Deconstructing Disney

Mary Poppins

Episode Summary

Erin and Rachel discuss the classic hybrid film, Mary Poppins. Although Julie Andrews’ famous nanny may be “practically perfect in every way,” the co-hosts find plenty of flaws in the 1964 film’s messaging on family values, gender roles, and classism.

Episode Notes

Episode Summary

Erin and Rachel discuss the classic hybrid film, Mary Poppins. Although Julie Andrews’ famous nanny may be “practically perfect in every way,” the co-hosts find plenty of flaws in the 1964 film’s messaging on family values, gender roles, and classism. 

Episode Bibliography

Coate, M. (2014, August 27). Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious: Remembering “Mary Poppins” on its 50th anniversary. The Digital Bits. http://thedigitalbits.com/columns/history-legacy--showmanship/mary-poppins-50th-anniv

Dudley, S. (2018, December 14). Making of Mary Poppins (2004 Full). YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtYJlmdn48U

Flanagan, C. (2005, December 12). Becoming Mary Poppins: P. L. Travers, Walt Disney, and the making of a myth. The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2005/12/19/becoming-mary-poppins?currentPage=all

Gillis, M. J., & Jacobs, A. T. (2017). History of women’s activism in the United States: Struggles and solidarities. In M. J. Gillis & A. T. Jacobs (Eds.), Introduction to Women’s and Gender Studies (pp 317-351). Oxford University Press. 

Lawson, V. (2005). Mary Poppins, she wrote: The life of P. L. Travers. Simon & Schuster.

Mary Poppins (film). (n.d.). Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Poppins_(film)

Nel, P. (2019). Was the Cat in the Hat Black? Oxford University Press. 

Ness, M. (2014, April 3). A spoonful of music makes the nanny: Disney’s Mary Poppins. Tor.com. https://www.tor.com/2014/04/03/a-spoonful-of-music-makes-the-nanny-disneys-mary-poppins/

Nym Mayhall, L. E. (1999). Domesticating Emmeline: Representing the suffragette, 1930-1993. National Women's Studies Association Journal, 11(2), 1-24. 

Robb, S. (2008, July 21). How not to do an American accent. BBC News Magazine. Retrieved November 13, 2020, from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7509572.stm

Stevenson, R. (Director). (1964). Mary Poppins [Film]. Walt Disney Productions. 

Szumsky, B. E. (2000). “All that is solid melts into the air”: The winds of change and other analogues of colonialism in Disney’s Mary Poppins. The Lion and the Unicorn, 24(1), 97-109. 

Travers, P. L. (1934). Mary Poppins. Harper Collins.