Was Mary Poppins an attack on fatherhood
(youtu.be)
You're viewing a single comment thread. View all comments, or full comment thread.
Comments (12)
sorted by:
I watched this movie way too much as a kid. It's the opposite, the movie is a cautionary tale about missing parenthood. This is just clickbait video essay slop.
Both parents are too busy for their kids, the father cares more about the bank and when he finally spends time with them its to teach his kids about the bank. The mother is too busy being a suffragette to spend any time with the kids, so they need a nanny to keep them locked up.
Mary Poppins enters as the nanny and shows the kids fun, adventure, and excitement. The father disapproves because the kids aren't learning to be bankers like him. When Mary Poppins gets him to take the kids to the bank with him, he learns why the bank is no place for children and gets in a ton of trouble. Before the long walk to his firing, Bert teaches the father about fatherhood and how he can connect with his children.
On the long walk, the father reflects on all he has learned. By the time he actually gets fired, he is overjoyed because now he gets to spend more time with his children.
At the end Mary Poppins sees a father finally stepping up and being a father, her work done, she moves on.
As a bonus, after the father's joy rubs off on the bankers, he gets reinstated. The father comes away still employed and able to provide for his family, with a brand new outlook on fatherhood and excitement for his children.
In the process of my own reply I also remembered this bit where Bert catches up to the kids after the fracas at the bank. The entire speech is sympathetic to a father's lot as a hard worker and a man's role as a silent sufferer and final fallback.
This part stuck somewhere in my psyche through the years and remains a good description of manhood, so this movie can't be all that subversive. It even starts playing George's song motif in the background on this bit. Highly sympathetic.