Disney classic Mary Poppins has been accused of racism

Classic movie Mary Poppins has been accused of being racist for its chimney sweep scene where the characters have soot on their faces.

A US academic has caused controversy online after labelling the Disney classic Mary Poppins racist.

Professor Daniel Pollack-Pelzner wrote a piece to the New York Times claiming the nanny Mary Poppins, played by Julie Andrews, "shamefully flirts with blackface" in the scene where she dances with Dick Van Dyke's Bert on the rooftop to the song Step in Time.

"When the magical nanny accompanies her young charges, Michael and Jane Banks, up their chimney, her face gets covered in soot, but instead of wiping it off, she gamely powders her nose and cheeks even blacker," the English and gender studies professor at Oregon's Linfield College writes.

via GIPHY

"This might seem like an innocuous comic scene if Travers' novels didn't associate chimney sweeps' blackened faces with racial caricature. 'Don't touch me, you black heathen,' a housemaid screams in Mary Poppins Opens the Door.

"When the dark figures of the chimney sweeps Step in Time on a roof, a naval buffoon, Admiral Boom shouts, 'We're being attacked by Hottentots!' and orders his cannon to be fired at the 'cheeky devils.'

"We're in the on the joke, such as it is: These aren't really black Africans; they're grinning white dancers in blackface. It's a parody of black menace; it's even posted on a white nationalist website as evidence of the film's racial hierarchy."

The academic's opinion has been me with a mixture of agreement and denial.

So I tweeted this back in September, and got attacked for calling out Mary Poppins.

And only *now* the press are reporting on it.

I am like Cassandra, screaming truth into the deaf ears of humankind. pic.twitter.com/V4V92FmzQD

— Titania McGrath (@TitaniaMcGrath) January 30, 2019

The hottentot references are what drag the chimney sweep number into minstrelsy. No one should be surprised, Disney movie have always been marred by racist stereotypes.

— CookieGirl (@WSN43) January 29, 2019

Hahahahahahahaha! https://t.co/xaWwT2YMkv

— Rita Panahi (@RitaPanahi) January 31, 2019

I'm sorry but this latest ultra PC lefty outburst from US academic Daniel Polack-Pelzner is now taking things too far! Mary Poppins is racist because Julie Andrews & Dick Van Dyke come down a chimney and have black soot on their faces? Really?!! #bitofsenseplease

— Gordon Higginson (@GordonHigginson) February 3, 2019

I'm sorry but this latest ultra PC lefty outburst from US academic Daniel Polack-Pelzner is now taking things too far! Mary Poppins is racist because Julie Andrews & Dick Van Dyke come down a chimney and have black soot on their faces? Really?!! #bitofsenseplease

— Gordon Higginson (@GordonHigginson) February 3, 2019

US literary professor Daniel Pollack-Pelzner says Mary Poppins is racist in the 1964 classic for blacking up her face when dancing with chimney sweeps.
What a load of Pollacks. You get this black stuff up chimneys - it's called soot! pic.twitter.com/uQRBgj3Y6C

— petebarronmedia (@PeteBarronMedia) February 3, 2019

Mary Poppins branded racist by US academic over scene where she gets covered in soot.

It’s soot. Soot. From a chimney. She powders her nose to show her eccentricity. Is there NOTHING left that these ‘academics’ won’t try & smear? Eff off. https://t.co/KhNKqfUWOw

— James Dreyfus 🟥 (@DreyfusJames) February 3, 2019