I don’t really understand why but
Mateo started calling me Mary Poppins one day when I was wearing my glasses.
This has prompted a slew of singing Supercalifragiliciousexpialidocious (sometimes in Italian),
pulling things like peanut butter or scarves out of my shoulder bag, and fits
of laughter while walking through pigeon-populated plazas. It also prompted me
to re-watch the movie.
I had fallen asleep on the couch
while attempting to watch Game of Thrones with my Irish roommate. Around 10 pm
I decided to move to my slightly more comfortable bed. But since this new house
I’m living in has no internet, but a large collection of pirated Bolivian DVDs,
I decided to find one to soothe me back to sleep. And when I came across Mary
Fuckin Poppins (as was labeled on the actual dvd in sharpie), I couldn’t
resist.
I took it to my room, popped it
in the computer, and slowly but surely, I realized that this childhood favorite
of mine had much deeper social commentary than I had ever realized.
The first thing that struck me
was Mrs. Banks’s involvement in the Women’s Suffrage Movement. This I recall
from, and probably admired in my childhood. But as someone who now knows
something of “third wave” feminism, womanism, and is class-conscious if not
marxian in nature, I couldn’t stop laughing when Mrs. Banks, when recounting
the events of a protest, touches
the nanny on the shouoder and says “Oh, you should have been there,” failing to
acknowledge that her own attendance depended entirely on the fact that her
children were being taken care of by the nanny. She then grabs the domestic
servants of her home and has them sing with her
Cast off the shackles of yesterday!
Shoulder to shoulder into the fray!
Our daughters' daughters will adore us
And they'll sing in grateful chorus
"Well done, Sister Suffragette!"
They continue
Political equality and equal rights with men!
Then later
No more the meek and mild subservients we!
Though no mention is made of
equal rights for working women. Indeed analyses of Bolivian feminist movements
in the 1920s and 1930s note that while women from the upper classes organized
around rights to education, work, and suffrage, these demands lacked salience
for working-class women who had never been confined to the domestic sphere, and
were already part of the labor force. For them, labor organizing was a much
more crucial component of “liberation” than the opportunity to vote for
candidates who did not represent their interests.
Throughout the film we then see Mrs. Banks submitting to her husband’s whims. Often silenced by him, and other times responding to his requests with a repetitive “Yes, dear.” Indeed, she directly contradicts the assertion in the song
Though we adore men individually
We agree that as a group they're
rather stupid!
In essence, Marry Poppins
represents a truer form of women’s liberation. Though her position is that of
the working-class, her magical properties elevate her (figuratively and
literally) to a position, possibly outside of the class structure. Indeed, it
is she that tells Mr. Banks that she will give him a trial period. But at the
same time, she hangs out with the working-class. Burt, primarily, but she
eventually steps in time with the chimney sweeps, too. And whether it is her
working-class position, or her magical qualities that allow her this form of
equality with (or even superiority over) her male employer, she is the one
example of someone defying a traditional hierarchy.
Of course she’s not a perfect
feminist icon. She still prefers to see her whole face at once, is dressed
impeccably, and powders her nose, indicating she feels no compulsion to stray
outside of a certain ideological standard of beauty. But then again, it’s the movies,
so I’ll give her a pass on that one.
Mary also represents the
antithesis of capitalism, in some ways. Her solutions are always creative,
never rely on consumer goods. Fun is had by jumping into paintings, laughing on
the ceiling, and making games of otherwise tedious tasks. And when Mr. Banks
scolds her, she turns his words on their head, suggesting he take the children
to the bank where he works (knowing this will only cement the children’s aversion
to their father’s line of work). It is she that puts it into Michael’s head
that he should give his toppins to the Bird Lady, which eventually causes the
terrible chaos at the bank.
Indeed, the film tells us that
capitalism is about scary old men forcing us to give them their money, but
staying outside of the system induces laughter, song, dancing. When Mr. Banks
is fired he erupts in a fit of laughter and dances out of the bank. The next
day he goes kite flying with his family, singing all the while. And in the end
he gets his job back, but the damage is done. We’ve learned the bank is the
antithesis of fun. Or that fun is the antithesis of the bank. And gobs of money
just make us want to run away.
So the film isn’t perfect. But
its far more subversive than I would have expected from Disney in 1964. And in
the end, I’m quite proud to be associated with Mary Poppins and all her cheery
subversiveness. But I still don’t really get what’s going on with the Admiral
next door.
:
AFTERNOTE (12 July 2013): xoJane does an excellent job of enumerating the subversive themes of Dirty Dancing here.
