"Let's Go Fly A Kite!" and Other Disney Magic

This summer, I went on vacation with my best friend and her family.  Her little 3-year-old sister loves Mary Poppins.  It was one of my favorites as a child too, so we would spend hours singing, “Let’s go fly a kite!  Up to the highest heights! Let’s go fly a kite and send it soaring!  Up through the atmosphere!  Up where the air is clear!  Oh, let’s go fly a kite!”  Probably one of my all time favorite Disney songs.  Besides the catchy lyrics and uncontainable joy the song makes you feel, the words really go deeper, as does the whole movie.  Once again, showing there is more than just what meets the eye in literature.

            Mary Poppins herself flies.  If that isn’t symbolism, I don’t know what is.  She is the original Superman because she literally flies in and saves the day.  Foster mentions angels, having wings and harps, flight and music, like a bird.  Mary Poppins has the same, an umbrella to fly with and a wonderful gift for singing.  Of course, as all Disney movies have, there is a little bit of magic to keep the imagination at work.  So, the flying aspect helps with the wonderment kid factor, but I prefer to think of Mary Poppins as an angel, gliding in from heaven.

            The ending song really hits home Foster’s idea that “flight is freedom”.  Mr. Banks, the father is free from his problems at work.  The children have a fixed kite and a happy father.  And Mary Poppins’ job is done.  Happy ending!  Now that everything is as it should be, anything is possible, even flying.  Flying a kite is symbolic of real flying.  “With tuppence for paper and strings, you can have your own set of wings.  With your feet on the ground, you’re a bird in a flight.  With your fist holding tight to the string of your kite!”

            While in reality, flying a kite is not that exciting, and even a child usually gets bored of it quickly, it’s the symbolism in this scene that makes it so great and memorable.  Any other activity, such as building a snowman perhaps, would not have had quite the same effect on the audience.  Flying is so surreal and so completely impossible for humans, that we are obsessed with it.  So many books, movies, and plays use flying to intrigue audiences and to symbolize freedom, escape, and often have to deal with childhood innocence and the belief in magic.  Peter Pan also comes to mind.  Flying to Never land in a sort of out of body experience for only children, escaping the real world.  Or Matilda, who uses her powers of making other objects fly to gain her own freedom from her terrible family.  Flying is the ultimate release.  A soul “flies” up to heaven after the person dies and becomes an angel.  Even flying downwards (falling) is symbolic.  Flying/falling from an airplane to your ultimate death (depending on the parachute situation) can symbolize final release or some sort of freedom, even if it’s just freedom from gravity for a split second.  Flight can really improve one’s literary experience to infinity and beyond (they also flew in Toy Story).