to us in a way that it wouldn’t if we hadn’t spent so much time in their company, just getting to know them.
And even then, we aren’t clobbered over the head with the message. We are shown more than told that the Banks family is happier now, even minus their magical nanny. The only real exposition which relates directly to the message is Mary Poppins’s conversation with her umbrella.
And that’s as a well-told story should be, too.
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“rather like the medicine concealed in the spoonful of sugar, we get the message slipped in”…..how perfectly put! The Sherman Brothers wrote a marvelous book (a scrapbook bio) called “Walt’s Time” and I remember reading in it a line where Richard Sherman says that the real story of Mary Poppins is all about Mr. Banks. And I had not noticed that up until I read that line! Talk about subtlety. Back in spring, we hosted a blogathon called “The Intruder Blogathon” because our dad loved the theme in movies where a character enters the lives of other characters and influences them for the better. No one picked Mary Poppins for that event, but I always thought it was one of the best examples of the theme. Mary Poppins comes into the Banks household and magically transforms Mr. Banks’ life for the better (although the children certainly have fun in the process, too!)
Thanks for joining the Disney blogathon with this insightful post!
Thank you for the lovely comment!
That book sounds like such an interesting read…and I think that’s absolutely true; Mary Poppins is the catalyst of the story (yes, she is a perfect example of an “intruder” character!), but Mr. Banks is really the main character. I think Saving Mr. Banks was trying to get that across, but its message was not as clear or as well-done as Mary Poppins‘s was, in my opinion.
Thank you for hosting, it was a lot of fun to participate!
This is a wonderful review of a wonderful film–Disney pulled out all the stops like they always do, but this one is special.
Thank you! Mary Poppins really has it all, doesn’t it?