(no subject)

The interesting thing abut Walt Disney's production of Mary Poppins is that inasmuch as it has a structure at all- it's mostly just a series of charming vignettes- it's about Mr Banks, not Mary Poppins or the kids. We see him as an emotionally repressed banker; follow his constantly thwarted desire for a regular household; hear Burt describe the quiet horror of his bank job (which FREAKED ME OUT as a kid); see him cashiered, and respond to it in a way that, in any other movie, would play like a nervous breakdown; see him come home after being out all night, and then joyously flying kites with his children. It's a very clever way to structure an extremely episodic group of stories.