by ANNETTA RAMSAY
It’s 1924 now and all women are on the brink of gaining the right to vote. Watch how the female characters work to subvert a class system and its patriarchal foundations. It’s a great soap opera, bubbling with history. And afterward, thankfully, we can turn it all off.
Critics say the series is a predictable, tired satire of Britishness, which may explain its waning popularity in Britain.
American audiences’ devotion is ongoing, however, and as a follower I can offer a few possible reasons. One could be the guilty pleasure of imaging ourselves at the top of a class system we never experienced. Who wouldn’t want their newspapers ironed or their clothing laid out? Edwardian values ruled in 1924 Britain. These were the same chaps who, it is said, let hundreds of people go down with the Titanic because they couldn’t imagine being in the same lifeboats with people from steerage.
For female viewers, Downton’s pleasure is also that of a historical nightmare from which we can escape. The wardrobes and ease that some women enjoy presents an enviable fantasy but the overall class system depicted by the series imposes an oppressive system of patriarchy on every woman.
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