A professor believes the 1964 Mary Poppins movie is racist.
In a New York Times op-ed titled " 'Mary Poppins,' and a Nanny’s Shameful Flirting With Blackface ," professor Daniel Pollack-Pelzner accuses Julie Andrews of "blacking up" her face with soot during the movie's iconic dance scene with Dick Van Dyke 's chimney sweep character.
Pollack-Pelzner writes, "When the magical nanny … 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."
He claims the "soot-covered face in the 1964 film Mary Poppins stems from racial caricatures" in the original books.
Twitter, however, wasn't having it.
One user wrote, "End of the world when Hollywood thinks Mary Poppins is racist."
Another said, "People are searching for racism like it's oil. Racism has become a commodity, figuratively speaking. If it were a literal commodity, however, it's value would be through the roof at this moment in history."
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