Special Added Attraction

[vardathemessage]

Nearly every review or article about Velvet Goldmine mentions the influence of that celluloid granddaddy Citizen Kane. Todd himself has talked about the influence of those fabulous cinematic head trips of the '60s like A Clockwork Orange, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Performance. However, if one looks past the sequins, drugs, and rock & roll, Velvet Goldmine displays the far more pervasive influence of a completely different cinematic classic. From the opening pan over Dublin's rooftops, to Curt and Arthur hanging out near the chimney stacks, Velvet Goldmine has many images that pay homage to none other than Mary Poppins. While accepting the 2004 Outfest Achievement Award, Todd declared,

"My very first movie was 'Mary Poppins' when I was three, and I got stuck there for a while. I needed to respond to that experience creatively, so I started drawing Mary Poppins everywhere, then I even started putting on plays for my parents. 'Mary Poppins' maybe the singular text that defines me -- and why not?"

So here, for your viewing pleasure, Iris Out and Lux Pan present
The Mary Poppins - Velvet Goldmine Comparisons Gallery.

The caps were done by the brilliant and invaluable Iris Out, aka velvetspur, who deserves a case of champagne for her skills and devotion.



We're following the chronology of Mary Poppins with the Mary Poppins images to the left, and the Velvet Goldmine images to the right.


Both films start with something magical descending from the heavens.



Mary Poppins opens with sweeping aerial shots of London, Velvet Goldmine with a swoop over Dublin's rooftops.



We fly over Big Ben and it appears in Maxwell's painting.



Here's St. Paul's Cathedral and again in Maxwell's painting.



Mary Poppins, the magical nanny, floats down from the clouds. In the books Mary Poppins 'cannot pass a window or a mirror without admiring her reflection', so naturally she loves her compact mirror. Perhaps as much as Brian does.



Mary Poppins uses her umbrella to fly, Maxwell needs one because he came down like water for the age of solar love, or something like that.


Mary takes her charges, Jane and Michael, out for a walk and they meet her friend Bert, the Chimney sweep, who has done some chalk drawings on the sidewalk.

Mary's shadow enters the gold baroque picture frame and it looks just like Maxwell's.


Bert has drawn several chalk pictures. He shows the children three that are also locations in Velvet Goldmine:

At the Seashore. Brian gives Curt the pin 'on some beach'.



At the Circus. Bijou's press soirée.



Punting on the Thames. The morning after the outdoor concert.



Bert looks handsome despite his sooty face. Curt is Fantasia's Satyr with Bert's chimney sweep charm and dirty face.



In Mary Poppins, Mary, Bert and the children get to the roof of the children's house by magically flying up the chimney through the fireplace and arrive on the roof in a puff of soot. Michael arrives first, in a puff of smoke, and Curt leaves in one.



Earlier, Mary, Bert and the children hold hands and jump on one of the chalk pictures and magically disappear into it. The magic spell necessary for the transformation is "You think, You wink, you do a double blink, you close your eyes and jump." ~ Curt winks at the audience before going down the chimney.



Jane & Michael looking up at Mary landing on roof. Arthur and Curt see the spaceship.



A view of the lovely world of the rooftops.



They walk through the narrow passages on the roof.



Michael passes some chimney stacks, as does Arthur.



Bert meets his fellow chimney sweeps and there is a rousing dance sequence, ending with the dancers disappearing down the chimneys like Curt.



Bert lies on the roof looking up at fireworks, Curt at a shooting star.



Fireworks leave a shower of glitter as they pass over the roof, as does the spaceship.

Comments

[lauramcewan.livejournal.com]

Wow! That's fabulous stuff! Thanks for sharing that! :D

[vardathemessage.livejournal.com]

Glad you liked it. You posted on the last Mary Poppins entry, which I researched using a bad VHS copy from the library. Since then the film has come out on DVD, but you probably know that!

[lauramcewan.livejournal.com]

Hee yep it sure did just release on DVD! Must get it.

[vardathemessage.livejournal.com]

Thanks, glad you liked it. And it was nice of you to mention it on yours.

Fab, darling

[chinavagina.livejournal.com]

Brilliant, skrinkle! Your posts always amaze me. It makes me feel like I'm oblivious to everything around me. Fabulous, as usual!

Re: Fab, darling

[vardathemessage.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

It makes me feel like I'm oblivious to everything around me.

No, darling, you're just in your own fabulous world most of the time!

[splix.livejournal.com]

I just watched Mary Poppins last week and never made any of those connections. Brilliant!

[vardathemessage.livejournal.com]

What a difference a day makes...

Thanks!

[rougevelvet.livejournal.com]

wonderful!!

and ack..comparing jane and michael to curt and arthur!! XD so wrong :D

[vardathemessage.livejournal.com]

It is a little bizarre, I agree. But awe is awe, I suppose. Once I got over the shock of how the pics lined up, I also think that the comparison makes Arthur and Curt seem more childlike and sweet rather than the reverse.

[velvetspur.livejournal.com]

the comparison makes Arthur and Curt seem more childlike and sweet rather than the reverse.the comparison makes Arthur and Curt seem more childlike and sweet rather than the reverse.

Exactly! When you first were pondering the connection of those images I imagined Todd remembering the astonishment (unconsciously perhaps, if that's not too old hat) from seeing MP in childhood, and then dreaming up the spaceship as something that would astonish our guys.

[vardathemessage.livejournal.com]

And the thing about childhood is that you don't need to justify or work to enter that world of imagination and fantasy but as adults, we need to resort to substances to get there. In other words, no one had to 'explain' the story to the kids watching Mary Poppins but there was much discussion about the mushrooms and the spaceship in VG.

Cheers to Iris Out

[q-spade.livejournal.com]

Huge props to velvetspur, not just for this particular post but for the whole shebang. :D

The shamanic implications in Mary Poppins are really quite astounding – in the post you linked to I mentioned the use of the chimney as a conduit between worlds, and the chalk pictures serve a similar purpose. There's even a preliminary ritual involving movement and words of power...wow.

I had forgotten about the dancing of the chimney sweeps, and of course dancing as a method of raising and focusing energy is a vital aspect of various forms of shamanism. Do we jive? Yes we do. (I suppose mentioning the shaman's awareness/use of power nodes in one's community in connection with the visual references to Big Ben & St. Paul's Cathedral would be a bit of a stretch, but I'll make note of it anyway. ;) )

The idea of Rock Star as Shaman is a well-worn cliché, as is the inevitable realization that most musicians who access that sort of power can't quite handle it, and it screws them up. Tommy becomes Brian becomes Maxwell, just as certain shamans allow sprits to take over their bodies for a specific purpose or ritual; while those shamans also know how to let the the spirits OUT as well as in, Tommy had a much more difficult time of things.

Re: Cheers to Iris Out

[aquandrian.livejournal.com]

Okay, I think I just fell in love with you.

Re: Cheers to Iris Out

[vardathemessage.livejournal.com]

Great points, as usual, my dear. I also wonder about the Mary Poppins - Maxwell Demon connection. Like Max, her visit to earth has the power to change the family but in this case, she does not suffer as the conduit of that transformation, probably because she reunites them rather than pulls them apart.

Re: Cheers to Iris Out

[velvetspur.livejournal.com]

Why thank you! I was but a mere set of clicking and fiddling fingers, in the thrall of Vardathemessage's brilliant imagination and stellar research! These were so fun to do, and I am honored I had the chance.

A grand entry, I think I fell in love with it

[blake-wilde.livejournal.com]

Oh wow. This is the best, most darling thing I have ever seen in LiveJournal. *worships*

Re: A grand entry, I think I fell in love with it

[vardathemessage.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much for saying so. (A wee detour from Oscar.)

[quantumvampire.livejournal.com]

wow. I'm going to watch Mary Poppins again. XD

[vardathemessage.livejournal.com]

Be warned, there is a lot to fast forward through! ;-)

[vardathemessage.livejournal.com]

I agree, it is slightly disturbing! But glad you appreciated it.

[velvetspur.livejournal.com]

Oddly, I don't find it disturbing at all, considering Todd's other films that capture so much of the delightful puzzlement and, dare I say, innocent libido of childhood. As adults we can only imagine this from underneath a disturbing veneer of pedopheliac assumptions, and yet children (when left alone, and NOT molested by adults) need to experience such innocent immaginings in order to be whole people. That Todd can tap into those feelings is amazing.

[vardathemessage.livejournal.com]

Well said! He was able to capture something similar in Dottie Gets Spanked.

[aquandrian.livejournal.com]

That is absolutely marvellous!

There was always something about Curt as a satyr with that sooty face that niggled me. Now I know what! *squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee*

[bboinnng.livejournal.com]

Wow. Just, wow. This completely blew my mind. I've never seen Mary Poppins and yet you can see how obviously it not only apparently influenced Todd, but was almost like a founding document to his film making sensibilities.

There's a well known phenomenon known as "imprinting", where a baby duck will "imprint" on whatever it first sees once it hatches. If it's something other than its mother, it will follow that being around, as if it was its mother, even if it's not. I think baby ducks have imprinted on family pet dogs, for example. This almost sounds like what Todd went thru with MP. It left a deep imprint on him at a very early age, and he maybe doesn't even necessarily realize he's paying tributes to it in his own film.

(Okay, given the many obvious similarities here, he must be consciously doing it, but still. It's a cool thought.)

Anyway, thank you for putting this together. It is like the crowning jewel to this whole incredible journal.