What's Cooking in the World? Sugar Coated Convo

I recently saw the Disney classic, Mary Poppins on stage in all her sugar coated glory. As I looked back on this children’s classic I started deconstructing each scene trying to find hidden meanings behind the sarcastic quarks of Mary Poppins.

I dug and dug, I found the sad little bird lady that everyone ignored, the chimney sweeps who were happy whether or not they had a penny in their pocket and the statues in the garden that came to life and danced and sang just like ummm.... So not everything means something but I did find a scene I felt worthy of reflecting upon.

There is a place in the land of Mary Poppins where you can get bottled conversations and apparently really awesome gingerbread. Gingerbread aside, imagine if you bottled all your conversations. Everything you said was kept in the bottle banks for someone to whip out and listen to. I shudder to think of all the nasty, spiteful things I’ve said in the heat of anger or the silly, thoughtless remarks that go unpunished.

I’m studying screenwriting and we are taught that every single word on the page must earn its place. If a character is shy, we must create dialogue that is going to reflect this trait, if they are about to face a life or death situation we must deduct how their behaviour would change.

The words we speak usually have hidden meanings, even when we listen to people we can have secret agendas. A lot of the time we don’t even realise what our real motivations are.

Looking back on the conversations I’ve had with people this week I can honestly say, sometimes I was just waiting for them to be quiet so I could give my own opinions. Perhaps if I took out my own selfish motivations they would have felt truly listened to.

I know what I’m saying has a large ‘Dah’ element to it but having someone really listen to you, without any hidden agenda is rare and when it happens it can be transformative.

Why can’t we be the sugar that lets the medicine go down in the lives of those around us?