Does Mary Poppins exemplify the Christian Mission?

[IwishIknew]

So Mary Poppins is all about saving Mr. Banks from societal greed, adult obsessions & anxieties and an orderly world by rekindling in his heart a childlike spirit (guarded by good behavior which Mary Poppins strictly enforces) which he then shares with his children by giving up his old live, embracing humor, song and most importantly his children - whom he again “sees” and loves.

In this day and age, could we say that as we all become adults, we all are threatened by placing too much emphasis on things and order? - Are we not tempted to forget our duties as parents not only to be present to our children, but to love them and, in spirit, be like them: humble, trusting, playful, unafraid of the future, unconcerned with the past, loving and forgiving?*

In other words, is it too bold to say each of our personal missions is to become child-like?*
Does Mary Poppins articulate well Christ’s message when He placed the child in front of him showing his disciples how to be the “greatest”?

Thoughts?

*Note the distinction from “child-ish” behavior which would include the wrong behaviors…

 

[ThinkingSapien]

Guessing “Saving Mr. Banks” was nothing like the movie “Mary Poppins.” In retrospect I have mixed feelings about the mothers absence; she was fighting for the rights of women (and thus her daughter) to vote. Also wondering if using sugar-laced tranquilizers is the best way to get kids to go to bed.

 

[Timothysis]

Thoughts?

It’s just a movie. Enjoy it.

 

[ClearWater]

Makes me wish I had seen that!

 

[randomuser]

There’s a Catholic source for this comment (from 2010, before the movie even existed) and it’s definitely corroborated elsewhere - P.L. Travers had a variety of…shall we say, eccentric beliefs – most of them outside Christian orthodoxy. I saw “Saving Mr. Banks,” and you can see for yourself that when Travers (played in the movie by Emma Thompson) checks into the hotel when she arrives in the U.S., she totes along a Gurdjieff book:
womenofgrace.com/blog/?p=80

IMHO, “Finding Neverland,” the 2004 movie about Peter Pan creator J.M. Barrie (played in the movie by Johnny Depp) is a far more suitable example of the “child-like” attitude you’re describing, though I don’t recall being as enthralled with it as I was with “Saving Mr. Banks.”

 

[robwar]

So Mary Poppins is all about saving Mr. Banks from societal greed, adult obsessions & anxieties and an orderly world by rekindling in his heart a childlike spirit (guarded by good behavior which Mary Poppins strictly enforces) which he then shares with his children by giving up his old live, embracing humor, song and most importantly his children - whom he again “sees” and loves.

In this day and age, could we say that as we all become adults, we all are threatened by placing too much emphasis on things and order? - Are we not tempted to forget our duties as parents not only to be present to our children, but to love them and, in spirit, be like them: humble, trusting, playful, unafraid of the future, unconcerned with the past, loving and forgiving?*

In other words, is it too bold to say each of our personal missions is to become child-like?*
Does Mary Poppins articulate well Christ’s message when He placed the child in front of him showing his disciples how to be the “greatest”?

Thoughts?

*Note the distinction from “child-ish” behavior which would include the wrong behaviors…

Have you ever read the real Mary Poppins books as well as watched the movie, “Saving Mr. Banks”? The actual series Mary Poppins was not the nice lady that Disney transformed her to. She had an edge in the books. Likewise, Disney sugar coated her and the story which is why the author had the battle with Disney in the production of the movie.
I think the movie points out that both Disney and the author had pretty unhappy childhoods and their outlet was these fantasy stories. I think you are just looking on the surface which makes Mr. Banks the bad guy in focusing on making money and the mother over involved with political causes. I would try to dig deeper into the author and even Disney and their motivations and what it reveals about them.

 

[St_Francis]

So Mary Poppins is all about saving Mr. Banks from societal greed, adult obsessions & anxieties and an orderly world by rekindling in his heart a childlike spirit (guarded by good behavior which Mary Poppins strictly enforces) which he then shares with his children by giving up his old live, embracing humor, song and most importantly his children - whom he again “sees” and loves.

In this day and age, could we say that as we all become adults, we all are threatened by placing too much emphasis on things and order? - Are we not tempted to forget our duties as parents not only to be present to our children, but to love them and, in spirit, be like them: humble, trusting, playful, unafraid of the future, unconcerned with the past, loving and forgiving?*

In other words, is it too bold to say each of our personal missions is to become child-like?*
Does Mary Poppins articulate well Christ’s message when He placed the child in front of him showing his disciples how to be the “greatest”?

Thoughts?

*Note the distinction from “child-ish” behavior which would include the wrong behaviors…

I think it is so great when people can find Christian “messages” in everyday sources like this I think you put this all very well!

 

[robwar]

I did read a number of the Mary Poppins books growing up. I also read the original Bambee and a number of the other books that Disney transformed into his hits. Disney had a way of transforming children’s stories with an edge into the cute beloved stories. The original Bambee was really ahead of its time. It had a very environmentalist message. It was a tough read and wasn’t the cute Thumper etc characters that Disney transformed the story to. This is true of Mary Poppins who was kinda a stern and somewhat mean character. This is true of Snow White, Cinderella, Pinocchio and many of these children’s stories transformed by Disney. If you really take the time to re read the originals and try to blank out the Disney take on them, they were not the fun and cute stories we see on the movie screen.

 

[robwar]

I think it is so great when people can find Christian “messages” in everyday sources like this I think you put this all very well!

You have a nice sentiment but sometimes we can read into something that really isn’t there.
In the Disney make of the Mary Poppins series, both parents were neglectful of the two children, the dad with his work, the mom with her politics. It is a bit of the stretch to turn it into some Christian message except that yes, parents are to pay attention and attend to their children. The real Mary Poppins was an aunt of the author, coming to help the family from their alcoholic father. A much darker and unhappy story than what we see on the screen.

 

[ClearWater]

You have a nice sentiment but sometimes we can read into something that really isn’t there.
In the Disney make of the Mary Poppins series, both parents were neglectful of the two children, the dad with his work, the mom with her politics. It is a bit of the stretch to turn it into some Christian message except that yes, parents are to pay attention and attend to their children. The real Mary Poppins was an aunt of the author, coming to help the family from their alcoholic father. A much darker and unhappy story than what we see on the screen.

Wow! Interesting!

 

[IwishIknew]

Thank you for these insightful responses. I’m still forming an opinion about this - but here is where I think I am going…

Between Children and Parents there is a “gulf” that is difficult to cross.
My children, when they play with toys, enter into a world of imagination that seems wonderful and different. Many times, they no longer seem to be present in the room while I stand before them as the anxious, ever-watchful, guiding, loving parent who works day and night to supply for them. If I get down to play with their toys, sadly, the room remains the same and the toys are just pieces of formed plastic to me.

This “gulf” is more visible when you watch children on a playground or even more so at a family reunion - the adults sit over there and the children play over in another spot(s).

Then Jesus seems to hint at childlike behavior: humility, love, trust (and esp. lack of worries) and maybe playfulness as the key to greatness and salvation - pointing out a child who was the greatest among all the disciples present (though the disciples had made tremendous sacrifices and had given up everything to be with Jesus, while the child had contributed nothing other than to just stand there). Listening to Jesus, it seems as though if all of them were to die at that moment, the kid would be in the greatest position in the Kingdom of God.

So here comes Disney who adjusts the story of Mary Poppins and ends it by saving Mr. Banks who figures out how to reach across this “gulf” to find humor, carefree-ness, love and can now connect with his children through flying kites.

I’m beginning to wonder if Disney’s version of Mary Poppins with Mr. Banks’ redemption reveals the formula for the success of Disneyland. In Disneyland, parents do ride with their children, they enjoy the shows and parades with their children, they sit down to have an ice cream together with their children, they explore the many hidden wonders of Disneyland with their children.

Maybe our society is so broken because of this “gulf” between adults and children. Maybe in finding ways to breach this “gulf” (bound by proper behavior, of course) maybe adults can better prepare themselves to enter the Kingdom of God.

 

[robwar]

Thank you for these insightful responses. I’m still forming an opinion about this - but here is where I think I am going…

Between Children and Parents there is a “gulf” that is difficult to cross.
My children, when they play with toys, enter into a world of imagination that seems wonderful and different. Many times, they no longer seem to be present in the room while I stand before them as the anxious, ever-watchful, guiding, loving parent who works day and night to supply for them. If I get down to play with their toys, sadly, the room remains the same and the toys are just pieces of formed plastic to me.

This “gulf” is more visible when you watch children on a playground or even more so at a family reunion - the adults sit over there and the children play over in another spot(s).

Then Jesus seems to hint at childlike behavior: humility, love, trust (and esp. lack of worries) and maybe playfulness as the key to greatness and salvation - pointing out a child who was the greatest among all the disciples present (though the disciples had made tremendous sacrifices and had given up everything to be with Jesus, while the child had contributed nothing other than to just stand there). Listening to Jesus, it seems as though if all of them were to die at that moment, the kid would be in the greatest position in the Kingdom of God.

So here comes Disney who adjusts the story of Mary Poppins and ends it by saving Mr. Banks who figures out how to reach across this “gulf” to find humor, carefree-ness, love and can now connect with his children through flying kites.

I’m beginning to wonder if Disney’s version of Mary Poppins with Mr. Banks’ redemption reveals the formula for the success of Disneyland. In Disneyland, parents do ride with their children, they enjoy the shows and parades with their children, they sit down to have an ice cream together with their children, they explore the many hidden wonders of Disneyland with their children.

Maybe our society is so broken because of this “gulf” between adults and children. Maybe in finding ways to breach this “gulf” (bound by proper behavior, of course) maybe adults can better prepare themselves to enter the Kingdom of God.

Interesting, Disney did start Disneyland in order to do something on Sundays with his daughters, there wasn’t a place where parents could go and spend time with their children. I think his own childhood wasn’t the happiest and maybe all the remakes of a number of children classical stories was a effort to recapture childhood carefree happiness. You don’t think of Bambee, Snow White, Mary Poppins, Pinocchio etc, as stories about childhood tragedies, you now think of them as the Disney remake with cute characters, happy songs, funny voices etc. Disneyland and the rest are places parents and children go to be carefree and together.

 

[colliric]

I did read a number of the Mary Poppins books growing up. I also read the original Bambee and a number of the other books that Disney transformed into his hits. Disney had a way of transforming children’s stories with an edge into the cute beloved stories. The original Bambee was really ahead of its time. It had a very environmentalist message. It was a tough read and wasn’t the cute Thumper etc characters that Disney transformed the story to. This is true of Mary Poppins who was kinda a stern and somewhat mean character. This is true of Snow White, Cinderella, Pinocchio and many of these children’s stories transformed by Disney. If you really take the time to re read the originals and try to blank out the Disney take on them, they were not the fun and cute stories we see on the movie screen.

Disney didn’t really transform Snow White, it stays true to the Brothers Grimm classic. Rather he choose to highlight what he thought was the most touching moralistic aspect of the story, the relationship between Snow White and her unlikely saviours in The Seven Dwarfs.

In the original story the dwarfs become like loving parents to Snow White, whom they realized was in mortal danger for no reason other than the queen’s jealousy. Taking this thread, Disney turned the heart of the film into showing how heroes and friends can be found in unlikely places. This is why his telling of the same story is basically subtitled “and the Seven Dwarfs”.

The same treatment was given to Mary Poppins. Disney found what touched him the most about the novel and he tried to make the film focus on that. His favourite song from Mary Poppins was Feed The Birds which contains strong religious themes. “Feed the Birds” includes lyrics alluding to the Saints watching on from Heaven and “smiling” everytime someone “shows that he cares”.

Disney did this with almost every adaptation made during his lifetime. He also originated the concept for the later adaptations of The Little Mermaid and The Snow Queen(Frozen) both of which had their roots in production materials created in the 1940s when he attempted to adapt an anthology film based on Hans Christian Andersen’s stories.