Fan-Based citizenship in “Mary Poppins Quits”: fannish affect, public affect, and the potential for solidarity

Abstract

On July 23, 2014, the fiftieth anniversary of Disney’s Mary Poppins, Funny or Die released a video titled, “Mary Poppins Quits with Kristen Bell,” earning more than 4 million views. In the video, Mary Poppins sings to the tune of “A Spoonful of Sugar” while calling for an increase to the federal minimum wage. Understanding fan-based citizenship performances like “Mary Poppins Quits” requires understanding how affect moves between popular culture, fans, and citizens. I argue that Mary Poppins functions as a figure that conducts affect across and between fan-citizens, calling on fans to treat minimum wage workers through the same affective orientation with which they treat Mary Poppins. To make this argument, I draw on work in fan studies and rhetorical studies to define fannish affect and public affect. Turning to my analysis of the “Mary Poppins Quits” video, I argue the video conducts affect through celebrity personae, destabilizes the “worthiness” discourse that often frames minimum wage workers as unworthy of a higher wage, and demands new orientations to one’s fellow citizens. Ultimately, I argue that moving affect from popular culture objects to the public sphere opens up new opportunities for solidarity but carries limitations as well.