Appendix 3.2: Seimple films, synopses and character lists
MARY POPPINS US 65
Choosing a nanny is an important and delicate task, it
requires insight, a balanced judgement and an ability to
read character. Under the circumstances I think it might
be apropos to take it upon myself to select the next
person.
The major theme of the film is offered at this point in the
juxtaposition of George's and the childrens' differing
requirements of a nanny. Mary Poppins (Julie Andrews) arrives
the next morning having descended gently on a cloud to the
front door of the Banks' home shortly after a fierce wind has
blown away the long queue of hatchet faced would-be nannies
waiting to be interviewed. She takes control of the interview
with George, evidently a new experience for him, and instals
herself with the children who are instantly captivated by her
and her magical accessories.
The central section of the film chronicles various outings of
Mary, Bert and the children in which the boundaries between
fantasy and reality are delightfully blurred. The joie de
vivre experienced by all members of the household is, however,
interpreted by George as dangerous and disturbing chaos and he
resolves to dismiss Mary. Naturally this proves impossible and
instead he takes the children out himself, to visit the city
bank where he works. Chaos really does ensue here as the
children inadvertently provoke a run on the bank and in the
pandemonium which follows flee in panic through the ill lit
and threatening alleys of the city. Bert finds and returns
the children and the final section of the film begins with the
magical journey of Bert, Mary and the children over the
chimney tops of London, the rooftop ballet of the chimney
sweeps and the wild dance round the interior of the Banks'
home which ends shortly after George's return. The remainder
of the film is entirely concerned with George's
transformation: first the dialogue with Bert, then the
interview with the bankers, and finally the 'rebirth' of
George, now joyous and dishevelled, in the kite flying
sequence which closes the film. While the happy and united
Banks family dance together down the sunny afternoon street to
the park, Mary Poppins, alone in the nursery, packs her carpet
bag and leaves the house as she arrived, flying over a
panorama of spires, domes and chimneys bathed in an
unexplained sunset glow.
The whole film is studded with songs which have a crucial
narrative function. Their text delivers the utterance of a
particular character and their melody subsequently stands as a
referent for that character's experience or position, or for
the state of mind∕emotion summarised by the words of the song.
Thus when George, in the final scene at the bank, sings
snatches from 'A Spoonful of Sugar', which was Mary Poppins'
first song, we are alerted to his understanding of Mary's
approach to the children and, by implication, to life in
general, to the future which the children represent. Or,
similarly, when the melody of the chimney sweep's song 'Chim
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