Walt Disney’s Saving Mr. Banks is a biopic showing the story behind the creation of Walt Disney’s Mary Poppins. Walt Disney (Tom Hanks: see picture to the right) promised his girls that he would make their favourite book into a movie, not realizing it would take 20 years to do so. This film shows the reluctant P.L. Travers (Emma Thompson: see picture to the right) and Walt Disney’s quest to gain the rights to her books. Running low on money, Travers has little option but to give in and the audience sees the production of Mary Poppins unfold. As a fictional film, many argue, it is brilliant, Tom Hanks portrays Walt Disney wonderfully and Emma Thompson plays a lovely portrayal of P.L. Travers. However, to say that it is a depiction of a true story, is rather far from the truth.
It is important to note that the movie does not claim to be a documentary, however, it does claim to be a biopic and based on true events, though many cry foul. The movie claims to take place in 1961, when the rights to P.L. Travers books were already signed off to Walt Disney in 1960. In this film, P.L. Travers is portrayed as a harsh, cynical woman who was very difficult to deal with, whereas Walt Disney is portrayed as the bright, jovial hero of the film. While it is said that P.L. Travers was quite difficult to work with and did not want to give up the creative rights to her beloved book, many of her friends and scholars |
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At the end of the Saving Mr. Banks (as seen in the video to the left), P.L. Travers can be seen at the premier of Walt Disney’s Mary Poppins, and the audience can see tears running down her cheeks. This portrayal makes the audience believe that P.L. Travers is so very happy with the end result of the movie and her beloved book, but in fact, that is not the case. In reality, P.L. Travers was horrified by the outcome of the film, saying that it was not at all a representation of the nanny she created in her books.
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