SAVING MR.

BANKS

Saving Mr. Banks: A Compare And Contrast

Bryant Swindle
Lincoln Academy
ELA9-B2

SAVING MR. BANKS

Bryant Swindle A2

Saving Mr.Banks: a compare and contrast

Introduction

Shania Twain said, I find the very things I get criticized for is the very thing thats
making me successful. Perhaps, this is what P.L Travers or Helen Golf, was thinking in the
movie Saving Mr. Banks. The dilemma began, in the movie, when P.L. Travers was low on
money and Walt Disney had been trying for 20 years to buy the movie rights to her book, and she
was forced to finally succumb. Travers was immediately transported to the luxurious Disney
Studios in California, where she regarded everything in a brisk, blatant matter. As the Hollywood
process began, the determinedly pained everyone, threatening termination if one aspect was not
correct. Through a series of painful flashbacks from her childhood, she decides to let it go and
allow the making of Mary Poppins. The movie, Saving Mr. Banks, can be compared and
contrasted through the actual events, the butchering of her book, and her childhood.
Events
The events from Saving Mr. Banks are quite different from that of real life. For example,
the scene in Saving Mr. Banks where Walt Disney begs for the rights of Mary Poppins ( Collie,
2013) is entirely fictitious. Walt Disney had them all along (Whyte, 2014.) The scene when
Travers is finally swayed to allow changes in the movie after listening to lets go fly a kite,
(Collie, 2013) is also fictitious. She never approved any of the songs proposed, with the
exception of Feed the Birds (Saving History, 2014). In the final scene, The real Mary
Poppins, Travers is pictured and suggested as crying in relief and happiness as she saw the

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premiere of Mary Poppins. Nothing of the sort happened. According to The New Yorker, she was
crying out in anger at the cruel treatment of her books (Lane, 2013). Walt had never truly applied
most of the changes she had requested, even though she had direct rule over the script, and she
was shocked at the outcome. After the premiere, she tried to convince Disney one last time to
apply her changes, but only to avail Pam, the ship has sailed" (Nine...did not get right, 2014).
Butchering of Mary Poppins
Travers series of books, Mary Poppins, Mary Poppins comes back, Mary Poppins opens
the door, Mary Poppins in the park, and many more, are widely considered classics. The movie
Mary Poppins, however, is nowhere close to the events depicted in the series. Characters like
Mary Poppins were immensely distorted. P.L. Travers said, after seeing the movie, that [Mary
Poppins was] already beloved for what she wasplain, vain and incorruptible(and now)
transmogrified into a soubrette. ... And how was it that Mary Poppins herself, the image of
propriety, came to dance a can-can on the roof-top displaying all her underwear? A child wrote,
after seeing the film, I think Mary Poppins behaved in a very indecorous manner. Indecorous
indeed! (History vs. Hollywood, 2014). Many other characters were falsified or entirely ousted
from the story. Almost every scene from the series was treated in the same manner. A scene from
book one would be mashed to another one in book two, and with many more following suite (or,
for about five sixths of the series, being entirely removed), the end result was a haphazard movie
that has no resemblance to the series.
Childhood
Further knowledge can be revealed through a look at Traverss childhood. For the most
part, Disney actually did a decent depiction of Travers past. Travers did grow up in Australia, and
while her family did struggle for the most part with money, her father worked quite hard to

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overpower his alcoholism and provide for the family. Travers did indeed move from her bustling
town into a far out, more desolate location. As for Mr. and Mrs. Banks, Travers said "I think Mr.
Banks is a little bit like my father, and Mrs. Banks in her most flustered is perhaps a little bit like
my mother; but really, I don't think it's based on my childhood." (History vs. Hollywood, 2014).
Mary Poppins was inspired by her aunt, Helen Morehead who came to help preceding her
father's death. Disney, for the most part, staged Travers past quite accurately.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Disney should not be trusted with depicting historical content. While they did
stick to some facts, like setting and location, they warped information to their advantage. Saving
Mr. Banks can be compared and contrasted through the actual events, the butchering of her book,
and her childhood.

Bryant Swindle B2

References

Whyte, M. (2014, January 10). Nine Mary Poppins facts Saving Mr. Banks did not get right.
Retrieved September 29, 2014, from

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http://www.hypable.com/2014/01/10/saving-mr-banks-mary-poppinsfacts/

SAVING MR. BANKS (2013). (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/saving-mr-banks.php

Flood, A. (2014, June 23). Mary Poppins's real-life model appears in unseen PL Travers story.
Retrieved October 10, 2014, from
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jun/23/mary-poppins-real-life-model-unseen-rl-traversstory