Walt Disney, Ms. Goff and Mr. Banks And a Review of Sorts of a Book by Ian M. Cron

A few days before seeing the movie, “Saving Mr. Banks” I had finished reading “Jesus, My Father, the CIA and Me” by Ian Morgan Cron, who had an alcoholic father. The book was about his struggle to know who his father was and understand his relationship with him. The book was a self-described “memoir of sorts” and like the movie’s flashbacks, there were many memories that the author revisited in the book. I believe that those who have survived an upbringing in a family with an alcoholic might relate to many of the issues Ian Cron struggled with for many years. Ms. P.L. Travers (Ms. Goff) might have benefited from reading Cron, but if she had there may have never been a movie called “Saving Mr. Banks.”

Now let me say, “Saving Mr. Banks” is a wonderful movie about the making of Disney’s “Mary Poppins” which was released in 1964. “Saving Mr. Banks” the movie, although it is about the movie “Mary Poppins” is not a movie for children. It is an account of the struggle Walt Disney had with the Ms. P. L. Travers (Ms. Goff), author of “Mary Poppins” over the making of “Mary Poppins” the movie. As long as Travers was financial stable, she did not need to concern herself with Disney’s promise to his daughters and his own desire to make a movie about Mary Poppins.

The struggle between Disney and Travers became more earnest if not necessary when her book agent told Travers she was about out of money and that she needed to sell the movie rights. It isn’t clear from the movie to what extent she maintained some control over the making of the movie, because ultimately she was financially dependent on it being done.

The issues between Walt Disney and P.L. Travers center primarily on each other’s rights to have creative control of the end product. According to the movie, Travers believed children should not have everything sugar-coated, that they needed to be confronted with reality so that they might be better prepared for the hard things of life. She believed Disney’s work did little to prepare children to face the realities of pain, struggle and loss. She thought Disney would only trivialize her story and make it syrupy sweet with music and animated characters.

  

Disney, on the other hand, wanted to make Mary Poppins a musical, with animated characters. He believed in giving children happy, sentimental endings. He wanted to inspire and give children hope.

As movie goers will discover, the book "Mary Poppins" is not totally fiction, but based in large measure on the experiences of Ms. Travers (aka Ms. Goff) and her father, who turns out to be the fictionalized Mr. Banks in the movie. Disney discovers this about Travers’ after holding to her expectation that the details of the movie adhere to the circumstances of her fiction. But when he portrays Mr. Banks as “too cruel” she explodes and he realizes that not only is Banks real but other characters are similarly real also. The irony is that in the book, the no-nonsense nanny, Mary Poppins has magical powers.

The writers change the story, realizing now that Mary Poppins came, not to save two children, but to save Mr. Banks from himself. Needless to say, this does not change her mind about the direction of the movie. And again, the writers are exasperated time and again. Disney himself is in search of what motivates her. He takes her to Disneyland to no avail.

Many of the movie reviewers of “Saving Mr. Banks” I read focused on the different perspectives held by Disney and Ms. Travers. In the end, Mary Poppins was a better movie because of their different perspectives. The movie, “Saving Mr. Banks” is a story of that collaboration, if I may call it that, chronicling the dilemma of an author in need of funds, but who wants desperately to preserve with integrity the experience she had with her father, and the creative force embodied by Disney who needed the movie rights of that story to fulfill a promise to his daughters and inspire a generation of children.

The movie resolves the conflict with Disney visiting Ms. Travers in England with the appeal to her that this movie is another storytelling of "Mary Poppins." Disney tells her his story of growing up poor in Missouri. And so the movie was made. It is a movie based on the story of Mary Poppins.

From the reviews I read after seeing the movie many made note of the innumerable flashbacks to Ms. Traver's childhood memories of her father, home life and childhood were shown through the use of flashbacks. However, there were at least two occasions that to me confirmed a struggle of memory and just how she chose to interpret them.

The book, “Jesus, My Father, the CIA and Me” by Ian Morgan Cron, who like Ms. Travers had an alcoholic father, struggled with depression. Cron's book chronicles his progress, lapses, and doubts of self-worth. It's about his memory of his childhood and his father, who was at times employed by the CIA. Like, Ms. Travers, Cron remembers certain things which on reflection and an accumulation of facts sometimes turns memory on itself. He writes that the whole truth is sometimes more than the facts. The whole truth sometimes requires a bit or maybe a lot of faith. There were places in the movie that suggested Ms. Travers, too, struggled with her memories of growing up with a father who was mistreated at work and dependent on alcohol.

From the perspective of the movie I am not sure if Ms. Travers ever settled with the notion that another story could be told of “Mary Poppins” that was as valid as the account held in her mind. Some who knew Ms. Travers say she never liked Disney’s version, but I am convinced that the account of Mary Poppins as told by Walt is the one I prefer. So this is my summary, the movie is about memories and what we make of them.  It may even take a little conflict resolution, but the point is, it's not just getting all the facts we can, but our faith to interpret them. The memories may even struggle within us, like the struggle between Disney and Ms. Travers, but ultimately we choose the end. Let me know what you think.

 Scripture

You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish…the saving of lives - Genesis 50.19-20

Remember and don't forget – Exodus 13.3, Numbers 15.39, Deuteronomy 5.15, 6.12, and 9.7

They piled stones as a memorial after crossing the Jordan River - Joshua 4.3-7

Today you will choose who you will serve – Joshua 24.15

Samuel took a stone and named it Ebenezer to remind them that God had helped them that far – 1 Samuel 7.12

Those who wait on God have hope – Isaiah 40.31

I have hope because God is who I have – Lamentations 3.24

Ten lepers were healed but only one remembered to give God the glory – Luke 17.18

Remembering the benefits to living in his father’s house, he came to his senses - Luke 15.17

Remember the sacrifice of Christ – Luke 22.19

God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them - Romans 8:28

We look to that which is eternal – 2 Corinthians 4.8-18

We do not grieve as others who have no hope – 1 Thessalonians 4.13

We have a reason for the hope that is within us – 1 Peter 3.15