The first time I watched Mary Poppins sticks out to me quite clearly in my early childhood memories. I hadn’t watched many musicals yet, and I was still in the stage where my older brother’s opinions deeply swayed mine. He was anti-musicals; my dad was very intent on expanding our film knowledge, especially the “classics” (basically anything Julie Andrews). I expected Mary Poppins to be boring and historical. I was wrong, and delighted by the magic Mary Poppins brought- especially the scene with the flavor and color changing delicious medicine.
Reading that scene last week filled me with warmth and transported me immediately back to my basement, sitting on the red couch with my dad. I adored the film then and I adored the book now, both times surprising myself with how much I was taken by Mary Poppins. Of course, being 10 or so years older, I picked up on more plot lines, themes, metaphors, jokes, et cetera than I did when I was younger.
Primarily, Mary Poppin’s vanity and attitude that verges on rudeness sticks out in the story. She is magical, mysterious, and whimsical, but the reader is struck by her self-absorption. She stops in every mirror to admire herself and adjust so that she is perfect, she never explains anything or tells the children what is going on, and she often treats the children as if they are annoying little pests. She seems to represent a few typical adult tropes for children during the time period, perhaps even modelled off of adults in P.L. Travers’ life. Children are often curious, and in awe of the world around them- so even trivial things could seem magical. Perhaps there was an adult in Travers’s life that regarded her as mischievous, annoying, or perstering, and treated her the way Mary Poppins treats Jane and Michael: never answering her questions, making her feel small, shushing her, and more.
Yet the children adore Mary Poppins, regardless of what she does or says to them. They are taken by the magic she brings to their lives, ever curious of all of the fantastic events that seem to follow Mary Poppins around. I have always loved the laughing gas scene, which seems so full of pure, innocent, and untouched joy. It is just one example of a seemingly crazy thing that happens to the children when they are with Mary Poppins. It is representative of a phenomenon where children will always look up to their caretakers- there is a sense of unconditional love and admiration that could verge on problematic in certain adult-child relationships.
Travers plays the long-accepted concept of adult-child relationships, where adults have the power, authority, and upper hand. In terms of the admiration of Mary Poppins and the way she treats the children, Travers likely drew on personal experience and typical relationship and power dynamics. But there are occasions where the children become the caretakers, and the adults become foolish, annoying, curious, or admiring. The laughing gas scene, as I mentioned above, is a great example, as well as some of Mr. and Mrs. Banks’ decisions. The children show levels of responsibility and caring for eachother in ways that the adults surrounding them seem unable to do.
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