Things We Forgot About Childhood Movies: Suffragettes in Mary Poppins

In the original Mary Poppins books, Mrs. Banks was simply a “struggling mistress” of the household, “easily intimidated” and treated with contempt by the books’ namesake, presumably for her need to even have a nanny. In the 1960’s Disney movie, she was updated to a loving mother who nevertheless cannot care for her children alone because she is frequently carried away by waves of excitement for the fledgling suffragette movement.

Dubious “proper motherhood and feminism = oil and water” implications aside, holy shit, look at the history in my Disney movie! This is better than the prostitutes in Bedknobs and Broomsticks.

Anyway, as a daughter’s daughter: Happy 100th International Women’s Day.

(via Full of Woah!)