Some criticism of Downton Abbey.
Feb. 18th, 2012 09:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sasha_featherI love Downton Abbey! The characters are flawed but likeable, complex people; the costumes and scenery are wonderful, and the storylines engage me, even if the soap opera aspects are a little over the top for my tastes sometimes.
I have some problems with the way they portray gay people and people with disabilities on Downton Abbey.
Ahead are spoilers. If you want to catch up, the latest eps are online at PBS.org.
Gay characters: so far there have been just two, both male: Thomas, a dishonest footman; and the Duke of Crowbourough, a guest in episode one, who is also an unlikeable character. If anyone else is gay, they haven't revealed themselves as such. I'm pleased that the writers are making Thomas more likeable as season 2 proceeds, but it is taking a while. There is also a suggestion that he is mean and standoffish because he's been pushed around, as he confided to a blind soldier in the hospital where Thomas was working. But it's tiresome to see the only regular gay character as the one that everyone loves to hate. I mentioned this to someone who also watches and her apologism was startling: "Well but at that time, that might have been the prevailing viewpoint..." I wish that I had told her, this is a modern show aimed at modern viewers. Also, it is clear that some of the servants know that Thomas prefers men, and they don't care (the cook tries to explain this to Daisy so that Daisy will give up her crush on Thomas). Their problem with Thomas is that he is mean, he steals, etc.
Portrayal of disability:
I had hopes! The first few episodes dealt so well with Mr. Bates, the new valet with the limp. Most everyone doubted his abilities, but he adapted to his situation and eventually became the most-liked person in the servant's quarters. Eventually everyone stopped thinking about his limp, though obviously it's still there. The cook also deals with fading vision due to cataracts, and she hid her problem out of fear. Eventually she has surgery to correct her vision. These were great portrayals of the everyday, normal nature of disability and the effect upon people's lives.
But things got worse with the onset of the war. We see a man in the hospital, blinded by gas used in WWI, that Thomas has befriended. This man is so depressed by his injury that he ends up killing himself, and it seems like the point of this was just to cause pain for Thomas and to create a plot point where Downton would be opened up as a recovery ward. This was really disappointing: a PWD is killed off for a plot point, and an opportunity to show someone living with a disability is lost.
Next we see Matthew become paralyzed and start using a wheelchair, which was an interesting turn of events. He apparently believes he can't have sex anymore, which seems unlikely and uncreative--it's not my area of expertise but, well. Then a couple of episodes later, it turns out the diagnosis was wrong, and he only had bruising of his spinal column. Matthew can walk again! This is a trope called "magical healing" or throwing off the disability (link goes to TV tropes). You may be saying, "But couldn't this have actually happened?" Sure it could have. It wasn't magic and maybe things like this did happen, albeit rarely. But the trope is harmful because it mainstreams the rare event, and erases the much more common event of people having to live with and adapt to new lives as wheelchair users. Again, an opportunity here is lost: to show someone living realistically with a disability. Why put Matthew in the wheelchair in the first place, if you as writers only wanted him out of it again? Why not give him some other kind of injury?
Oh, and then the Spanish Flu hits the house. As you know, Bobette, the 1918 Flu killed 3% of the world's popluation and primarily affected young adults. Here's the Wikipedia page in case you want to refresh your knowledge.. After Livinia dies, Matthew says to Mary that he thinks she dies of a broken heart, because she saw Matthew kiss Mary. Oh sure, Matthew. Sure. She died of a broken heart. Just like those millions of other people who also caught the flu! And just like Padme Skywalker. I HATE THIS TROPE can you tell.
(There is actually something called Broken Heart Syndrome but it usually occurs in women over 50 years of age, and usually isn't fatal, and anyway, I don't think it applies in the above situation.)
Well that took a while to write and had a lot of typos. Feedback welcome.
I have some problems with the way they portray gay people and people with disabilities on Downton Abbey.
Ahead are spoilers. If you want to catch up, the latest eps are online at PBS.org.
Gay characters: so far there have been just two, both male: Thomas, a dishonest footman; and the Duke of Crowbourough, a guest in episode one, who is also an unlikeable character. If anyone else is gay, they haven't revealed themselves as such. I'm pleased that the writers are making Thomas more likeable as season 2 proceeds, but it is taking a while. There is also a suggestion that he is mean and standoffish because he's been pushed around, as he confided to a blind soldier in the hospital where Thomas was working. But it's tiresome to see the only regular gay character as the one that everyone loves to hate. I mentioned this to someone who also watches and her apologism was startling: "Well but at that time, that might have been the prevailing viewpoint..." I wish that I had told her, this is a modern show aimed at modern viewers. Also, it is clear that some of the servants know that Thomas prefers men, and they don't care (the cook tries to explain this to Daisy so that Daisy will give up her crush on Thomas). Their problem with Thomas is that he is mean, he steals, etc.
Portrayal of disability:
I had hopes! The first few episodes dealt so well with Mr. Bates, the new valet with the limp. Most everyone doubted his abilities, but he adapted to his situation and eventually became the most-liked person in the servant's quarters. Eventually everyone stopped thinking about his limp, though obviously it's still there. The cook also deals with fading vision due to cataracts, and she hid her problem out of fear. Eventually she has surgery to correct her vision. These were great portrayals of the everyday, normal nature of disability and the effect upon people's lives.
But things got worse with the onset of the war. We see a man in the hospital, blinded by gas used in WWI, that Thomas has befriended. This man is so depressed by his injury that he ends up killing himself, and it seems like the point of this was just to cause pain for Thomas and to create a plot point where Downton would be opened up as a recovery ward. This was really disappointing: a PWD is killed off for a plot point, and an opportunity to show someone living with a disability is lost.
Next we see Matthew become paralyzed and start using a wheelchair, which was an interesting turn of events. He apparently believes he can't have sex anymore, which seems unlikely and uncreative--it's not my area of expertise but, well. Then a couple of episodes later, it turns out the diagnosis was wrong, and he only had bruising of his spinal column. Matthew can walk again! This is a trope called "magical healing" or throwing off the disability (link goes to TV tropes). You may be saying, "But couldn't this have actually happened?" Sure it could have. It wasn't magic and maybe things like this did happen, albeit rarely. But the trope is harmful because it mainstreams the rare event, and erases the much more common event of people having to live with and adapt to new lives as wheelchair users. Again, an opportunity here is lost: to show someone living realistically with a disability. Why put Matthew in the wheelchair in the first place, if you as writers only wanted him out of it again? Why not give him some other kind of injury?
Oh, and then the Spanish Flu hits the house. As you know, Bobette, the 1918 Flu killed 3% of the world's popluation and primarily affected young adults. Here's the Wikipedia page in case you want to refresh your knowledge.. After Livinia dies, Matthew says to Mary that he thinks she dies of a broken heart, because she saw Matthew kiss Mary. Oh sure, Matthew. Sure. She died of a broken heart. Just like those millions of other people who also caught the flu! And just like Padme Skywalker. I HATE THIS TROPE can you tell.
(There is actually something called Broken Heart Syndrome but it usually occurs in women over 50 years of age, and usually isn't fatal, and anyway, I don't think it applies in the above situation.)
Well that took a while to write and had a lot of typos. Feedback welcome.
no subject
Date: 2012-02-19 06:08 am (UTC)I actually like the soapy-drama that's going on...
Anyway, you do know there's an extra ep, right? It's the christmas special and it's super sweet. :)
no subject
Date: 2012-02-19 06:38 am (UTC)I honed doing this kind of media analysis at WisCon, but I think my brain has always kind of worked this way, wanting to pull things apart and analyze them. My mom used to talk about the portrayals of nurses on TV when I was a teenager, for instance-- I come by it naturally. :)
The soap aspect is fun but sometimes I'm like, sigh, can Bates ever get a break?! Haha. :)
no subject
Date: 2012-02-19 07:34 am (UTC)But then in S2 when the soap opera started and all the nuance and subtelty and grayness was sucked out of the show suddenly you had heroes and villains. Suddenly the class struggle vanished or was reduced to very simplistic rhetoric. Suddenly you felt like the Earl of Grantham was someone you were meant to revere and look up to on a show that ostensibly was all about critiquing the aristocracy and exploring the problematic privilege and economic difference of the time period.
And then suddenly Thomas went from someone I found interesting and nuanced to a villain with a sob story. And not only that but, tellingly, any traces of his gayness disappeared. It was suddenly too complicated to put that in when the show was all about black and white and fairytales. Just like Mrs. Bates went from someone who sounded like a well-rounded, flawed character in S1 to a caricature villain in S2.
Ugh I used to love this show so much. And then they did the nonsense with Matthew's injury and the flu and just... sigh. No words.
no subject
Date: 2012-02-19 12:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-19 08:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-19 08:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-19 10:16 am (UTC)Thomas I think is a complicated matter, but they really need to focus on him more if they want to rescue him from the pits of Depraved Homosexual offensiveness, and allowing him a friendship in Edward would've been a start. I didn't actually find the Duke of Crowborough to be dislikeable, but I did get the impression the show probably wanted me to hate him more than I actually did; I found him fairly amoral/neutral, but I realize on a soap show like this taking actions that are mercenary and not wanting to marry a woman due to her lack of inheritance is tantamount to minor villainy.
In general I wonder why the writing got so messy in S2. I can't help but wonder if it's some kind of HBO's Rome effect where the desire to incorporate historical timelines and events led to melodrama and frantic skipping around historical events into a storyline that was probably better off without the cataclysmic war. Also, I'm not sure what motivated them to inject Downton with such a hefty dose of embarrassing stereotyping.
no subject
Date: 2012-02-19 02:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-19 08:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-19 10:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-19 08:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-19 03:45 pm (UTC)Though re Matthew: my guess without knowing a lot about attitudes of the time is that it was assumed you couldn't have sex if you had a spinal cord injury, and probably that you couldn't do much of anything. Which is ridiculous, but reflected in the attitudes of other characters-- for example, the gentleman who was courting... was it Edith? Who had the injured/numb arm? Who was all "I'm not fit to court you anymore!!" (seriously, whut?) Anyway, I was hoping we were going to see Matthew learn to deal with his disability (and the extreme accessibility fail that is England at the time). Basically it would've been great if he were the Downton equivalent of Miles Vorkosigan-- the family is in a privileged position to affect how people see disability (minus the nonapplicable cultural attitudes about being a "mutant"), and maybe make things better for veterans with less money. I was also really hoping Livinia woudln't conveniently die, but of course the Spanish Flu plot was just too easy. Sigh. Thus my love/hate relationship with soap opera plots continues.
There's an AU where Matthew and Livinia and Mary form some kind of polyamorous relationship and learn to live happily ever after with their various issues, or something.
no subject
Date: 2012-02-19 08:53 pm (UTC)I would be all over a poly AU, because I liked Lavinia! And I think Lavinia and Mary liked each other. Also Mary would make a good Dominatrix.
no subject
Date: 2012-02-21 03:53 am (UTC)I could totally see that.
I am kinda sad this story is way too complicated for me to write.
no subject
Date: 2012-02-24 06:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-19 07:37 pm (UTC)DON'T GET ME STARTED ON LAVINIA!!!! (Why can't we have a guy die of heartbreak for once or whatever?)
no subject
Date: 2012-02-19 08:50 pm (UTC)You're right about Thomas' hand, even I forgot! I found it pretty interesting in S1 when he made a pass at that one guy in error. I am beginning to like and root for him more now.
no subject
Date: 2012-02-20 03:22 am (UTC)