The Internet and social media have really changed the way that many of us communicate and interact with each other. Sometimes it is for the good but at other times, we find that we are doing nothing more but being judgmental and using social media as a platform to voice our opinions loud and clear. This has even followed through into some classic films, as we have recently seen. It seems as if Mary Poppins is now under attack for an iconic scene filmed on the rooftops.
Julie Andrews starred in the 1964 film that has been played for children for generations. The scene is very well known because Andrews goes up on the rooftop to meet Dick Van Dyke and other chimney sweeps. They are about to perform the song, Step in Time.
As Andrews was on her way to the rooftop, she went through a chimney with the children, Michael and Jane Banks. When she popped out on top of the rooftop, they were covered in soot, which is quite realistic, considering they just came out of a chimney.
This is where it gets interesting. Professor Pollack-Pelzner posted an article in the New York Times in which he criticized the scene. He writes: “one of the more indelible images from the 1964 film is of Mary Poppins blacking up.”
He continues: “Her face gets covered with soot, but instead of wiping it off, she gamely powders her nose and cheeks and gets even blacker.”
The film is then linked with a quote from the 1943 novel, Mary Poppins Opens the Door. The housemaid in the novel screams ‘Don’t touch me, you black heathen’ to a chimney sweep.
“The 1964 film replays this racial panic in a farcical key. When the dark figures of the chimney sweeps Step in Time on a roof, a naval buffoon, Admiral Boom shouts, “We’re being attacked by Hottentots!” and orders his cannon to be fired at the “cheeky devils”.
We’re in on the joke, such as it is: These aren’t really black Africans; they’re grinning white dancers in blackface. It’s a parody of black menace; it’s even posted on a white nationalist website as evidence of the film’s racial hierarchy.”
There are plenty of people out there who love the film and they were quick to argue against those views. Of course, they did so on social media.
One person wrote: “So some so-called academic had branded the Mary Poppins movie racist, over a scene where they get covered in soot (implying they’re blacking up?!).
For crying out loud! You call yourself an academic? Not much education has gone on with you has there? Enjoy your 5 seconds of fame.”
Another one said: “It was soot from the chimney she’d just flown up, you nitwit.”
So some so-called academic had branded the Mary Poppins movie racist, over a scene where they get covered in soot (implying they're blacking up?!). For crying out loud! You call yourself an academic? Not much education has gone on with you has there? Enjoy your 5 seconds of fame. pic.twitter.com/Cr9eNmUxct
— Michael J. Poulter (@MichaelJPoulter) February 3, 2019
It was soot from the chimney she'd just flown up, you nitwit https://t.co/7gQyAEqF88
— Saul ?????? (@OldSchoolSaul) January 29, 2019
The Prof. talked about his in opinion and the reaction he encountered: “I don’t like hearing that something I loved and that something that was important to me in my childhood might be more troubling than I assumed. So I appreciate the strength of the reaction.
I just hope some of that energy can go to Disney as well and ask them to think a little bit more about how their new movies connect with the past.”