The Promise that Mary Poppins Returns Must Deliver

So we have a Mary Poppins Returns trailer. We have clips. The cast has scripts. We have a premise. Now here comes the big question: do we have a story?

Mary Poppins Returns will be the sequel to Mary Poppins. Instead of the Edwardian 1900s, we get the bleaker Great Depression. Bert and the elder Banks parents have vanished with the ravages of time, while Jane and Michael remain with Admiral Boom. Michael becomes bereft after his wife dies, and he has three children to raise. Jack the Lamplighter, played by the talented Lin-Manuel Miranda, replaces Bert as the children’s entrance into a magical world.

Practically Perfect

The thing with Mary Poppins is that her movie was practically perfect, like she is. Everyone in the family grows and changes for the better, thanks to Mary. The cook and housekeeper start to greet each other in the morning rather than bicker over the littlest things. Jane and Michael promise to behave better, and show more understanding for their father. Winifred slowly gains the confidence to stand up to her husband, at least to reason with him. Mr. Banks changes the most because he has to balance the reality that his children are children, something Winifred has already learned.

In Mary Poppins, Mr. Banks represented the post-war 1950s adult, who worked his way to the top and achieved the American Dream in a British atmosphere. David Tomlinson plays him as a well-meaning gentleman who expects perfection, and expresses angry disappointment when he cannot achieve an ideal home life. He has a nice house, can afford hired help and a nanny for his two kids. On the surface, he appears to be successful.

Despite this affluence, his children rebel while apologizing for their misbehavior. Jane and Michael hint that they want more than material comforts, and Mary Poppins provides them with the sweetness that George cannot provide. George lectures and demands order, but demanding order from children is a nigh impossible task, something that Winifred recognizes. She understands the children, but she cannot control them. Besides which, it’s not fair for her to give up her suffragette activities when she uses her privilege to make life for others better. The kids don’t demand that their mother stay home, the way they ask their father to play. Her presence satisfies them. Her husband’s absence doesn’t.

Love and Magic

Mary Poppins doesn’t just take them into other worlds and promise games; her actions show that she loves the Banks children, and cares about their well-being. George, rather than appreciate his family’s happiness, rages at how this happiness seems strange, from Ellen the housekeeper singing to his children bringing fresh flowers for their mother. His attempts to sack Mary Poppins for bringing “cheer” and ridiculous adventures to the Banks household backfire; she tricks him into introducing Jane and Michael to his world,and they rebel against the rigid adults in the bank. Both parties have to bend; Jane and Michael show kindness to their father after accidentally getting him in trouble, and in return George mends the kite they were flying at the beginning of the film.

Ironically, real life in the United States imitated art. The 1960s gave way to protest, and the hope for revolution and change. We made some progress, but not enough for a proper victory. Mr. Banks was more malleable than corrupt government systems and institutionalized racism. He proved adults could be more than the sum of their responsibilities. Real life didn’t measure up to the changes Mr. Banks promised.

 

After We Grow Up

Mary Poppins Returns features protagonists who represent the modern adult. Specifically, they represent the kids who grew up on Mary Poppins and have to contend with a harsh world rather than promised spoonfuls of sugar. In other words, as the Great Depression adults they reflect our generation — Generation Y — when the world decides to stack on the trauma and destroy our belief in fairness and justice. Jane fights as an activist, like her mother, while Michael struggles to balance his day job with his dreams. He adopts his father’s life, but not his mentality. Jane fights, but the stress has weighed on her, as we can see from her grey hairs.

Jane and Michael as adults question the wonders they saw when they were younger, but are more pleasant than their father was when they see magic again. They remember Mary Poppins and greet her warmly. She loved them, and they loved her. That’s why she returned, because love is a powerful bond. It wasn’t just the magic and the games; it was that she mended their socks, sang them to sleep, and took interest in their well-being. Their father’s idea of parenting was to pat his children on the head before bidding them good night at 6:03 PM. Winifred at least wanted to hug them after they had been missing for a couple of hours.

What Does It Mean When We Grow Up

The movie has to answer this question sincerely: can grown, disillusioned people regain their wonder and joy? What’s more, how is Mary going to do that? She can provide wonder and hope, but she can’t solve every problem. And what’s more, how can she help Michael regain his joy?

I hope Disney sincerely knows so that we have answers for our lives. Is that too much for a movie to answer? Maybe. But it’s an answer I want.