Dick Van Dyke and Julie Andrews inMary Poppins.Photo: Disney/Kobal/Shutterstock
An op-ed fromThe New York Timesis challenging readers to see one of the most beloved scenes from 1964’sMary Poppinsin an entirely new light — but not everyone’s buying it.
“One of the more indelible images from the 1964 film is of Mary Poppins blacking up,” Pollack-Pelzner writes inThe Times. “When the magical nanny accompanies her young charges, Michael and Jane Banks, up their chimney, her face gets covered in soot, but instead of wiping it off, she gamely powders her nose and cheeks even blacker. Then she leads the children on a dancing exploration of London rooftops with Dick Van Dyke’s sooty chimney sweep, Bert.”
The writer claims that Travers’ novels “associate chimney sweeps’ blackened faces with racial caricature.”
Courtesy Disney
He also calls outLin Manuel-Miranda‘s character in the film for working for Van Dyke’s Bert, whose approach to cleaning chimneys, the author says, echoed minstrelsy. And he mentions that Meryl Streep’s character inMary Poppins Returnsshares a name, Topsy, with a black child that Mickey Mouse dresses up as in a short film from 1933.
Many of the reactions on Twitter said Pollack-Pelzner’s point of view was a reach.
“Mary Poppins wasn’t flirting with black face! It was soot in their faces from being a chimney!!! Stopped spreading racism claims on non racist things like this!!!” wrote one user.
“Mary Poppins racist?!” wrote another user in disbelief. “Whatever next!!”
“End of the world when Hollywood thinks Mary Poppins is racist,” added a third.
Others, however, asserted that learning the history of Mary Poppins was important.
“This doesn’t mean you have to hate Mary Poppins. It doesn’t mean Mary Poppins is canceled,” journalist and authorMark Harriswrote. “It doesn’t mean you’re a racist if you like ‘Chim-Chim-Cheree.’ Can we at least agree that learning new things about a movie and its history is not a threat?”
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For the upcoming 2019 Academy Awards,Mary Poppins Returnswas nominated for Best Original Song, “The Place Where Lost Things Go,” as well as Best Original Score, Best Costume Design and Production Design.
Blunt was nominated for a Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award for her performance.
Mary Poppins Returnsis playing in theaters now.
source: people.com
