I am a serial re-watcher. Not with everything, but with some movies and shows, they are just the video equivalent of comfort food and I've seen them multiple times. I have seen Dead Poets Society, Scent of a Woman, Clue, Braveheart, and The 13th Warrior so many times, I could probably quote you half the script.
"J. Edgar Hoover??"
Shows that I do this to are The Tudors, House, Black Sails, and ...Downton Abbey. Except that Downton Abbey is losing its luster, and I'll tell ya why.
Clue #1: It Tries Really Hard To Make Lady Mary The Main Character In An Ensemble Cast
Lady Mary, the snobbish, entitled, bitch of a rich heiress* (technically not, but in practice, yes) becomes more and more the focus in a show that is all about the ensemble cast and not a main-character-led affair. We're supposed to care about the multiple men who love her for reasons that none of us can understand other than that she's pretty and be caught up in who she will choose. Tony is far too nice for her but breaks off an engagement to be with her; Charles is all about reform but oh, she is willing to keep her investment pigs from dying and knows how to cook an egg and suddenly she's Real People; and Henry? Why does Henry like her? Because she was a snot and then complimented his car? I don't even know, but suddenly by the end he's all "I must be worthy of her" and I'm like, no, Henry, you were already better than her.
Both Matthew and Henry say things like "their Mary" is much nicer than she lets on, as opposed to "Edith's Mary" who is the bitch everyone else knows but worse since Edith is the main target for her venom. But we never see any evidence of the "nice" Mary, really. We see brief moments where she is surprisingly less bitchy or snobbish, and by the end they've even got Tom saying "You're much nicer than you let on," because they're trying really, really hard to convince us that she's nice and not a bitch by having other characters say it all the time, except her actions say otherwise. She literally tries to ruin Edith's life* (more about why Edith isn't great either in a minute) because she wasn't happy herself, and she can't stand for Edith to be happier than she is.
They even have her frenemy, Mable, Tony's ex who eventually they try to get him back together with, complimenting Mary: she tells her at the horse race that she looks "like a Vogue fashionplate crossed with a stick of dynamite." What? No frenemy is going to say that to their rival. We get it, they want us to know that Mary is shiny and fashionable, but she's wearing the same riding clothes that everyone is wearing except she got a new haircut. Yes, ooh, racy, short hair on a girl in those days, we get it, but in no real world is Mable going to compliment her that hard because she got a stylish new 'do.
Basically, they have the other characters telling us how we should feel about Mary, even though her actions all say that she's awful. You can be shiny and fashionable and still be a terrible, terrible person. Mary is Cersei Lanister with good PR, and we're supposed to root for her? I wanted her to die in a fire.
Clue #2: We're Constantly Told To Feel Sorry For Edith
Oh, poor lady Edith, so unlucky in love, isn't she tragic.
If you haven't guessed my answer yet, no, she isn't tragic. She's a rich bitch too who hurts other people and doesn't care at all, she just isn't a class snob like Mary.
So, Edith is in love with Patrick, the heir who dies in the first episode, and we don't really know if that love was unrequited since Mary's quasi-engagement to him wasn't wanted by Mary either, really. Then Edith almost has an affair with a farmer, so, not a class snob, but doesn't care about the wife at all - hurting people to get what she wants. Then she gets really clingy to an old man because she is desperate for affection and is jilted at the altar, which okay, that sucks. Then she falls in love with Michael and we're reminded that again, she doesn't care about class, isn't she swell? - but then he dies and she's left single and pregnant.
She gets to go on vacation to a foreign country with her aunt for the duration of her pregnancy to hide it, which no lower class woman could ever afford to do - if you'd like to see more realistic tragedies about single, pregnant women back in the day, watch Call The Midwife instead - and gives the kid up for adoption.
But oh, she's sad and wants her baby so she goes and takes her back from the adoptive family who loved her offscreen (but we're told this is OK because they adopted a different baby afterward), and brings her back and gives her to another adoptive family, where Mr. Drew knows she's the mom and Mrs. Drew does not.
Leaving aside that that whole mess might have been avoided if they had TOLD MRS. DREW the truth, essentially she has given Marigold to another mother to love, only to snatch her away again, breaking another woman's heart who loved her child. This whole deal is treated like Mrs. Drew is the crazy, unreasonable one, but SHE TOOK A CHILD INTO HER HEART AND LOVED HER, and Edith didn't give one flying shit. She treated Mrs. Drew and Mrs. Shroeder (the offscreen adoptive mother in Switzerland) like temporary nannies while telling them they were permanent mothers. Then when they loved and got attached to Marigold, we're supposed to be like, oh, Mrs. Drew is so emotional and crazy! It's Edith's baby! Edith needs her baby!! But as far as Mrs. Drew is concerned, Marigold is HER baby, and she is just supposed to let her go at the drop of a hat because selfish Edith doesn't care who she crushes while she figures out what she wants and grows the spine to do it.
Oh, but we're not done yet, because then Edith falls in love with Bertie (again, she doesn't care about class, isn't she swell), but then she's going to LIE TO HIM ABOUT MARIGOLD when he proposes marriage because she learned nothing from Mrs. Drew. When that blows up in her face because of her bitch ass sister (hello, Mary), we're supposed to feel sorry for her? Because reasons? And then when Bertie takes her back anyway, Edith tells his mom the truth because she FINALLY LEARNED HER LESSON and it's treated like, oh, isn't she a brave moral standard, look at her convictions about honesty! She was a deceptive liar like two episodes ago, but she's a moral stalwart now who gets celebrated because she learned a lesson. Mmmkay. Oh, and she gets the highest ranking of all class-wise, in some "her non class snobbishness was rewarded with super high class rank and she lives in a castle now" like every "and the girl became a princess" story ever told. Fuck Edith.
We're also told by THE SERVANTS that they all feel sorry for Edith, because reasons, in yet another case of "the cast tells us how we're supposed to feel about a character." Subtle.
Still a bitch.
Clue #3: The "bad servants/lower class folx" and the "good servants"
There is a distinct "punishment/reward" system in place for the servants on this show. If you're a "good servant," who is "grateful," and "knows your place," you're rewarded* (we'll get to Anna and Bates in a minute). If you're a "bad servant," who is "uppity" and "doesn't know your place," you're punished* (we'll get to Tom too, in a minute).
Braithwaite: how dare she be so forward with Tom, who is now family, who got that way by being forward with a member of the family?? Punished!
Ethel: how dare she want a better life and not want to be a servant forever and get pregnant out of wedlock (hi, Edith)?? Punished - a lot! Not only does she lose her job, but she does sex work, is impoverished, loses her child ...no, don't look at Edith, Ethel didn't know her place!
Thomas: THOMAS IS ALWAYS THE BAD GUY. Even after he makes friends with Bates and Anna because they kept him from going to prison for gayness, he suddenly is their enemy again because reasons? Like, Mrs. O'Brien is gone and you'd think that he'd become friends with the others after that, but nope, he goes back to being nasty because there always has to be a schemer downstairs, so may as well make it the gay man, amirite? At least he was rewarded in the end, but not until after things got so bad for him he became suicidal.
Daisy: anytime Daisy speaks up for herself (see: her standing up for Mr. Mason), she gets punished, and is only rewarded when she "learns her lesson" about "staying in her lane" and not upsetting the nice rich people whose good graces her life depends on.
Ms. Bunting: Tom was willing to dump a pot of feces on a general and go to prison forever for his beliefs, but Ms. Bunting making a socialist point at dinner is OH MY GOD SHE IS TOO MUCH and even Tom says she is pitting herself against the family and so he can't be with her because he loves them now (even though dumping said pot of muck would have been a problem for him being with lady Sybil, as well as him being drafted and then telling the army where to go, as was his original plan, but he still got with her). Robert is the one acting a fool at dinner, but it's Ms. Bunting who gets the shaft, because socialism is bad, kids.
Mr. Mosley: Any time Mr. Mosley gets even a hint of dignity, he gets the smackdown - he loses his job and goes into debt after achieving a good job at the big house because Matthew died, when he is hesitant to take a major step down from butler/valet to footman (AS MR. CARSON WOULD ALSO NOT WANT TO DO) even though it's better than mending roads, he almost loses that job opportunity, and then when he simply asks if he is the first footman, thereby recovering just a shred of his dignity, Mr. Carson punishes him left and right for it until he gives up the title and status, again, even though Mr. Carson also would have been ashamed to be brought down in rank himself, he has no sympathy for Mosley at all. Mosley is rewarded in the end like Thomas is, but not until after he is put through hell and is repeatedly humbled by it.
Mrs. Baxter: the second "good servant" who wants everyone who learns a piece of her story to think the worst possible version of it in an effort to constantly flagellate herself because reasons, Mrs. Baxter is like the female Mr. Bates. In the end, she gets to keep her good job because of her self-blaming ways and her humility.
Alfred: Gets rewarded with his dream job because Work Ethic and Humility, isn't that the way it always works out in the imaginary meritocracy?
Gwen: Gwen wants a better life, but she's super humble and constantly doubts herself and feels defeated and is only ultimately successful because The Nice Lady Sybil Helped Her. The Nice Lady Sybil is nice throughout and dies, kinda like Matthew is pretty nice throughout and dies, and Lavinia is nice and dies, and William is nice and dies, because genuinely nice people deserve to die in this world.
ANNA AND MR. BATES: Because Julian Fellowes apparently wrote a few seasons worth of ideas and then ran out and had to reuse them, Anna and Mr. Bates go to jail for crimes they didn't commit a total of THREE TIMES between them (silver theft, murder, murder) and Anna also gets raped. So no doubt you're going to say they are the exception to the good/bad punishment/reward rule, and they kind of are. But I fucking hate them anyway, and I hate the Sad Mr. Bates music (plink plink, plink plink). Why? WHAT ACTUAL HUMAN BEING IN THE WORLD having had all this happen to them - JAIL THREE TIMES FOR CRIMES THEY DIDN'T COMMIT AND RAPE - would continue to be "oh so grateful" for every blessed thing and "so happy" that their spouse isn't a murderer and well-adjusted, functional adults instead of BITTER AND DISGRUNTLED AT THE CRUEL AND UNJUST WORLD THEY LIVE IN? No one, that's who. In reality, they'd be nastier than Thomas was made out to be, but instead they were good little Catholic saints believing in Justice In The End and Grateful For What They've Got and Finding Happniess Where They Can, instructing the audience that the Good And Noble Way To Suffer Your Hardships is to Take It On The Chin And Not Complain and Be Grateful Your Employer Continues To Let You Serve Their Rich Asses, Isn't That Solidarity.
Tom: Goes from being a revolutionary with ideas to being a way-too-enthusiastic lapdog. He practically has a crush on Henry because cars and acts like a stanning fanboy. It's implied that he'll end up with Edith's editor in the end, but I doubt they'll ever have children since he was neutered so utterly. Sybil dying and him being banished from Ireland is a punishment, and we're expected to believe that him being accepted by the family and finding a place for himself with Henry and the family is a reward, but he's pretty much a Stepford Wife/Get Out version of himself at this point, so Tom is pretty much dead and what we're witnessing is Branson of Borg, Resistance is Futile, Class Hierarchy is Inevitable being rewarded, not Tom himself.
You will be assimilated.
Clue #4: The Rich Women Who Don't Care About Class End Up The Richest Of All
We've already discussed Edith, so let's talk about Rose. Rose! The free spirit, who holds no prejudice*, everyone loves Rose. The one who believes normal life is "dancing, shopping, seeing your friends." Who *dates a black man to get back at her mother (that's not no prejudice, that's knowing the prejudice and using him for her own devices). Who is the stereotype of the child from a (not yet, but unhappy) broken home who is looking for love with a married older man. Who is lighthearted and carefree because she is rich and privileged and taken care of and can afford to be. Her mom is a bitch, sure; but lots of poor people have awful parents too - Rose's life is pretty damn good. Her biggest worries once she is at Downton is that she's bored and she wants a radio.
But because the narrative wants to instruct us that everyone ends up with someone "proper" for their station, Mary's ultimate beau may not be wealthy but he's from noble stock; Tom will probably end up with an ambitious working woman; Carson and Mrs. Hughes hook up; Mrs. Patmore and Mr. Mason will likely hook up; Daisy and Andy will likely hook up; Edith ends up in a castle; and Rose marries a super rich banker (but oh, he's Jewish so that's still her not caring about norms ...even though Cora is half Jewish too and Robert married her and Mrs. Levinson married her Jewish father but ROSE IS SUCH A HIPPIE WOOHOO). And rich Jewish banker, really? No stereotypes there, nope, none at all. >.>
Rose and Edith ending up The Richest is basically telling us that their lack-of-caring about class was just a youthful wildness, but in the end the "proper" match will come along and they'll live Wealthily Ever After, because They Deserve It.
So all this to say,
...the more I watch this show, the more I want to build a guillotine on the balcony.
Revoluuuuuuuuuuuuuution!
Stay revolutionary, Steem fam! ;)