i’m rewatching the first episode of downton abbey because, evidently, i’d like to slowly kill my emotions with a metaphorical blunt butter knife. every time i rewatch an episode, i notice more subtle recurring themes, clandestine glances, etc.
i never realized that when mr. bates first arrives at downton, mrs. o’brien accuses him of “pushing in”—to be exact, she says, “so you pushed in.” this line mirrors what mary says to matthew the first time they meet in 1.02, in response to matthew’s assertion that the crawley daughters will be flung at him: “i wouldn’t want to push in.” in essence, downton abbey is all about “pushing;” pushing personal limits and the limits of Edwardian society. the plot of the show revolves around boundaries being destroyed. a middle class lawyer breaks the barrier of aristocracy and finds himself the heir presumptive of a lordship, mary’s virtue and sexual boundaries are shattered by kemal pamuk, sybil and branson cross the socioeconomic barrier when they fall in love, bates alters the normalcy of servant life at downton, and vera bates crosses the line by sharing mary’s secret. ”pushing” conjures up the idea of tension and of dissent, both of which are critical to character relationships in downton abbey. it seems that at any given time, not all of the characters are happy. the protagonists and antagonists, both upstairs and downstairs, are influenced by the pleasure of others. downton abbey basically chronicles the struggles of its characters as they push each others’ buttons, push past the limits of the society in which they live, and push themselves past their comfort zones.
AnonymousOh anon, you’re making me feel things! Also, I’d like to apologize for the lack of rational sense in this post—I’m absolutely exhausted and can barely keep my eyes open, so it probably makes no sense. And there may be some unpopular opinions in here? Here we are anyways:
Mary Crawley is my favorite Crawley daughter (as I’m sure you could tell by my posts) and my life inspiration, basically. Over the course of these past two seasons, we’ve seen her face the consequences of, and eventually triumph over, an event that could have ruined her future. Pamuk’s ill-timed death could have ruined her marriage prospects and her family’s credibility, but she maintains normalcy by risking her own happiness. Although she seems icy and selfish, her rejection of Matthew and acceptance of Richard Carlisle show that she is determined, thoughtful, and selfless.
Her story arc and Michelle Dockery’s superb performance lend themselves to a really interesting study of an Edwardian woman. Her life as we’ve seen it is a dichotomy between the need to appear unruffled by Pamuk’s death, Matthew’s engagement, Matthew’s war injuries, and numerous other incidents and the overwhelming love she feels for Matthew, the man she originally rejected. She manages to maintain a façade of casualness while internally bursting with emotions. I find Mary most interesting when her neck constricts, when she smiles, when she gazes longingly, and when she purses her lips. These actions give insight into all her thoughts. Every time she emotes, usually in the company of Anna, she puts herself back together again in a slightly different way. Her emotions are shielded by varying combinations of witty banter, nonchalance, sass, and fake enthusiasm. Understanding what she’s thinking at any given moment is like a puzzle because she always hides her thoughts in a different way. In addition, she seems to adhere to the repressive attitudes of the Edwardian Era, but she clandestinely makes her own destiny. What a badass.
And not to mention the fact that she’s absolutely gorgeous and that her relationship with Matthew is more important to me than any other fictional relationship. I just keep wishing I’ll wake up looking like her one day. Mary and Matthew’s relationship gives me all the ~feelings, but that’s a post for another day.
Honestly, It’s hard for me to say whether I like Edith or Sybil better because I admire Sybil’s passion, but I see a lot of myself in Edith. I think which of the two I like more changes every day. Today, I think Edith is my second favorite Crawley daughter because she serves as such a foil for Mary and Edith—she possesses neither Mary’s charms and beauty, nor Sybil’s passion and drive—so she must do what she can to be noticed. I think that if I was in her situation, I’d make similar decisions to the ones she has made. I like seeing her work her way through a series of faults….she’s only human! It’s interesting to see what a daughter who lacks the positive qualities of her sisters would do to go unnoticed. Of course I detest what she did to Mary, but I love understanding why she did that and how their relationship has been affected as a result.
Don’t get me wrong, I love, love, love Sybil, but I have less feelings about her because I feel least connected to her. I admire her drive and her desire to fight for what’s right, but I think I’m less invested in her because she is a tad bit separated from the affairs of the other Crawleys, whom I’m most interested in. Unlike Mary and Edith, Sybil is young (at the beginning of the first season, at least) and is trying to find who she is, just like me. Mary and Edith have already passed the stage of identification, which is comforting to me because it provides an escape from the identification I am going through right now. This is a time of confusion and chaos for me, and the fact that Sybil goes through something similar serves as a reminder, rather than an escape. I’m not sure if that makes any sense, but I don’t really know how else to explain it. I really, truly do love Sybil, and I’m really excited to see where season 3 leads her!
I’m sorry if all of this makes absolutely no sense…..I think I have too many feelings to put into coherent sentences.
matthew’s abrupt movement when mary takes hold of his wrist is really telling. he lurches forward, towards mary—it seems as if he is just going to grab her and kiss her. it’s like he can barely contain his passion. but on the other hand, it also looks like he’s flinching. for a split second when she first grabs his hand, he looks downright terrified. maybe he thinks he’s back on the battlefront; maybe he believes it’s an enemy forcefully grabbing his hand or maybe he thinks it’s a comrade, pulling him away from danger. matthew faces a painful dichotomy: acting like he’s unaffected by all he’s seen during the war while at Downton and truly facing the grotesqueness of the fighting he’s involved in when away from the Crawleys. he is literally caught between love and war.
For some strange reason, my thoughts on my relationship with Downton Abbey became very clear while I was watching War Horse (which was really good btw). Here they are (tl;dr):
I should start out by saying that I think you all know by now that I love Downton Abbey more than I can express. I’ve explained that part of the reason is because it allows me to feel closer to people from the past (http://violetcrawley.tumblr.com/post/10395888657/a-post-in-which-i-justify-my-obsession-with-downton), but I think there’s more than that. I haven’t figured out until now why such a simple show means so much to me.
I think part of the reason why Downton Abbey is of so much importance to me is because it idealizes history, just like I do. I’m incredibly similar to Owen Wilson’s character in Midnight in Paris – I idealize history and realize I do it. I’m nostalgic and think that living in the past would be better than living in the 21st century (I AM WELL AWARE OF THE FACT THAT THIS UTTERLY AND COMPLETELY WRONG). I love the culture of the 1940s but skirt over the atrocities of World War II and the Holocaust. The Victorian Era is one of my favorite time periods because of the social repression and delightfully elaborate dresses, but I ignore the fact that living conditions for most people were terribly unpleasant, and that child labor and deadly diseases were prevalent.
I’m not criticizing the show when I say that it idealizes the ravages of World War I, I’m merely stating fact. Viewers never see the utter brutality of trench warfare or the grotesqueness of such battles as The Somme, but only see Thomas getting his hand shot and William and Matthew lying among rubble and mud after the battle ends. There is no discussion of the 50+ million people who died from the Spanish Flu, just the death of a character that got in the way of Mary and Matthew’s relationship (BUT I STILL SOBBED LIKE A BABY WHEN SHE DIED). Soldiers who are supposedly paralyzed end up being able to walk, and most of those who are nearly victims to the flu are smiling by the end of the episode.
Don’t get me wrong; I am not saying that it was wrong for the show to have skirted over the worst elements of the war. I don’t think it was wrong to portray the war in that way. I loved, loved, LOVED season 2 – if you ever saw my emotional ramblings after every episode, you would know. I am not disappointed that viewers didn’t get to see a reenaction of World War I, I’m just merely stating that its “happier” outlook on history mirrors my focus on the most pleasant parts of any time period. Downton Abbey glorifies the Edwardian Era just like I do. It appeals to me because it has the same historical mindset.
this is the Mary Crawley appreciation post I wrote a few days ago, but deleted. I’m reposting it because Julian Fellowes is currently talking about Mary on PBS and I’m just feeling this overwhelming love for her:
oftentimes when i’m not weeping or distracting myself from the fact that season 2 is now over by stalking dan stevens and michelle dockery, i think about mary’s character so i have a lot of thoughts: i’m trying to figure out whether or not she really is ‘the cold and careful lady mary crawley’ and honestly i don’t think she is. i think she is incredibly loving and warm but she hasn’t really been able to show it because of her unhappiness in her situation. i keep thinking back to the moment in season 1 (i think it’s when evelyn napier is there) when mary smiles the biggest smile and in that moment she’s just so happy, not because she loves evelyn napier or something like that but because at that moment she is unburdened by society and her family’s expectations for her. at that moment, she is not the daughter of an earl, she is not an object to be thrown to the richest and highest-ranking bachelor, she is just a young woman having fun.
she often seems cold and unfeeling because she is becoming disenchanted with her situation; she is detaching herself from desiring anything, especially matthew’s love. she feels like her world is spirally out of her control and the only way for her to manage what she has to deal with is to rely on what is safe and secure. she is mad at carson when he tells her he will not work for her and richard carlisle because carson has always been there for her. he has always been a static person in her life and she needs to know that some things remain the same no matter how difficult her situation becomes. she never reveals her feelings to matthew because she doesn’t want to risk becoming even more vulnerable to her own overwhelming emotions. her distress is only evident in her behavior when she is alone—she breaks down, she crumples and seeks support in stable objects (see: mary looking down at matthew playing the gramophone right before the dance scene in 2x08), she hides her tears in smiles. she wants to take risks when it comes to love (abandon richard carlisle! tell matthew she loves him!) but she feels so overwhelmed by everything that is happening to her—from sybil’s elopement, to lavinia’s return, to the spanish flu, to that asshole of a man richard carlisle—that she has to rely on what she feels will stay the same. so after all this rambling i’ve decided that she is neither cold nor calculating. she’s just trying to save her own soul.
Essentially, this is true. Everyone on the show is ridiculously attractive and it does kill the souls of all those who watch it, but there are reasons why it’s so loved. The show itself is beautiful—the cinematography, the costumes, the sets, the color schemes, everything. The plot, while very thematic and exciting, harks back to another time period that is strikingly similar to the modern day. Like the twenty first century, the 1910s saw its fair share of technological and social changes.
All of the characters on the show are fully developed and relatable. Each character is flawed and the actions he or she takes adheres both to his or her own personalities and to what most people would do in real life. Viewers develop strong connections to certain characters, and when they cry, when they laugh, and when they love, viewers do the same things.
The sexual tension among all of the characters is just crazy. Every character on the show has at least a little bit of sexual tension with another character. The sexual repression of Edwardian society makes it all the more exciting. Viewers cannot expect characters to glance at each other across the dinner table and rip each other’s clothes off the moment they’re alone (as much as I want that to happen). The constraints of Edwardian society in the show make relationships very different—viewers get really, really, really excited when a character touches another character’s waist or when two characters hold hands.
The subtlety of the show, as portrayed by the brilliance of the actors, really makes the show great. The head and eye movements, the fleeting glances, and the poker faces reveal more about characters’ emotions than the dialogue. Many of the characters are very skilled at hiding their emotions, which makes their facial expressions all the more interesting.
In short, yes, Downton Abbey has a cast of really scandalously attractive people whose actions make viewers hysterical every Sunday, but it’s also a story about seemingly very real people who lived in a very different, yet similar time.
thoughts regarding Matthew’s line “Oh God, Mary”:
It’s incredible that two words imply so much emotion and so many regrets. Essentially, Matthew is asserting how much he wishes the past 7 years had gone differently, how sad he is that he holds Mary in his arms but is separated from her by engagements and loyalty. He harks back to his refusal of Mary five (?) years ago and reveals all the things he never said, all the things he couldn’t do because of war, Lavinia, Richard Carlisle, and pride. By saying, “Oh God, Mary,” he tells both himself and Mary that his feelings for her didn’t disappear when he became attached to Lavinia. He goes beyond the witty banter and hidden smiles that he usually shares with Mary and instead declares that he’s loved her all along.
And the fact that it’s so sexual isn’t so bad, either.
a poorly written essay-thing in which i worship mary, basically.
wow this sounds like a diary. i’m really, really sorry.
A response to the question my parents really like asking me: “Why do you like that show so much?”
