The Connection Between Discipline and Delight in Nanny McPhee
by Dr. Marc T. Newman
January 27, 2006
(AgapePress) - - Neil Postman, in The Disappearance of Childhood, notes that one of the symptoms of our decaying society is the way we treat children as little adults. He does not mean expecting children to behave responsibly; he means blurring the lines between adulthood and childhood until the protective barrier is erased and adults feel free to victimize kids. An example of this cultural tendency is when filmmakers decide to sexualize or vulgarize children in their movies. In the recent remake of Yours, Mine, and Ours, one of the 18 children from a blended family leeringly suggests that a good way to get back at their parents for marrying is for two of the girls to engage in improper sexual behavior. I cringed. Modern filmmakers are required to journey into the past to recapture truly childlike (as opposed to childish) behavior. And as Postman notes in another of his books, Building a Bridge to the Eighteenth Century: How the Past Can Improve Our Future, if a culture is getting it wrong, the appropriate course of action is look back to where things went amiss, and try to make things right before proceeding forward. Nanny McPhee director Kirk Jones commented that "people are still looking at traditional ways of raising their children." Nanny McPhee, a screen adaptation of the Nurse Matilda stories, transports us to the past in hopes of recapturing that tradition and using it to improve our future if we, like the children Nanny McPhee governs, incorporate her lessons.
In the film, Mr. Brown, recently widowed, is unable to control his seven unruly children. The kids aren't too keen on being governed, evidenced by their running off of their previous 17 nannies. At his wit's end, Mr. Brown mysteriously keeps hearing and seeing that the governess he needs is Nanny McPhee. One evening she abruptly shows up at his door. She is hideous. Without options, Mr. Brown hires her and through a series of five lessons she begins to mold his children.
In a culture where discipline is often in short supply, Nanny McPhee asks us to examine our own attitudes. Beginning with our distaste for rules, the film makes a case for self-control and obedience. Nanny McPhee has a special way to demonstrate consequences that leads to enlightenment. The results extend beyond the children to the adults in their circle. Far from being poisonous, the children -- and the adults -- learn that discipline leads to delight.
Marc Newman's analysis continues below
Nanny McGhee -- rated PG for mild thematic elements, some rude humor and brief language -- opens Friday, January 27 at theaters in the U.S. Publication of this analysis does not constitute endorsement of the movie.
Hideous Discipline
Anyone who has seen the trailer for Nanny McPhee knows that she is a fright -- McPhee is no Mary Poppins. Dressed all in black, Nanny McPhee is rotund, with a face full of moles and warts, and a long tooth that protrudes over her lip. Mr. Brown is immediately taken aback. As he is a poor disciplinarian, her promises to teach the children to behave seem as fantastic as her appearance. When she introduces herself to the children, and announces the first lesson, their immediate response is disobedience and hatred. Nanny McPhee represents what they perceive to be hideous discipline.
The prophet Isaiah pronounces woe on those who would call evil good, and good evil, and those who were wise in their own estimation (Is. 20-21). Nanny McPhee is a "government nanny" -- and that doesn't mean that Parliament pays her salary. She is there to teach the children how to govern themselves and to pay attention to those in authority over them. The children initially chafe under her rule, even though her purpose in coming is to aid them. They are foolish, but Nanny McPhee taps her special "rod" of discipline and begins to teach. As the children learn to embrace her lessons, their perception of her begins to alter as well.
Consequences Lead to Enlightenment
One of the problems of childhood (that follows some late into adulthood) is the inability to project forward the consequences of one's current actions. Sin has a tendency to creep, so the consequences sometimes come so late that we cannot even connect them to the activities that preceded them.
The Brown children are very naughty. They have been bad for so long now that even when the results of their behavior are apparent to everyone else, they are invisible to the children. One of Nanny McPhee's peculiar "talents" is her ability to speed the children's bad behavior until it reaches its absurd, and potentially dangerous, conclusion. By avoiding the "frog in the pot" slow boil toward consequences, even these kids with 20/500 moral vision begin to see clearly the impending results of their actions, and they start making some better choices.
But led by the stubborn Simon, the children keep testing Nanny McPhee, wanting to have their own way. Proverbs 29:15 explains, "The rod and reproof give wisdom, But a child who gets his own way brings shame to his mother." When the children decide to lie about being sick so that they can get their own way, they quickly discover the truth of the old saying, "Be careful what you wish for, you might get it." Only by accepting Nanny McPhee's reproof and bearing the consequences do they gain wisdom.
The Pervasive Creep of Doing Well
The lessons Nanny McPhee comes to teach are directed toward the children. As their behavior improves, however, the effect begins to extend to Mr. Brown as well. Nanny McPhee does what Mr. Brown is unable to do -- teach the children to behave. But as a result, he learns to listen to his children and return to being a father to them. Colin Firth, who plays Mr. Brown, notes that all of the little lessons the children learn "affect the family in a transcendent way. They transform everyone."
Practicing sin can have unintended consequences. Conversely, doing the right thing often creates a ripple effect that reaches beyond the initial good deed. Scripture talks about the effect a wife can have on a husband (1 Cor. 7:16), or how good works done for some can lead others to praise God (Matt. 5:16). God has the power to take small acts of faith and multiply their effects to reach others.
Discipline Leads to Delight
At the beginning of the film, the children are undisciplined and, though they get their own way, they are unhappy. Discipline leads to delight. Their lives take on a greater sense of purpose. They get their eyes off of themselves and learn to work together to keep their family from splitting apart. The film presents an interesting juxtaposition between an early scene that depicts total chaos and one near the end that appears chaotic as well, but it is not. The anger and irritation the children feel early in the movie comes from a lack of standards or purpose. By the end of the film, their response to the ill-advised impending marriage of their father to a child-hating gold digger is devised to right a wrong. What looks like a melee at the end is actually organized protest. The children rediscover the joy of doing well.
Often our stubborn inclination is to believe that obedience to God's law will be at the expense of our own happiness -- but God's Word tells a different story. God takes delight in those who set aside their own prerogatives to honor and obey Him, and His people will experience that delight (Is. 58:13-14). Nanny McPhee is an interesting introduction to the idea that self-control, obedience, and family unity leads to a much happier result than wild abandon.
What is Nanny McPhee?
Some might object to using this initially ugly and clearly magical person to instruct children in the benefits of right behavior. The first impression the Brown children have is that Nanny McPhee is a witch -- but she never sanctions that belief, and too much about her argues for something entirely different. Her appearance changes throughout the film. It is left for the audience to decide if Nanny McPhee is actually changing or if the family's perception of her alters the way they see her. She comes and goes almost instantaneously. She tells the children that when they need her but don't want her she has to stay, but that when they want her but no longer need her then she has to go. She appears to be a personification of wisdom and self-control. She needs to stay only until the lessons are learned. I think that this film could be a great introduction to those concepts for patient parents willing to help their children connect the dots.
Marc T. Newman, PhD (marc@movieministry.com) is the president of MovieMinistry.com -- an organization that provides sermon and teaching illustrations from popular film, and helps the Church use movies to reach out to others and connect with people.
