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Saving Mrs. Banks

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Saving Mrs. Banks Ben-Gurion University of the Negev The Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Department of Gender Studies Saving Mrs. Banks Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Master of Arts Degree (M.A) Almog Naveh Under the Supervision of Prof. Catherine Rottenberg October 2019 I Abstract "Well done! Sister Suffragette!" sings Mrs. Banks in Disney's 1964 major motion picture Mary Poppins. It is not a song that one can easily forget, since it is not often that you can hear such a rallying cry for feminism, an endearing and catchy cry at that, in one of Walt Disney's most beloved films. The charismatic and musically inclined suffragette in this scene is Mrs. Banks, the wife of Mr. Banks, and the mother of the Banks children whom Mary Poppins arrives to look after, in what becomes a tale of magical and surprising events. Both Mary Poppins and Mrs. Banks are beloved and memorable characters in the Mary Poppins film, but both appear significantly changed from their initial introduction to audiences in the books written by P.L. Travers in 1934. Due to Disney's immense popularity, and the amount of book-to-film adaptations that the Disney studio has produced in the 20th century, it is therefore not surprising that Disney and its movie adaptations process, are at the center of an impassioned academic discussion. This discussion relates to the norms and values promoted within Disney's most famous films and the manner these values are presented to children and adults, but more specifically, young girls and women. While some scholars claim that historically, Disney purposely promoted conservative values within his films, others claim that Disney was, in fact, a revolutionary, swaying public opinion and championing liberal values such as diversity, acceptance, and feminism. Despite their ideological disagreement regarding the nature of these values and norms, scholars agree that changes made to characters and plotlines, in book-to-film adaptations, provide the means with which new values, differing from those found in the original work, are embedded within Disney film adaptations. III Notably, many of these discussions regarding values and norms relate to noticeable characteristics, physical attributes, and plotline developments, that are commonly taken at face value. Furthermore, these discussions do not address the method with which these values are implemented and the manner this method may affect the perception of the new embedded values and characteristics. Therefore, at first glance, witnessing the charismatic newly added "Sister Suffragette" musical number, in the opening scene of Disney's Mary Poppins film, sang by actress Glynis Johns, while she is wearing a Votes for Women sash, might lead viewers to believe that this was, in fact, Disney's way of embracing and promoting feminism, equality, and women's rights. However, as argued in this study, the Disney induced changes made to the Mary Poppins plotline and characters were introduced to promote conservative models of femininity, and to reaffirm the patriarchal family model with its traditional, gendered division of labor. Moreover, these changes were in direct response to historical, cultural changes brought on by the Woman Movement and the fluctuating gender norms throughout the 19th-20th century. Following Jack Zipes's "Well-Made Disney Fairy Tale Model", this thesis brings forward and retraces the model schematically used by Disney to embed specific norms and values within the adapted material, while guiding the plotline and character adaptation process. This model, based on the guiding attributes of fairy tales, was methodically used by Disney in both fairy tale and non-fairy tale material, as is shown through the overview of the changes made to the Mary Poppins plotline as well as to the two leading female characters. This argument is further supported by the analysis presented in this study, providing a historical overview of shifting gender norms and femininity, as well as an examination of IV female representation in Disney films. Demonstrating the correlation between the values embedded in the Mary Poppins adaptation via the fairy tale model, and Disney's conservative ideology, emboldened by the fluctuation gender norms of the 20th century. This thesis provides an account of the method, reason, and significance of the changes made to both Mary Poppins and Mrs. Banks within this film adaptation and the manner these characters were reintroduced to reaffirm models of traditional femininity and rebuke the perceived feminist rejection of femininity and motherhood. V Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge and deeply thank my supervisor, Prof. Catherine Rottenberg, for taking a chance on a very excited, yet incredibly unsure, inexperienced, somewhat disorganized, and naïve student. You have instilled such a passion in me, a kind of passion that has pushed me forward and led me on a path I never dreamed of pursuing, but I am now so happy and proud that I did. This was a challenging process, made more difficult due to geographical changes, and I can't thank you enough for patiently remaining by my side, not giving up on me, and continuously pushing me to do better. I'm thankful for your guidance, I have learned so much from you. Thank you for inspiring me. I would like to thank the Gender Studies Program, for providing me with the opportunity and the tools to continue on this path. Special thanks to Dr. Amalia Ziv and Dr. Sarai Aharoni, for your guidance and support. I am thankful for my family, my amazing parents, who remained understanding and patient throughout this process, as I was absent and not as attentive on the many days that I spent writing, reading and mostly not answering my phone. To my brother, Ravid Naveh, I apologize for the Hand-Ball games that I missed, I'm so proud of you and I promise to make it up to you now, thank you for always being so patient. I want to thank my incredible sister, Sapir Naveh, for agreeing to read this thesis in its entirety, writing notes, and openly discussing aspects of my study, giving me all the support I needed and always looking out for me, especially during this final month, you are my angel. To my best friend, Inbar Solomon, for encouraging me, believing in me, and for telling me I have a voice that is interesting and worthy of being listened to. VI To my studying partner, Ofir Arnon, for the comradery and all the Saturdays spent in almost complete silence, sitting in front of each other, each of us separately focusing on our own work. Honestly, I'm so happy and thankful I had you by my side during these last two years of our degree. Finally, thank you Maayan Padan, for always being so kind, attentive and willing to help. VII Table of Contents Introduction 1 Retracing the Mary Poppins Transformation 7 Mary Poppins Timeline 9 Chapter one- Adaptation and Disney Fairy Tales 11 Adaptations 11 Fairy Tales and The Disney Well-Made Fairy Tale Model 14 Chapter Two- Gender Norms, Disney, and The Classic Period 18 Gender Norms and Femininity in the 19th -20th Century 19 Reintegrating Motherhood Femininity and Womanhood Between 1930s-1960s 24 Disney Fairytales, Femininity and The Classic Period 28 The Female Disney Villain 30 Femininity and Motherhood in Disney Fairy Tales 32 Chapter Three- Getting to know Mary Poppins 35 Mary Poppins as Written by P.L Travers 35 Mary Poppins and the Banks children 41 Mary Poppins & Bert the Match Man 48 Mary Poppins- Negotiating Gender Norms 51 Mary Poppins in the 1964 Film Adaptation 53 Mary Poppins- From Text to Silver Screen 54 The Fairy Tale Model- Problem and Problem Solving 64 Chapter Four- Mrs. Banks 67 Mrs. Banks as written by P.L Travers 67 Mrs. Banks in the 1964 Disney film 72 The Fairy Tale Model- Problem and Problem Solving 78 Chapter Five- Conclusions 82 Bibliography 84 IX Introduction Background On December 2018, The New York Times published an online review of the new Mary Poppins Returns movie, written by Manohla Dargis. The movie, directed by Rob Marshall and starring Emily Blunt as Mary Poppins, is set twenty-five years after the original Mary Poppins film and is loosely based on the plotlines and adventures featured in the second installment of the Mary Poppins series Mary Poppins Comes Back written by P.L Travers in 1935. Mary Poppins Returns received mixed reviews by Dargis. The online article states that the movie emanates "a whiff of contemporary desperation that signals an endeavor reaching for honest nostalgia and trapped by bloodless marketing."(Dragis, 2018) This notion of nostalgia points toward the love and reverence that the original 1964 Disney Mary Poppins movie generates within the hearts of many adults today. Simply put, the original Mary Poppins movie tells the tale of a magical and strict nanny who has flown into the Banks household in order to care for the Banks children while taking them on magical and exciting adventures. A closer look into the movie adaptation in 1964, shows, however, that Mary Poppins does more than take care of children with the help of her magic. Mary Poppins saves the Banks children from emotional neglect and reforms the dysfunctional Banks family. She does so by helping Mr. and Mrs. Banks reevaluate their roles and behavior as parents. Mr. Banks is cold and stern with the children while Mrs. Banks is simply absent and presented as unintentionally foolish. Therefore, Mary Poppins' presence is needed. Many Mary Poppins enthusiasts will quickly point out, as Dargis Manohla did in her review, that the Mary Poppins film, as well as its sequel, are both based on the books written by P.L Travers.
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