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Essay on Mary Poppins
Mary Poppins" is a Disney musical comedy, intended to entertain both children and adults. Although the movie is overlong and loses its focus towards the end, considerable charm remains.
The story features a well-to-do British family in the early 1900s. Mother is busy fighting for women's right to vote, no-nonsense Father makes his living at the bank, and the two young children need a Nanny. To the rescue comes Mary Poppins (Julie Andrews).
She is "practically perfect in every way", and is magic as well. Dick VanDyke, a street merchant and chimney sweep, shows up now and then to help entertain the kids.
"Mary Poppins" has a nifty sequence that combines
animation and live action. This fantasy may be the best part of the movie. There is similarity between this film and "Peter Pan", another Disney film where the children are entertained by a magic figure who is only temporarily in their lives.
If "Mary Poppins" is lacking anything, it is dramatic tension. The only resistance to Mary comes from Father, who wants to prepare the children for the "real" world of work and
drudgery. With Father being so tiresome, VanDyke serves as a surrogate, more friendly and free-spirited. Father does have a character transformation by the end of the film, which could alternately be considered a nervous breakdown.
In 1964, this Disney film's combination of live action and animation, other special effects, and lovely songs by Richard and Robert Sherman -- all to support a story taken from the books of P.L. Travers -- were enchanting.
In spite of its continuing popularity since its release in 1964, the film Mary Poppins has attracted little scholarly interest. Perhaps the absence of interpretative effort directed at the film can be explained by the obviousness of its message of family values that is so typical of Disney productions,....
