For all who love Mary Poppins (and I am very much among your number), I have a rather alarming revelation to share. It came when I was watching "Mary Poppins Returns", toward the end of the movie (fear not, intrepid reader, no spoilers are coming), when Mary Poppins was holding a red balloon.
That was my first clue.
My second and third clues were that Mary Poppins is a seemingly immortal being of goodness and light who appeared in the lives of the Banks family in an approximately 30-year interval.
Approximately 30.
Perhaps closer to 27 years?
With greater certainty and and revulsion, I let the thought, the inescapable conclusion fully form in my mind.
Mary Poppins is in fact IT, the murderous shape-shifting demon thing from the town of Derry.
Perhaps closer to 27 years?
With greater certainty and and revulsion, I let the thought, the inescapable conclusion fully form in my mind.
Mary Poppins is in fact IT, the murderous shape-shifting demon thing from the town of Derry.
Both IT and Mary Poppins delight in children. Adults don't even typically remember them, at least they forget/block out the horrors/magic.
How can this be? Mary is so wonderful, loving, firm yet gentle. IT is frightening, murderous, cruel yet inviting. They are the Yin and the Yang. The light and the dark. Two sides of the same coin.
Speaking of coins, note how they both exhibit a preoccupation with the poor use of money. Pennywise the Dancing Clown, as in "penny-wise and pound-foolish." His name itself is a reminder of how not to manage one's finances. Mary Poppins (who also dances) likewise told a young boy to spend his tuppence on food for birds, making fat birds rather than a sound investment for his future.
This final connection crystallized for me with absolute certainty the dark and terrible connection between London's favorite nanny and Derry's most terrifying monster. With as much love as I and we all have for Mary Poppins, make no mistake, for every "merry pop-in" she makes in London, IT is stalking Derry with blood-lust and fear.
Life may be a jolly holiday with Mary, but no number of spoons full of sugar will stop the dreadful nightmare of IT's deadlights for the poor children of Derry.
