An American academic has criticised Mary Poppins for projecting racial stereotypes, saying Dame Julie Andrews’ character wears “blackface” during one scene.
Pollack-Pelzner says that, while the scene may be comic, the author of the Mary Poppins books, PL Travers, often associated chimney sweeps’ blackened faces with racial caricatures.
“We’re in 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.”