Film Theory: Pennywise and Poppins

 

To fans of both IT and Mary Poppins it may seem hard to believe that the two could be connected. And in actuality they aren’t. However, it is rather fun to relate one to the other and even though there is no chance of this being factual the mere thought of the two sharing the same universe can be rather captivating.

Both Pennywise and Mary Poppins have a similar trait: They both reappear after 20 odd years: Poppins after 25 years and Pennywise after 27. Mary Poppins returns back to the Banks family while, in Pennywise’s case, he returns to the Losers. At the same time, Mary Poppins' powers are largely forgotten by the Bank's children while the Losers have mostly put Pennywise out of their minds altogether. At the same time, the parents of the Banks family and those of the Losers are largely oblivious to what is going on. It also makes sense that both Poppins and Pennywise would need to suck energy out of their children to regenerate their powers and come back to their full strength.

Both characters also share a love for song and dance. Pennywise calling himself the dancing clown while Poppins enchants the Banks children with dream-like musicals. They share another similarity as well. Pennywise has what he calls “The Deadlights” which can leave his subjects frozen in place if they look into it. While Mary Poppins doesn’t have anything quite like this she does have something else up her sleeve. In “Trip a Little Light Fantastic” an entire fleet of Lamplighters are proven to exist when Michael (played by Ben Whishaw) looks out his window and sees only Poppins and the other children.

Another similarity between the two has to do with the Balloons. The red balloon in IT always preceded Pennywise’s return while in “Mary Poppins Returns” they all grab balloons and float magically into the air.

There are major differences between the two, however. While Pennywise uses fear to feed his power, Poppins uses joy and imagination. And this is the reason Poppins is still alive and thriving while Pennywise is gone. Just like in “Monsters Inc” Mary Poppins learns that the true energy was laughter and joy and she harvested it. All the while Pennywise, pursuing fear which ultimately led to his downfall.

Like I said at the beginning of this post, there is little to no chance of this connection actually being true. Disney would never associate their beloved character with the likes of Pennywise. Still, though, it is rather fun to think about it and connect the two. It really makes you think, doesn’t it?