The squeaky clean family movie classic has been labeled racist in a piece published in the New York Times. Professor Daniel Pollack-Pelzner accuses Julie Andrews of ”blacking up” with soot in the iconic dance scene with Dick Van Dyke.
“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.”
Professor Daniel Pollack-Pelzner
Daniel Pollack-Pelzner is a professor at Linfield College in McMinnville Oregon. The private university also has a campus in Portland.
Professor Daniel Pollack-Pelzner
“The chief reason I wrote this article was the hope that a Disney exec would read it, take another look at the forthcoming Dumbo remake, and ask if there was anything just a little bit racist they might want to rethink before it hits the big screen.”
The fact that the college is located in Portland and the “good” professor has a hyphenated last name tells me more than I need to know.
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/us-academic-sparks-mary-poppins-blackface-row-a4056126.html
Calamity Jane