I recently had the pleasure of watching the movie “Saving Mr. Banks”. For those that do not know this movie, it is the story of the struggle between P. L. Travers and Walt Disney in the creation of the movie version of Travers’ Mary Poppins books. As I watched this movie, my recovery senses were tingling. I had no idea what this movie was going to be about, much less an expectation of a much deeper meaning that would bring up my father wound and literally bring me to tears by the end of the movie (I love being able to feel these strong emotions and not stuff them deep down). You see, P.L. Travers, formally named Helen Goff, grew up in rural Australia with an alcoholic father. The childhood part of the story takes place in 1906, the “current events” portion where she is reviewing the Disney script takes place in 1961.
From this movie, I was able to see how deep the “father wound” ran in P.L. Travers. Being the daughter of an alcoholic, she grew up to be what I call a “control freak” which basically means she needs to control everything and everyone around her in order to feel “safe.” This control extended to the use of her Mary Poppins character by Walt Disney. There are so many examples of her woundedness that I had to break up the original two hour movie into two 30 minute videos. I highly encourage you to watch the movie in its entirety. It is a great example of the father wound that all fathers can inflict on their children, some shallow, but for Helen Goff, some very, very deep. The reality that P. L. Travers, as an adult, was acting out for most of her life, trying to find healing for her father wound is unfortunately outside the scope of this movie. Nevertheless, it is worth researching and only adds more proof of the depth of which P. L. Travers experienced her father wound.
Part one of the video is mainly the wounds being inflicted on Helen as a child and then bubbling to the surface (acting out with anger, control, manipulation, etc…) as she reviews all the story boards and music associated with the Mary Poppins movie.
Part two of the video more of the healing portion of these childhood wounds. This second part revolves around her slow healing process right up until the end where she watches the movie version of her Mary Poppins books. I won’t give too much information as I would rather you watch the video and read my comments.
I hope you enjoy watching this movie as much as I enjoyed editing it. Keep an eye out for the comments I make throughout the film.
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