Association of Transpersonal Psychology 1997 Annual Conference

Thresholds of Creativity: Eros, Shadow and Spirit

Asilomar, California

In an attempt to show how the Shadow on youth is permeating through Western culture, I took an excerpt from one of my  favorite movies, Walt Disney's Mary Poppins.  The workshop discussion was prompted by going carefully through this dialogue, and pointing out how blatantly and subtly shadow manifests in seemingly benign situations.  The highlights and emphases are mine (in purple)...

Mary Poppins

George Banks is walking home, happy and cheerful.  He speaks for a moment with old Admiral Boom, and blissfully enters the house as his nanny, who has just quit because of the childrens’ alleged poor behavior, is leaving.  He enters the house, and begins singing:

          “I feel a surge of deep satisfaction, much as a king astride his noble steed.

          When I return from daily strife, to hearth and wife,

          How pleasant is the life I lead.

          I run my home precisely on schedule, at 6:01, I march through my door.

          My slippers, sherry and pipe are due, at 6:02,

          Consistent is the life I lead!

          It’s grand to be an Englishman in 1910.

          King Edward’s on the throne and it’s the age of men.

          I’m the lord of my castle, the sovereign, the liege,

          I treat my subjects, servants, children, wife,

          With a firm but gentle hand, no less oblige.

          It’s 6:03, and the heirs to my dominion,

          Are scrubbed and tubbed, and adequately fed.

          And so I’ll pat them on the head, and send them off to bed.

          How lovely is the life I lead."

    The shadow piece starts when the children are returned home by the constable after chasing their kite.  It was this “running away” that prompted Katy Nana to quit.  They ask father to help them build a better one, which falls on deaf ears. He becomes more and more angry as it becomes apparent he will need to get involved with the situation.  He takes it on himself finally, to hire an appropriate nanny, and sets about composing an ad for the London Times.

          "Wanted, no required:  Nanny.  Firm, responsible, no nonsense.

          A British nanny must be a general.  The future empire lies within her hands.

          And so the person that we need, to mold and breed,

          Is a nanny who can give commands."

“Are you getting this Winifred,” he asks.  “Oh yes, dear, every word.” she says.

          "A British bank is run with precision.  A British home requires nothing less.

          Tradition, discipline and rules, must be the tools.

          Without them:  disorder, catastrophe, anarchy.

          In short you have a ghastly mess."

    The children present their advertisement for the perfect nanny which, to say the least, is nothing near what father wanted.  When they’ve finished singing their request, the mother proudly breaks into tears.  Father responds this way:

          "Ridiculous!  Thank you, that’s quite interesting.  Now I thing we’ve had

          quite enough of this nonsense."

Winifred adds

          "They were only trying to help.. They’re just children."

George replies

          "I’m well aware they’re just children, Winifred.  I only congratulate myself  that I decided to step in and take a hand.  Ridiculous!  No question in my  mind whatsoever.  Now is the time for action."

    The children’s advertisement for a nanny, torn up and tossed in the fire by father, has magically ascended up through the chimney.  The next scene shows Admiral Boom’s weather vane turning half way around for a wind coming from the opposite direction.  Essentially, the Feminine, appearing as Mary Poppins, is on the way.  

    A group of dark, depressing, somber nannies line up outside the house, waiting to be interviewed by father.  They seem humorless, controlled.  Father will probably love them.  Suddenly, they are magically blown away by a new wind, which brings Mary Poppins in gently floating to earth with her umbrella.  She appears at the door, then before father.  She is strong, confident, proud.  She quickly confuses father and takes control, becoming the new nanny although father doesn’t have a clue how that happened.  But suddenly he is pleased, and tells Winifred he thinks she will be just right.

    Mary Poppins takes Jane and Michael on some wonderful adventures that culminate with her singing them to sleep.  The next morning everyone in the household is in an unusually good mood.  Father walks in, appearing quite grumpy.  He says:

     "What’s all the catterwalling in the kitchen?"

    "It’s cook singing,"  Says Winifred.

George asks   "What’s wrong with her?"

Winifred responds:

          "She’s as happy as a cricket.  Since you hired Mary Poppins, the most extraordinary thing seems to have come over the household."

    "Is that so? " asks father absently.  Ellen serves the breakfast tray while singing happily.

    Outside, a robin is singing merrily in a tree.  "Ellen!"  He cries, "Stop making that offensive noise.  And shut the window, that bird’s giving me a headache. " 

George makes a show of his displeasure by banging around his breakfast plates.

Winifred continues:

         " I’m so sorry you’re not feeling well this morning, George."

            "Who says I’m not feeling well?" he asks.  "I’m fit as a fiddle.  I just don’t understand why everyone is so confoundedly cheerful."

The children enter singing noisily

          "Stop!  Stop!  Stop!"   He shouts.  "Winifred, would you be kind enough to explain this unseemly hullabaloo?"

Winifred says

          "I don’t think there’s anything to explain, do you?  It’s obvious you’re out of sorts this morning.  The children just came in to make you feel better."

George retorts

          "I should like to make one thing quite clear once and for all.  I am in a perfectly equitable mood, and do not require being made to feel better."

Winifred adds

         " But you’re always saying that you want a cheerful and pleasant household."

George continues

          "Winifred, I should like to make a slight differentiation between the word cheerful and just plain giddy irresponsibility.  I’ve no objection to anyone being cheerful or pleasant, but I do expect a certain decorum.  I can tell you one thing Winifred, I don’t propose standing idly by and letting that woman Mary Poppins undermine the discipline in this house.  There’s something odd about the behavior in this house since that woman arrived, and I want you to know that I’ve noticed it"

Later on, George is trying to fire Mary Poppins.  He comes home grumpy while everyone around him are in outstanding moods.

          "Mary Poppins, will you be kind enough to come with me?  I very much regret what I must say to you.  I don’t deny that I am partially responsible for allowing the children to spend their days on worthless frivolities, to the exclusion of all else.  But it is high time they learn the seriousness of life."

Winifred butts in

          "George, they’re only children."

George replies

          "Precisely, and in light of what’s happened--

          A British bank is run with precision, a British home requires nothing less.

          Tradition, discipline and rules, must be the tools.

          Without them:  disorder, chaos, moral disintegration.

          In short you have a ghastly mess!"

Mary Poppins finally speaks with

         " I quite agree..."

George continues

          "The children must be molded, shaped and taught,

          That life’s a looming battle to be faced and fought

He lists the objectionable outings, most of which we’d all die for...

         " If they must go on outings, these outings ought to be,

          Fraught with purpose, yes, and practicality.

          They’ve got to learn the honest truth, despite their youth,

          They must learn about the..."

          "Life you lead."  Adds Mary Poppins.

          "Exactly!"  he says

She continues:

          "They must feel the thrill of totting up a balanced book,

          A thousand ciphers neatly in a row."

      "Quite right!" he proudly exclaims.

 Mary adds:         

           "When gazing at a graph that shows the profits up,

          Their little hearts should start to overflow."

       "Precisely!"  he says.

          "It’s time they learned to walk in your footsteps," Mary suggests.

      "In my footsteps..." he echoes.

          "To tread your straight, and narrow path with pride," she adds.

       "With pride..."  he repeats dreamily.

Mary drops the bomb:

          "Tomorrow just as you suggest, pressed and dressed,

          Jane and Michael will be at your side."

George seems terribly confused by the shift in conversation

          "Winifred, did I say that I was going to take the children to the bank?"

       "It certainly sounded that way dear." she concedes.

He starts acting more sure of himself

          "And why not?  Capital idea.  Just the medicine they need for all this slip-shod, sugary, female thinking they get around here all day long.  Quite right, good idea, quite right, good idea, quite right..."

    Bert is with the kids after the bank catastrophe, where the children inadvertently caused a run on the bank and general chaos.  He points out to the children:

          "The one my heart goes out to is your father.  There he is, in that cold heartless bank day after day.  Hemmed in by all those mounds of cold, heartless money.  I don’t like to see any living thing caged up.  The kids question this statement...They make cages in all sizes and shapes you know.  Bank shapes, some of them, carpets and all.

         " You’ve got your mother to look after you, and Mary Poppins, and Constable Jones, and me.  Who looks after your father?  Tell me...

          "When something terrible happens, what does he do?  He fends for himself.  Who does he tell about it?  No one...

          "He doesn’t blab his troubles at home.  He just pushes on at his job, uncomplaining and alone, and silent.

    After the chimney sweep scene George is summoned to the bank for disciplinary action, George says... 

        "A man has dream of walking with giants.  To carve his niche in the edifice of time.  Before the mortar of his zeal, has a chance to congeal, the cup is dashed from his lips.  The flame is snuffed aborning.  He’s brought to wreck and ruin in his prime."

          "You know what I think?  It’s that Mary Poppins woman.  From the moment she stepped foot in this house, things began to happen to me.

         " My world was calm, well ordered, exemplary.  Then comes this ‘person’, with chaos in her wake.  And now my life’s ambitions go, with one fell blow.  It’s quite a bitter pill to take."

Moving from self-pity back to anger for a moment:

        "She tricked me into taking Jane and Michael to the bank.  That’s how all the trouble started."

Bert slyly agrees...

          "Tricked you into taking the children on an outing?  Outrageous!  A man with all the important things you have to do?  Shameful!  You’re a man of high position, respected by your peers.  And when your little tikes are crying, you haven’t time to dry their tears.   And see them grateful little faces staring up at you.  Because their dad, he always knows just what to do.

          "You’ve got to grind, grind, grind at that grindstone.  Though childhood slips, like sand through a sieve.  And all too soon they’ve up and grown, and then they’ve flown.  And it’s too late for you to give- that -spoon full of sugar that helps the medicine go down...."

        Of course, at the end George eats his shadow, allows the anima to re-emerge, and instead of projecting his shadow on his kids, joins the children in their kite flying.  He realizes the magic Mary Poppins has displayed, and wants to indulge himself contrary to cultural adult behavior norms.

For more information, contact Bret.

All material Copyright by Bret Stephenson 1997-2008
unless noted otherwise.

Last Updated December 20, 2008