Women in Film Blogathon (Jenna)

John at Hitchcock's World is throwing out more awesome Blogathon's for us here at Flick Chicks to partake in. If you remember, we took part in his Favourite Movie Scene Blogathon a few weeks ago, and now we're back to take part in his Women in Film Blogathon.

 The rules for the Women in Film Blogathon are as follows:

1 - The female character in question should have qualities that make her strong. That doesn't necessarily mean better than the guys, just well-written; we're trying to promote equality here, not reverse misogyny.

2 - Unlike my previous blogathon, I'm going to be a bit stricter here and say that each entry should only focus on one character. However, if you like you can write multiple entries examining different characters.

3 - If you can, do try to find less obvious choices. There are a few that I can expect are likely to get picked: Ellen Ripley, Sarah Connor, etc. If you decide to write about any the "obvious" choices, I encourage you to at least try and find something new to say about them.

4 - You are allowed to pick characters from any film from genre or time period you like.

I really struggled with this topic if I'm honest, so I had to do some Googling to find some ideas and then this popped up.  As a huge Disney fan anyway and with this film have tons of sentimental value to me, how could this not be my selection as a strong woman in films.  Mary Poppins!

She arrives to take this job as a Nanny to two children, who she effectively raised during the time she is with them and then she has the strength to leave them when their father was ready to be their father again.  I didn't realise how deep the concept of this film was until I saw Saving Mr Banks and thanks to this quote:

"Mary Poppins was a real person? So it's not the children she comes to save. It's their father. It's your father." - Walt Disney (Saving Mr Banks)

I realised how this wasn't just a childs film, it was actually a very grown up story (if you look beyond the dancing penguins and the cartoon carousel) and quite heartbreaking at times, particularly the ending.

Mary Poppins seemed a bit scary to me when I was a child, she was very demanding and quite strict (which wasn't something I was used to in my household as a child) but this is to highlight her determination to make the children's lives better for them and for Mr Banks.  Her face at the end of the film when she has to leave them shows the true heartbreak she endured leaving but still did because it was what was best for Jane and Michael.

I think it also helps that Julie Andrews has very similar mannerisms to my Mom, who was a ridiculously strong person (always with a smile even when life was rubbish!) and I think this filters through the character for me.  It just shows how much your personal life can effect the way you interpret a character or a film.  I think they look very alike as well: