“You’re Too Focused on Where You’ve Been”: Uncanny Nostalgia in Mary Poppins Returns

Analysing the relationship between the sequel film Mary Poppins Returns (2018) and its original Mary Poppins (1964), this chapter demonstrates the nostalgic impulse of retreading a film in the latter Disney era. By examining how overly reliant Returns is on the original film for its plot and purpose, this chapter demonstrates how nostalgia becomes uncanny due to lack of childhood imagination among Disney tastemakers. This chapter argues that, though the film wants us to return nostalgically to the original film, Disney cannot make its audience happy by giving us the same dream it created 50 years ago.