Formal Definition: something to say when you have nothing to say.

My Definition: Disney at it’s finest.

Mary Poppins is a film that honors the far reaches of the imagination.  From a flying nanny to chalk drawings that came to life, this film has it all.  Rather than being bound by space, time, or gravity, Mary Poppins breaks rules in ways traditionally reserved only for animation (especially for 1964, when it was released).  Interestingly, Disney’s initial instinct was probably to do just that: animate.  Instead, thanks to the tenacity of P.L. Travers, the author of the Mary Poppins book series, we have the live action movie we enjoy today.

P.L. Travers actually turned down Disney’s request for film rights to her books for over twenty years  because she didn’t believe a film could do justice to her books and she didn’t want Mary Poppins the film to be an animated cartoon.  It’s likely that Disney’s first instinct was in fact to animate the books, and it was the author’s belief in her creation that pushed Disney to develop a live action film that lived up to the author’s imagination.

It may have taken Disney twenty years and a shift away from its comfort zone (animation) to get the rights to Mary Poppins, but with kids still clamoring to watch the movie after nearly fifty years, it was clearly worth the wait and effort.  Learn from P.L. Travers to never compromise your vision and learn from Disney that if there is something you want, you should be creative and find a way to get it.