Escape to Graceful Times: Why We Love Downton Abbey

I know and appreciate that Downton Abbey is old news, but, over the holidays, I had occasion to see what the hype was about -- and could not resist writing about it for Good Life followers. 

I was skeptical when the Husband urged me to start watching Downton Abbey.  I was never a fan of Masterpiece and as one who disdains East Coast snobbery on our own side of the pond, the notion of watching a television drama about the landed gentry in Great Britain had little appeal to me.  But, as with most things in my marriage, I found it easier to give in and agree to watch an episode than listen for days about how I was stubborn for not doing so.  So, I poured a glass of sparkling wine and started watching -- and, like the rest of America, I am hooked. 

For those Project Good Life Readers who have not seen Downton Abbey, the first season of the show is set in pre-World War I England and chronicles life of an aristocratic family (with the unfortunate luck of having all female children) and an unsuspecting male heir apparent to their fortune, Matthew Crawley.  The male heir that was to marry the eldest daughter and inherit the fortune died in the Titanic, of course, setting the stage for the new heir (a distant cousin who was not raised in the aristocracy and was, instead, merely a solicitor) to enter the scene.  Downton Abbey also chronicles the stories of the “downstairs world” of the servants at Downton and in so doing educates a naïve American audience about positions such as a footman, a valet, and a ladies' maid.  The second season, which is currently airing in the U.S. (and has already aired across the pond), is set during World War I and highlights the social and political changes of that time.  Downton Abbey is a soap opera, a history lesson, and good television drama wrapped into one.  It is enticing, interesting, and draws you in.  The Husband and I watched all of the first season on Netflix in a matter of days and are counting down until the next episode in Season Two airs next week.

Bloggers and pop culture writers have many theories for why Downton has captured the imagination of the American public.  The Hairpin has discussed why the show interests those interested in women’s history.  The most recent, and interesting, explanation that I have seen was Slate’s contention that the Downton has engendered nostalgia for a class structure Americans never had.  According to Slate, although Americans don’t wholly approve of it, they are somehow entranced by the clarity and inescapable roles that the characters on Downton occupy.  That is, the characters on Downton are free from the climb-the-ladder anxiety that accompanies the virtue of social mobility in the U.S.  Instead, their place in society is set -- and, although Americans prefer their mobile freedom of occupation to outdated remnants of feudalism, “the inescapability and clarity” of their roles, especially in modern times when everything is in flux, “is so seductive.”

I, too, am attracted to Downton for the backdrop against which it is set, as opposed to its plot.  For me, however, the attraction of Downton is that the show’s depiction of impeccable manners and social grace -- of a time when people used cups and saucers, wrote actual letters, appreciated a good table setting, and conducted themselves with the upmost self-respect and pride.  And, no, I’m not just talking about the upstairs world of the landed gentry in Downton -- that would be too obvious -- It is that everyone -- including the servants eating and socializing in their downstairs living quarters -- exhibit far more social grace than many in today’s world.  Even the stark insults handed down by the Dowager-Countess of Grantham are packaged in a polite and gentle way (which makes them far more creative than common insults in our era).  You would never hear the Countess say something as crude as “d-bag” or “tool,” but with a look of her eyes and a simple few words you know where you stand with her all the same.  The current age could learn a few things from the grace of Downton.  We may be beyond the years of landed gentry, ladies’ maids, or footmen, but nothing is stopping us from writing a proper note or getting out the good china, ironing a linen napkin, and enjoying a cup of tea.