Mary Poppins Introduction Introduction

 

Why Should I Care?

Two words: penguin waiters.

Okay, that's not quite why Mary Poppins is important. The reason that Mary Poppins is important is, in fact, because of Mary Poppins. And the reason that this bizarre goddess/enchantress/witch/superhero-with-a-carpetbag is important is that she doles out a serious life lesson.

We know; you think we're sounding cheesy and childish. So we have a little compare-and-contrast for you: a speech delivered by the Very Important Author David Foster Wallace.

Here's what Wallace has to say about how to best navigate the minefields of life:

[…] I have come gradually to understand that the liberal arts cliché about teaching you how to think is actually shorthand for a much deeper, more serious idea: learning how to think really means learning how to exercise some control over how and what you think. It means being conscious and aware enough to choose what you pay attention to and to choose how you construct meaning from experience. Because if you cannot exercise this kind of choice in adult life, you will be totally hosed. Think of the old cliché about quote the mind being an excellent servant but a terrible master. (Source)

What David Foster Wallace—again, Big Deal Thinker—is saying here is that you have the power to choose how you think about the (often nasty) situations that life doles out. You can choose to "construct meaning from experience;" you can choose to get through the difficulties of life by being a gloomy Gus and generally hateful, or you can use a little imagination, a little willpower, and a little optimistic restraint and see the best in things.

Now compare that quote and what it's saying to this gem:

MARY: In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun. You find the fun, and—snap—the job's a game!

Mary Poppins, a character constructed from one part movie magic and two part's P.L. Travers imagination, says the exact same thing. It's all about mind over matter with both Poppins and Wallace—you decide whether you're going to view life's tasks as a slog or as something way more enjoyable.

There's a reason we're comparing a character out of children's fiction and one of the shining examples of American intellectual thought in the last fifty years…and it's not to undermine D.F.W. It's to show you what a total boss—a Zen master fused with a drill sergeant fused—Mary Poppins is.

So go ahead: get a framed print of a Mary Poppins quote and hang it above your desk. Because, as long as it comes from Mary Poppins' mouth (and not, say, Admiral Boom's) there's a chance it contains some heavy-hitting philosophy.

Okay—we take that back. Don't go hanging a framed print of the quote "Mmm: rum punch!" above your desk. But that one about finding the element of fun? That's a definite winner.