Mary Poppins/Fridge

Fridge Horror

 * A Cracked.com Photoplasty contest created this for (of all things) Mary Poppins. Michael is just the right age and living in the right time... to be a soldier in World War I.
 * Is he? The movie is set in 1910, and conscription in Britain during WWI applied to men aged 18-41 and was in effect through 1918; If Michael Banks was eight (the age of the actor at the time of filming), he would have either been recruited at the very end of the war or narrowly missed it all together.
 * Boys under the conscription age frequently attempted to join the war. Many succeeded. Worse still, when generals started to realise the dire situation for Britain, they started illegally allowing it.
 * Even in real life the actor who played him died at 21 (of hepatitis).
 * What happened to all those people and talking animals in the chalk-drawing world when the rain came?

Fridge Logic

 * No matter how greedy, you'd think a veteran financier like Dawes would have the common sense to let go of a measly tuppence immediately, rather than let some kid's hissy-fit provoke his bank's near-collapse.
 * It shows how out of touch the bankers are, going on and on about imperialistic accomplishments ("Railways through Africa, dams across the Nile, fleets of ocean greyhounds, majestic self-advertising canals, plantations of ripening tea."), things that mean absolutely nothing to an eight-year-old boy. If George or the other bankers tried to explain to Michael that by investing, he'd get more money for things he'd like to do, such as feeding the birds, maybe Michael would've been more open about it.
 * Well, he is a pretty doddery old man. Maybe that's why he's not quick enough on the uptake to realise why it would be better not to cling onto that tuppence. Is it any more plausible that a riot in a bank could happen as easily as this? We're also talking about a film with flying nannies, people jumping into pavement drawings and a retired Admiral whose neighbours tolerate him firing a cannon off his rooftop several times a day.

Fridge Brilliance

 * Why did all the people and talking animals in the chalk-drawing world admire Mary Poppins so much? Because they were created by Bert, and therefore expressions of his own mind!
 * When I was a child, chapter 10 and the whole big deal with Mary's birthday, talking zoo animals and "We are all one" thingy seemed just a whimsical Big Lipped Alligator Moment to me. It was a fairy tale, after all; nonsence is supposed to take place, or so I thought. But now that I know about Travers' interest in mythology and theosophy, the whole thing starts to make sense. This, of course, raises a question whether it's good to sneak religious/occult propaganda into children books.