{"id":1174,"date":"2013-02-06T18:33:00","date_gmt":"2013-02-07T00:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/smartalicewebdesign.com\/wordpress\/?p=1174"},"modified":"2023-02-18T17:10:06","modified_gmt":"2023-02-18T23:10:06","slug":"the-brits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smartalicewebdesign.com\/wordpress\/critique\/the-brits\/","title":{"rendered":"The Brits"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve been curious to know what all the fuss over Downton Abbey is about so last night I watched the first season on DVD.  I was sorely disappointed when the rat poison didn\u2019t make it to the dining room table in the first episode. They missed a great opportunity there. I\u2019m also sorry to say I find the characters too well starched. And, I don\u2019t buy the benevolent, all-wise Earl of Grantham bit – history shows the lord is more lech than liege.<\/p>\n

As the story minces along we see the earl put wrongs to rights, the menials learning from his example. Spare me. If the conceit were indeed true, the house staff would be a crew of entitled loafers by season\u2019s end.  Downton Abbey perpetuates the myth that the wealthy deserve their pedestal of superiority and  the rest of us who benefit from their philosophical wisdom, moral leadership, and puny wages dispensed from on high are meant to accept the status quo.  There\u2019s a scene in which Grantham tells Cawley that letting the help wait on him is actually a kindness to them (\u201ceveryone has a role to play\u201d),  a  self-serving sentiment, if ever there was one. We all know the reality:  the 1% are more debauched and fraudulent than exemplary, and trickle down of anything is unlikely, except for syphilis perhaps.<\/p>\n

\"curraghmore\"<\/a>

The Help at Curraghmore House, 1905, National Library of Ireland<\/p><\/div>\n

A more interesting set of characters than the Edwardian paper dolls at Downton Abbey are the flesh and blood Brontes of Haworth<\/a>.  I recently read Juliet Barker\u2019s meticulous biography of the famous authors and their father.  In addition to writing a compelling, multi-dimensional narrative and character study of creative genius, Ms. Barker provides social and political insight into the first half of 19th<\/sup> century England. We learn, for example, that in the 1830s the Haworth mill owners were in a twist  when new laws were passed to prevent 6-year-old children working more than 48 hours per week, and 12-year-old children working more than 60 hours per week. (Now we know how the Granthams made their money.)<\/p>\n

\"child<\/a>

Oyster shuckers, Port Royal, South Carolina, or as the oligarchs would say “the good old days.” Photo by Lewis Hines<\/p><\/div>\n

Having already read Emily and Charlotte\u2019s wonderful books, I was inspired to pick up Anne Bronte\u2019s novel \u201cThe Tenant of Wildfell Hall.\u201d  In contrast to Emily\u2019s deep soul haunting and Charlotte\u2019s feminist angst, Anne\u2019s prose is charmingly domestic with delightful phrases such as  \u201cin correction for his impudence, [he] received a resounding whack over the sconce.\u201d<\/p>\n

So next Sunday will find me reading Bronte in my chair in front of the woodstove, instead of watching Downton Abbey.<\/p>\n

\"bronte<\/a>

The Bronte Sisters as painted by their brother, Branwell<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Posted by  Alice Gebura, Copyright 2013, All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve been curious to know what all the fuss over Downton Abbey is about so last night I watched the first season on DVD.  I was sorely disappointed when the rat poison didn\u2019t make it to the dining room table in the first episode. They missed a great opportunity there. I\u2019m also sorry to say I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[289],"tags":[250,251,83],"class_list":["post-1174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-critique","tag-bronte-sisters","tag-child-labor","tag-downton-abbey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartalicewebdesign.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartalicewebdesign.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartalicewebdesign.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartalicewebdesign.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartalicewebdesign.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1174"}],"version-history":[{"count":37,"href":"https:\/\/smartalicewebdesign.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1174\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4333,"href":"https:\/\/smartalicewebdesign.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1174\/revisions\/4333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartalicewebdesign.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartalicewebdesign.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartalicewebdesign.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}