Mary Poppins: A Mythological Hero on a Quest
by Mary Poppins is the nanny we all want in our household, but why?
David Adams Leeming wrote in The World of Myth “the myth that emerges from the many cultural versions of the hero, then, must be seen as a universal metaphor for the human search for knowledge, for what Teilhard de Chardin might have called the evolutionary path to full consciousness.” (Leeming, 217). Mary Poppins is a mythological literary character that has universal appeal that transcends time on her quest fulfilling the “human search for knowledge” in better parenting (Leeming, 217).
Pamela Lyndon Travers (born Helen Lyndon Goff) wrote the book Mary Poppins in 1934 drawing her inspiration for the character from her own childhood and her fascination with “Irish Mythology” (IMDB, P.L. Travers, 2011). Travers was born in Australia, raised in Britain and had later become friends with John Keats, an Irish poet. Travers multicultural background is what seems to have given Mary Poppins her universal appeal and lead to her later writings in the Irish Mythology genre.
Disney came across the character Mary Poppins through a famous actress of that time, Maureen O’Hara (Scarlet from Gone with the Wind), but turned down her proposal and sought it for themselves. Travers opposed the idea and did not like any of the changes from her book to film. It wasn’t until Julie Andrews came on board to play Mary did things begin to take shape, but Travers was still a strong opponent till her death in 1996. Andrews voice and acting is what brought Mary Poppins from a flat story character to the universally known icon for all nannies’ from then until now. The popularity of Mary Poppins and the idea of a British nanny that comes into someone’s household to not only teach the children how to behave, but the parents how to parent is desired by many in American culture. Mary Poppins quest to change the Bank’s family became America’s quest to utilize the nanny icon in changing how America’s children behave. Ultimately America realized that when the children are behaving poorly it stems from poor parenting. Mary Poppins is needed to teach American families how to be, just that, families.
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