“Glorious trash” is how my sister describes shows such as Downton Abbey. I have also heard them called “soap operas for the intelligentsia.” However they’re described, I’m hooked.
Why do I, and so many others, love programs like Upstairs Downstairs and Downton Abbey? Is it yearning for a lost world [that never was]? Is it the pleasure of seeing what seems like a static and secure world [- although drama and turmoil are always seething just below the surface?] Is it voyeurism [- the middle classes get to look up into the world of the gentry and down to life of the servant?]
It’s probably all of those things and, if I was made of sterner stuff, I could probably switch it off. But, no, there I sit compulsively consuming every last ounce of bygone elegance.
And I’m the one who thinks our American fascination with the British monarchy is absurd!
[If you're a fan of Downton Abbey and haven't seen the wonderful made-for-charitable fundraising parody, treat yourself now!]
{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }
Maybe what it comes down to is that like most soap operas, Downton Abbey is a family saga, similar in so many ways as our own, but this family, and all the families involved with the Crawley’s have a buttload of cash.
Maybe it’s the same fantasy of why people by powerball or mega-million lottery tickets when the prize rises over $75 million.
Maybe it’s watching how the 1% lives, with the same issues, squabbles, desires, disappointments that the Crawley family have.
Maybe it’s looking and admiring the woodwork, the china, the crystal, the clothes, the food, and asking how can they have parties every night?
Maybe we watch this and say, my God, we have the same issues, just not their money.
Maybe at the end of the show, we can look at ourselves and determine we don’t have it all that bad after all.
Maybe it is being grateful that we don’t have to dress for dinner like they do. One of my favorite scenes was from the 1st episode this year, when Lord Grantham’s shirts went missing and Matthew didn’t have the right attire either and the Dowager asked her son for a drink because she mistaked him for the help! Ha!!
Tim,
I doubt if the Dowager Countess uses terms like “buttload of cash.”
Paul
I have arrived very tardy to the Downton Abbey party. Isn’t it simply ghastly that I did not start watching until recently? Being home sick over Christmas and my Amazon Prime service allowed me the time and free video to watch seasons 1 and 2, and I am hooked!
Who understands these things? It is like the “healthy” junk food of TV. One one hand, it is “Masterpiece Classic.” On the other hand… well, it is junk food. Why am I so concerned that they keep Downton going? How can I feel so positively about Lady Mary, or Lady Edith for that matter, when they have behaved so poorly? And why do people keep falling for Thomas and O’Brien???? Those two, I have no affection for whatsoever.
Fran,
With “simply ghastly” are you channeling your Inner Brit?
Paul
Paul – you caught me!
I am also stuck on Downton Abbey. It is just plain fun. I watched the 2nd episode of the this season last night on my computer since I missed it Sunday (ahh!)….and I am glad I did! Poor Edith, or in the words of Jane Austen’s Elizabeth, “Poor, stupid girl!” I mean really, she should send him a thank you card for leaving her at the alter. And I agree with Fran, how can people not see through Thomas and O’Brien, although, I love how there is “no honor among thieves” Thomas especially! I can see no redeeming qualities. And Matthew! OY!!! He is plain maddening!
But what I do appreciate is that even though the classes are seperated, they do respect and care for (we have now witnessed a couple of times) each other and thier positions. Whether it represents reality, who knows, but I think it represents an innate goodness that we all aspire to.
I also want to go on record saying that Bates is guilty. I don’t trust him. There! It is public knowledge now. haha!
Annette,
I don’t know about Bates, but I’m 100% with you over Matthew. I want to reach into the screen and start shaking him!
Paul
Matthew -yes.
And while I have long rallied for Bates, and I love Anna – there is something about Bates. But guilty? I’m not sure… Oh dear, what if you are right, Annette?
One of the things I like best about this blog is that it is ‘oh-so-human’. How wonderful to embrace our little foibles with joy! Wasn’t it St. Teresa who said something about saving us from ‘sour-faced saints’? Thanks for this post…it made me smile and brightened my day! (and by the way…I think it’s time for me to check-out Downton Abbey – I hear it comes highly recommended!)
Andie,
I’m warning you. Starting to watch Downton is a bit like sampling crack cocaine!
Paul
I love Downton, and Upstairs Downstairs, And Brideshead Revisited, and Jewel in the Crown, and ….becuase they appeal to so many of my senses. Beautiful people, beautiful clothes, great art and architecture, dazzling jewels, sumptuous feasts, lovely music. It appeals to my sense of humor; my admiration for Maggie Smith, and for the Dowager Countess’s ability to toss off great one-liners, borders on idolatry. And no laugh tracks to tell me when something is funny!
Most of all I love them as an escape from what seems to be the much less interesting challenges and concerns of my own life.
I loved my oldest daughter’s reaction as she heard me yelling at the screen during the most recent episode. I could read in the face and body language of Sir Anthony what he was about to do, and yelled at him not to. My daughter came into the room, asked what I was worked up over, and said — “Mom, it’s a soap opera! DUH! Of course he’s going to (won’t spoil it if you haven’t seen it.
) That happens in EVERY soap opera story. Even I know that!”
Well, yes, sweetie — but it didn’t mean I was any less angry at him for doing it.
Denise,
My theory is that Sir Anthony is gay and that tidbit will come out at some point.
Paul
Perhaps Thomas will become Sir Anthony’s butler? I could see that…
Hmmm. Whenever I watch Downton/upstaris Downstairs, etc, I fail to understand how there was not a revolution in the UK. Maybe it is an innate deference. At least the Irish had the good sense to stand up to the British ruling class after they were let down. We just elected them all over again
Simon,
And then the Irish fawned over Princess Diana!
It drives me nuts how many of my American friends are obsessed about and know way too much about the comings and goings of the British royalty and aristocracy.
Paul
I tried watching this, but I couldn’t understand half of what they were saying. Now I know that English is my native tongue, but their accents were so thick that I thought perhaps I was developing a late onset of auditory dyslexia! When I watch television, I like to relax and it became too much of a chore to listen and try to interpret. Why don’t they learn how to speak English??
Hahahaa Emma- it would be interesting to meet one day. Maybe you would find my New Zealand accent too hard to understand, and maybe I would find your accent hard. I was staying with some people in Cork City, Ireland quite some years back. When they spoke to each other, for three days I thought they had to be speaking Irish, as I couldn’t understand a word. Eventually I realised it was English, and they laughed and laughed at my mistake!
Thanks for introducing me to Downton Abbey.
I have never heard of this series.
I will have to check the local listings.
I will admit to being hooked on this one, too! I’m watching it with my beloved husband, who was away for the first two episodes of the new season. I waited for him to come home to start, that was hard!!
I love all the convolutions and the outsized characters in these sorts of shows, it’s like gossip — except instead of gasping over what my neighbors have done, I can be (innocently!) incensed about the way O’Brien behaves!
And honestly, someone should shake some sense into Matthew….