Appendix 3.2: Sample films, synopses and character lists
MARY POPPINS US 65
London in which this home is situated is not. Neither
geography, weather nor time of day are logically coherent.
The cherry trees are always in bloom; the city is always damp
and foggy; it is nearly always evening in the park; the
pavements are frequently wet and there are a remarkable number
of sunsets. None of this impedes the flow of the narrative,
however, since what we are offered is an idea of London, not a
portrait of it. The proximity of the park, the zoo, and St
Paul's Cathedral defies any interpretation based on experience
of these places but nevertheless allows the various adventures
of the central family to unfold as if in a series of story
book illustrations. Like other films of the early sixties,
then, the overall style and address of Mary Poppins invites
the audience to share in a pleasurable complicity with its
artifices; the emphasis on playfulness which is a central
narrative element is extended to encompass the form of the
film itself.
The film is ostensibly about the socialisation of children,
interpreted through an implicitly child centred view of
education. But although this is a major theme, it is used to
interrogate the law of the father who must, for this reason,
be understood to be the central character of the film. It is
his equilibrium which is disrupted at the opening of the
narrative; it is he who must revise his views on childcare;
and it is his transformation which signals the resolution of
the narrative and the close of the film. He is the only
character, with the possible exception of the peripheral
figure of the banker Mr Dawes, to experience change during the
course of the film. There are, however, several other
important characters: the ubiquitous Bert who begins as
narrator, and proceeds to occupy a central position as the
male partner to Mary Poppins herself - in this sense the
couple function as an alternative, though temporary, set of
parents to the two children Jane and Michael. Bert's other
narrative function is to represent in summary form the
'cheerful cockney' which is just as important a signifier of
London, it seems, as the dome of St Paul's, the red pillar box
or the aeriel view of bridges and spires wreathed in mist. To
this end Bert appears in multiple guises - he is a one man
band in the opening sequence, then a pavement artist, a
chimney sweep and finally a seller of kites outside the park
gates in the last scene of the film. The plot structure is
fairly simple although it sustains a complex and intriguing
set of moral explorations. The film opens with the departure
of the Banks' nanny, Katie Nana; she is leaving because the
children, 'the little beasts', have run away from her in the
park for the fourth time in a week. We are thus introduced to
the cook and the maid, Ellen, to Winifred Banks (Glynis Johns)
the mother and to the father, George Banks (David Tomlinson),
before meeting the children when they are brought home by the
friendly neighbourhood police constable. We learn that this
is the fourth nanny in six months, and George Banks
consequently decides to make the next appointment himself:
265