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Sep. 17th, 2011 07:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cblj_backupSo, whilst bedridden I have finished watching Downton Abbey.
You know what would have made that easier to find, by the way? If I wasn't searching for Downtown Abbey like an idiot.
I did enjoy it, and I think it's good storytelling, but I didn't enjoy it as much as I think most people might assume I would. Just in case, let's go with a spoiler cut.
I think the thing is that I like the service dynamic, and I love to explore it, but I want it to be voluntary by the subservient members and I want the dominant members of the dynamic to deserve it. The thing that troubles me about Downton Abbey is that most of the staff have little if any choice in the matter -- they're bound by class constraints never to be more than servants, and at least a few of them are cowed and downtrodden by that fact. I like Carson because he chose it after leaving vaudeville, and I loved Gwen because she left it (if she comes back, Jesus, I'm going to throw something; I'll miss her, but I want her to Get Out). I loved the interactions between Matthew and Molesley because Molesley takes pride in his work and Matthew has to learn that and does -- I wish we'd had a lot more of the two of them. There were things I liked about Downton Abbey a lot, and while some of the plots were incredibly predictable I did usually want to know what would happen next.
I love the romance between Bates and Anna, even if I think he's something of a wet blanket. They have a stupid amount of chemistry given he's like twenty years older than she is. I can't wait to see where that one goes.
But Thomas and O'Brien were rather flat, as villains; they mostly made trouble just to make trouble, or out of petty vengeance. I could almost buy it in terms of O'Brien being bitter she's trapped in a servant's life and Thomas lashing out at the repressively heterosexual society he's stuck in, but we don't ever really get to see either of those things. They just meddle and stir shit because they can.
Also I'm not sure if we're meant to find the Crawleys as completely odious as I did. I think we're supposed to like the Earl because he's kind and considerate and forward-thinking, but he's also an idiot enslaved to a feudal -- and futile -- tradition, and he's actively working to enslave the next generation as well. The whole family reminds me of Gormenghast, completely trapped in the most useless of social conventions. There are a couple of conversations where the Earl talks about being the steward of Downton, or not breaking up the legacy, when a few minutes earlier he'd talked about the impracticalities and expenses of the house; every time he mentions the horror of breaking up the estate, I want to shake him and yell DITCH THE MOTHERFUCKER.
The Dowager is an evil woman, and I have absolutely no use for Mary's inability to make decisions or Evelyn's vicious bile. I don't really have a strong opinion about the Countess, but I think she's rather cruel to her children.
The one member of the family I like, aside from Matthew who I can't believe bought into the bullshit, is Sybil -- and even then she has her moments. But I like that she wants to be politically active and that she defies her parents to do it. I hope she elopes with Branson and they go hang out with the Fabian Society in London and meet George Bernard Shaw.
UP NEXT: I have also watched like ten episodes of My Little Pony, and can't stop thinking about Stanislaw Lem's "The Futurological Congress" as I do so.
You know what would have made that easier to find, by the way? If I wasn't searching for Downtown Abbey like an idiot.
I did enjoy it, and I think it's good storytelling, but I didn't enjoy it as much as I think most people might assume I would. Just in case, let's go with a spoiler cut.
I think the thing is that I like the service dynamic, and I love to explore it, but I want it to be voluntary by the subservient members and I want the dominant members of the dynamic to deserve it. The thing that troubles me about Downton Abbey is that most of the staff have little if any choice in the matter -- they're bound by class constraints never to be more than servants, and at least a few of them are cowed and downtrodden by that fact. I like Carson because he chose it after leaving vaudeville, and I loved Gwen because she left it (if she comes back, Jesus, I'm going to throw something; I'll miss her, but I want her to Get Out). I loved the interactions between Matthew and Molesley because Molesley takes pride in his work and Matthew has to learn that and does -- I wish we'd had a lot more of the two of them. There were things I liked about Downton Abbey a lot, and while some of the plots were incredibly predictable I did usually want to know what would happen next.
I love the romance between Bates and Anna, even if I think he's something of a wet blanket. They have a stupid amount of chemistry given he's like twenty years older than she is. I can't wait to see where that one goes.
But Thomas and O'Brien were rather flat, as villains; they mostly made trouble just to make trouble, or out of petty vengeance. I could almost buy it in terms of O'Brien being bitter she's trapped in a servant's life and Thomas lashing out at the repressively heterosexual society he's stuck in, but we don't ever really get to see either of those things. They just meddle and stir shit because they can.
Also I'm not sure if we're meant to find the Crawleys as completely odious as I did. I think we're supposed to like the Earl because he's kind and considerate and forward-thinking, but he's also an idiot enslaved to a feudal -- and futile -- tradition, and he's actively working to enslave the next generation as well. The whole family reminds me of Gormenghast, completely trapped in the most useless of social conventions. There are a couple of conversations where the Earl talks about being the steward of Downton, or not breaking up the legacy, when a few minutes earlier he'd talked about the impracticalities and expenses of the house; every time he mentions the horror of breaking up the estate, I want to shake him and yell DITCH THE MOTHERFUCKER.
The Dowager is an evil woman, and I have absolutely no use for Mary's inability to make decisions or Evelyn's vicious bile. I don't really have a strong opinion about the Countess, but I think she's rather cruel to her children.
The one member of the family I like, aside from Matthew who I can't believe bought into the bullshit, is Sybil -- and even then she has her moments. But I like that she wants to be politically active and that she defies her parents to do it. I hope she elopes with Branson and they go hang out with the Fabian Society in London and meet George Bernard Shaw.
UP NEXT: I have also watched like ten episodes of My Little Pony, and can't stop thinking about Stanislaw Lem's "The Futurological Congress" as I do so.
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no subject
Date: 2011-09-17 09:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-17 09:46 pm (UTC)There is an entire subsection of FiM fandom that believes that Pony is in fact the next regen of Doctor Who. There's lots of fic. Most of it very good.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-18 11:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-18 05:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-18 05:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-20 05:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-17 10:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-18 11:55 am (UTC)