"Sixteen Going on Seventeen" is a metaphor for fascism.
Essentially, Rolfe is telling Liesl to put aside her own agency and subscribe to his judgement for her own good. He infantilizes her as someone who doesn't know her own interests and paints himself as "someone older and wiser" to whom she should devote herself. In a way, Rolfe is mirroring, between himself and Liesl, Hitler's relationship with the German people.Liesl is a Time Lord
This explains her fascination with doings things for 'the first time'. She likes repeating milestones. Also, she doesn't mind waiting 'a year or two' because she has all the time in the world.In the end they're hiking through the Green Mountains, not the Alps.
It doesn't match, of course - it's really either a studio matte or the Hollywood Hills - and suitably time-compressed that they haven't traded their Trachten for Johnson flannels yet, to say nothing about the kids not being any older - but it explains why they're walking in the "wrong" direction. They're headed towards Stowe Village, not Berchtesgaden.
- The valley behind them is recognizable as the Salzburg valley, and the gigantic mountain behind them is readily identifiable, for anyone who's actually been there. Also, the Green Mountains are nowhere near that impressive. And it's not a matte shot.
The lady who bowed excessively was part of the plan
Max told her that they needed to delay the ceremony as long as possible so the Von Traps would have time to escape. She deliberately took up extra time in order to help them, without going so far as to look suspicious.Maria is an amnesiac Mary Poppins
Some time after leaving the Banks family in 1910, she lost her powers and her memory and ended up wandering around Austria in the 30s. She retained two things: her passion for music and her talent for looking after children (and a distorted version of her first name).- Or, going along with the WMG that Mary Poppins is a Time Lord, she at one point used the Chameleon Circuit to turn herself human, has forgotten her past, and will eventually return to Time Lord status.
Friedrich is in love with Maria too
The first time the children are asked to sing after Maria leaves, Friedrich and Gretel both refuse to sing, and he spends the song staring wistfully into the distance. He's just the right age to develop a crush on an important female figure.- That's pure Reality Subtext right there — actor Nicholas Hammond had a terrible crush on Julie Andrews, dating back to the night several years previously when he had seen her last performance on stage in London as Eliza Doolittle.
