Mary Poppins as Symbol and Story: Travers’ Themes vs. Disney’s Adaptation
Introduction: On the surface, Mary Poppins is a whimsical tale of a magical nanny arriving to mind the Banks children, but both P.L. Travers’ books and the 1964 Disney film embed deeper symbolism. Travers, steeped in myth and mysticism, crafted Mary Poppins as a figure who brings extraordinary truth into an ordinary family en.wikiquote.org . In fact, Travers later acknowledged that Mary Poppins can be seen as a manifestation of the “Mother Goddess” archetype – though this emerged unconsciously in her writing en.wikiquote.org . The Disney film preserves many of the story’s imaginative set-pieces and its ultimate message about family, but it softens and reshapes some themes for a more overtly “sunny” and sentimental experience themarypoppinseffect.com . Below, we explore key scenes for their symbolic meaning in Travers’ original vision – emphasizing themes of childhood wonder, imagination vs. authority, order vs. chaos, social critique, and perso...