A Spoonful of Sugar

I'm a teenager. Seventeen in fact and this review is on Mary Poppins. Before I start though, I would ask you to wonder for a moment, why would I, a girl in my late teens, invest so much time and thought into this extremely childish film?

Well, back to the old adage. Don't judge a book by it's cover. Nor a movie. The childishness of Mary Poppins is skin deep. Trust me. Hidden just behind the facade, is a beautiful story of love, loss and redemption. And today, I'll tell you that story.

Let me start with a little girl called Ginty, who used to live with her father, mother and sisters, Biddy and Moya, in Allora, Australia. Her father was charismatic and loving. He taught Ginty to never stop imagining. Ginty loved him very much and they were the best of friends. He used to work in a bank. A bank which perhaps felt like a cage to him. Life's frustrations gradually pushed him towards alcohol. Time and again this caused him to lose his job and that meant, Ginty and her family had to keep changing their houses. He was gradually demoted from the post of a bank manager to a meager clerk. As expected, it also created a huge rift between her parents. Ginty, being the eldest of her siblings, was the straw which strenuously held them together. Her mother even tried to commit suicide by drowning herself. Fortunately, she survived but was never quite the same again. Alcoholism and disease goes hand in hand and soon after, Ginty's father fell grievously ill. To save the day, came along The Aunt. Ginty's great aunt from her mother's side. She was a very stern, no-nonsense lady who promised to take care of the children and save Ginty's father. No sooner than she arrived, she started putting everything in order, as if, with a touch of magic. She took out an array of strange things from her large carpet bag and put Ginty and Biddy to work immediately. But, at the long last, she couldnt save Ginty's father. He died of influenza leaving the family destitute.

Ginty was the childhood pet name of P L Travers, the author of the Mary Poppins books, which, we can see, have been deeply affected by her past. The aunt inspired Mary Poppins, the very enemy of sentiment and whimsy. Although the stories talk about Mary Poppins taking care of the two Banks children, the one she really came to save was Mr. Banks. What we can only hope for in reality come true in our imaginations. The aunt fails to save Ginty's father but Mary Poppins does save Mr. Banks!

In the Disney movie based on these books, the portrayal of Mary Poppins is very different. She is stern but sweet, loving, caring and "practically perfect in every way". But more importantly, the Mr Banks we see in the movie is anything but similar to Ginty's father! This leads me on to my second story.

There lived a little boy, about eight years of age, in cold Kansas City, Missouri. His father, Elias, had a local newspaper business. Being a tough businessman, he tried to save a penny wherever he could. So, he used him and his elder brother to deliver the thousands of newspapers twice daily. Winters there, were bitter and cold. The little boys would have to wade through knee high layers of snow. Their father didn't believe in buying new shoes till the old ones had completely worn out. The cold and wet snow seeped through their shoes. After the first round of delivery and school, they would return home frozen and nearly faint from cold. And no sooner than they had completed dinner, it would be time for the evening paper. Elias threatened them with his belt buckle lest they should be late. Yet, the eight year old loved his father beyond words.

The little boy in the above story is none other than the child Walt Disney. He could never reconcile with his father's unbearable cruelty. He was tired of remembering his beloved daddy as someone stony and unloving. Elias was his Mr. Banks. And he had a mustache.

Mr. Banks of the movie is not Ginty's father or Walt's dad, it's a bit of both of them! It was never about the children or their nanny; Mary Poppins existed only to save Mr Banks! We see in the movie how Mr Banks finally succeeds in saying "Supercalifragelisticexpialidocious" and exclaims that Mary Poppins was right! With that one word, Mr Banks' outer covers of a strict disciplinarian falls away magically. He returns jobless yet happy. He mends his children's kite which he had scorned upon earlier. That too with tuppence for string and paper! Tuppence that had caused him to lose his job. No more is the cold and distant father as he takes his children's hands and leads them out in song.
"Let's go fly a kite                    
Up to the highest highs
Up in the atmosphere
Up where the air is clear
And send it soaring!"
Finally we see Mrs. Banks attaching her suffragette ribbons as the tail of the kite. She doesn't need an escape from oppression anymore!

Thank you Mary Poppins. I wish I had a nanny like you. And so does my friend Sayak. (Actually he wishes he had Julie Andrews herself for his nanny!)

Well, we all know how Mary Poppins rocked every moment of the movie and of course, she's our hero. But, the one person I'd really like to talk about is, Bert. He is apparently a nobody with no proper job. But he is something that no other character in the film is. He is happy! He does what he likes, when he likes and how he likes. He plays a one man band, paints pictures on the sidewalk and sweeps chimneys. He is not wealthy by any means but he makes the best of everything. Somewhere beneath the layers of materialistic interest and wealth, the aristocrats had lost their happiness. But, not our Bert. He is FREE. Free from social proprieties and obligations. Free enough to realise how frustrated Mr Banks was by the iron bars of the bank. He is the only person who seems to be able to appreciate the integrity of the hardworking father and understand that beneath the strict exterior, Mr Banks was a warm and loving. Mary Poppins could never have saved Mr Banks but for Bert. He made the children love their father again even before Mr Bank mended the kite! Bert compels us, the audience, to sympathize with Mr Banks, to feel weary for his cares and to be joyous when he is finally happy.

Childhood is like soft clay. However much we may credit adolescence to be the forming years of life, childhood is its very foundation. Childhood scars run deep. A child cannot forget loss. Rather the pain piles up and piles up and results in guilt that the child itself had been responsible for its loss. Ginty couldn't forgive herself even when she became P L Travers and Disney couldn't forgive his dad. But, they needed to. They couldn't live happily and in peace till their childhood scars still hurt. So the books and the movie, were attempts to remake the memories through imagination! And, it was all for the redemption of their beloved fathers.

It really wouldn't be fair to end this without talking about the ultimate reason why I watched and loved this movie. JULIE ANDREWS! Those who have watched this movie will know what i mean. She is phenomenal here. She gave Mary Poppins the face that we will always remember, cherish and love. You could think I'm biased as she happens to be my favorite actress. But lo behold! History says that the world was on the same page with me on this. She won the 1964 Academy Award for Best Actress and the 1964 Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for her performance. She and her co-stars also won the 1965 Grammy Award for Best Album for Children. I could never imagine or believe in a Mary Poppins who is not her. 

What's more, Julie Andrews was expected to play the lead role in the film version of the popular Broadway musical, "My Fair Lady", a role which was the stepping stone in her career at Broadway. But the producer of the film, Jack L. Warner, in an attempt to "sell" the movie, chose Audrey Hepburn, saying that Andrews did not have much experience on the big screen. During her acceptance speech in the Golden Globe awards (which she won against Audrey Hepburn), she thanked Jack L. Warner for giving her the opportunity to participate in Mary Poppins. Sweet revenge it was!

Because this would never have existed without your insistence, perseverance and help. So, thank you Sayak Mitra.