The British Board of Film Classification raised its film rating for the Disney classic Mary Poppins explaining it was because of “discriminatory language.”
Julie Andrews as Mary Poppins, Matthew Garber as Michael Banks, and Karen Dotrice as Jane Banks in Mary Poppins (1964), Walt Disney Productions
The British Board of Film Classification now gives Mary Poppins a PG rating when it previously had a U rating. The listing specifically says the film has “discriminatory language.”
A brief description states, “In early 20th century London, a magical nanny brings fun and adventure into the lives of two children who feel neglected by their parents. A few scary moments are quickly resolved and the tone is light and fun.”
As you can see below, previous ratings of the film done in 2013 and 1964 received U ratings.
Mary Poppins ratings by the British Board of Film Classification
READ: The Mary Poppins Ride That Could Have Been
A spokesman for the British Board of Film Classification explained to Variety that the rating was increased to PG because the film “includes two uses of the discriminatory term ‘hottentots.'”
Furthermore, the spokesman added, “While ‘Mary Poppins’ has a historical context, the use of discriminatory language is not condemned, and ultimately exceeds our guidelines for acceptable language at U. We therefore classified the film PG for discriminatory language.”
Julie Andrews as Mary Poppins in Mary Poppins (1964), Walt Disney Productions
The spokesman then stated that in their research into discrimination they found that “potential offense” was an area of “key concern for people, parents in particular… some language or behaviors are therefore not permitted at U or PG in any circumstance, or are wholly dependent on context,” he added.
According to Variety’s Ellise Shafer, “The word is a racially insensitive term for the Khoekhoe, an indigenous group in South Africa.”
Julie Andrews as Mary Poppins in Mary Poppins (1964), Walt Disney Productions
The term is used by Reginald Owen’s Admiral Boom upon observing the chimney sweeps dancing on the rooftops.
He says, “We are being attacked by Hottentots! Cheeky devils! Give them a what for! Empty the shot lockers!”
This isn’t the first time that Mary Poppins has been found problematic by a high level mainstream institution. The New York Times ran an op-ed by English, Gender Studios, and Shakespeare professor Daniel Pollack-Pelzner back in 2019 that implied the film was discriminatory.
He took issue with a scene where Julie Andrews’ Mary Poppins flies up a chimney and gets her face covered in soot. Pollack-Pelzner wrote, “One of the more indelible images from the 1964 film is of Mary Poppins blacking up. When the magical nanny (played by Julie Andrews) 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. Then she leads the children on a dancing exploration of London rooftops with Dick Van Dyke’s sooty chimney sweep, Bert.”
Dick Van Dyke as Bert in Mary Poppins (1964), Walt Disney Productions
Pollack-Pelzner continued his inane rant, “This might seem like an innocuous comic scene if Travers’s novels didn’t associate chimney sweeps’ blackened faces with racial caricature.”
He then explained, “Don’t touch me, you black heathen,” a housemaid screams in “Mary Poppins Opens the Door” (1943), as a sweep reaches out his darkened hand. When he tries to approach the cook, she threatens to quit: ‘If that Hottentot goes into the chimney, I shall go out the door.'”
He too then took issue with Admiral Boom’s dialogue, “The 1964 film replays this racial panic in a farcical key. 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.’”
Julie Andrews as Mary Poppins in Mary Poppins (1964), Walt Disney Productions
As John Nolte at Breitbart notes, the explanation that this rating increase has anything to do with protecting children is farcical. It’s simply about destruction and more specifically about the attack on families, “Above all, Mary Poppins is ‘about’ the things leftists despise and fear most: the importance of the nuclear family, most especially the dad. Leftists hate families. Leftists really hate families with dads.”
He adds, “But because leftists cannot create their own beautiful art or produce their own Mary Poppins, they invent controversies to destroy beauty and turn what was universal into something ugly and divisive. The left cannot build. They can only destroy. The left cannot create beauty out of their evil plans for humanity. They can only tarnish and smear and tear down what is already beautiful.”
It’s true and something that J.R.R. Tolkien revealed in The Lord of the Rings when he wrote, “The Shadow that bred them can only mock, it cannot make: not real new things of its own. I don’t think it gave life to the orcs, it only ruined them and twisted them;”
Julie Andrews as Mary Poppins in Mary Poppins (1964), Walt Disney Productions
What do you make of the British Board of Film Classification increasing its rating due to “discriminatory language?”
