Mary Poppins Movie Response

This blog will be a progression of my reactions as I watch the movie. Here it goes:

To start the movie with a song like this gives me The Wizard of Oz vibes. The man with the instruments seems to be breaking the third wall as he talks directly to the audience. The movie starts with a nanny leaving just like in the books. Mrs Banks seems to be a bit of a feminist and is a heavy supporter of the women suffrage, I don’t remember that being part of the book so that must be one of the things the Disney changed in order to fit in with the values of the world at the time the movie was released.

Haha, Mrs Banks orders one of the maids to hide the chords she was wearing so that her husband wouldn’t find them because it infuriates him. For such a supporter of the feminist movement, Mrs Banks seems to be very scared of her husband. Most of the characters so far seem to be more concerned about what they are feeling before they even pay attention to what anyone else is trying to tell them. Mr Banks is very stern and really acts like the leader of the house, maybe aligning with the values of the time. Mr Banks is very rough on the children, and considering he leaves them with a nanny that could be part of the reason for why the kids are so rebellious. In the movie, Mr Banks is the one that interviews Mary Poppins, and Mary Poppins comes with the paper that Mr. Banks tore up which baffles him.

The first thing that Mary Poppins changes about the nursery is a bigger mirror. Disney did not change Mary Poppins’ vanity about her. In the movie, Mary Poppins is much friendlier with the kids from the very start. She is willing to answer the questions that the kids have and is actually following the list that the kids made but with a slight twist. I believe that Robertson Ay is not in this movie, and is instead replace by another female maid. It is interesting to see the graphics in movies from the 1930s compared to the movies now.  The whole movie seems to be a musical with the amount of songs that are in here. Wait what is that word haha. Super…. Okay I’m not even going to try. I see that Mary Poppins still denies whenever something abnormal happens. Mr. Banks seems to be a lot more rude in the movie than in the book. I also notice that there are only 4 family members , the twins are not in the movie. Maybe that is to enforce the “perfect family” of the time which was usually made up of 2 adults and 2 children.

The people at the bank are all like Mr Bank who all believe they know everything they are doing and think they are better than everyone else because of it. In the movie, the matchmaker plays a much bigger role. He helps Mr. Banks understand the value of being a father and that changes his perspective on order. I’m surprised at how the boss of mr Banks was filled with laughing gas after he told the joke. In the Disney version of the story, when Mary Poppins leaves everything is better unlike in the book where everything turns into chaos. Overall I really liked the movie and I think Disney did a good job turning Mary Poppins into a widely loved character which I think the book did not do.