I know that the fandom is going to have our head for this one but we had to bring this to the surface in case no one else noticed. It is no mystery that artist take ideas from each other. Artist such as Monet, Picasso and many were inspired by other artist and this creating their own work. I myself like to write fantasy novels and highly inspired by RPG games like Final Fantasy.
This is not an attack on JK Rowling but rather a theory or something that could be true. Could the ideas for Harry Potter spells been taken from Mary Poppins. I would not be surprised. JK Rowling could have been a fan of Poppins.
They say that great minds think alike and that one genius could come up with the same idea that another genius did. Also how George RR Martin puts it, “take from one source and it is plagiarism, but it you take from many sources, it is called research. ”
Now, Ms. Rowling has been accused of plagiarism before but that never stopped her. She is not the type to copy and paste something then called it her own. I do trust Ms. Rowling greatly, both as a fan and as an artist.
So in this article we are going to break down how Rowling got her ideas from Mary Poppins.
Poppins came first
We always have to ask the question which one came first? While Harry Potter was published in 1997 and the first movie came out on 2001. Marry Poppins was released on August of 1964. It is safe to say that Poppins was a catalyst. A Disney movie for children.
A witch comes to the Muggle world to help muggle born wizards to get accustomed to magic. Rowling could have gotten inspired by the magic system of Poppins and used it to her liking with her own twist of course. The story for Harry Potter was given birth when Rowling was on a train. It was on the train ride that she thought of the names, Harry, Ron and Hermoine. Now lets look at that magic system.
Similar Magic
Bottomless Bag
Remember that bottomless bag Hermoine had. You know that bag where she pulled that tent from when they were searching for the Horcruxes. Well, guess what. If you watch the Mary Poppin movie you will see that she also has a bottomless hand bag. Remember, Poppins came out in 1964. Again, it could just be a coincidence but maybe Rowling did take ideas from Poppins. I cant say I blame her and its not like she copied everything point by point.
Cleaning Spells
Man I wish I could just swing my wand and my room would clean itself. That would be the life. I find it interesting that Mary Poppins was using this spell way before the Harry Potter books ever came out. Some fans have a theory that Harry Potter and Mary Poppin share the same universe or that Poppins went to Hogwarts but back then in 1964, Hogwarts was not created yet.
The logical think would be that JK Rowling borrowed this idea from Mary Poppins. Both Poppins and Potter cannot exist in the same universe if they were created decades apart. Does that make sense. The cleaning spell is used all throughout the Harry Potter series.
Enchanted Paintings
Remember those animated paintings in Harry Potter, the ones that talk back to you. Well Mary Poppin got them too. Except she can jump inside the paintings. This is one of the things that fascinated people in Harry Potter but little do we know that Poppins introduced these paintings first.
These are just to name a few. Again this article is not written to attack Rowling but as an artist to another artist. I think has done a great job at creating the Harry Potter world so well that many fans think Mary Poppins was a wizard sent by the ministry of magic.
