Downton Abbey-Downton Abbey is a successful ITV British period drama set in the early part of the 20th Century. It centres on the lives of the Crawley family, the residents of Downton and the servants working at Downton. The series is set in a Yorkshire country estate in the post Edwardian-era. Stories are based on the big events of the time, the first episode deals with the sinking of the Titanic in 1912 and other events such as the First World War and how these events affect their lives.
The residents of Downton are an example of how the traditional upper class of Britain are represented in the media today. This is a typical period drama that shows the two social classes of the Crawley family who are higher on the social ladder than the characters who play the roles of the servants.
The storylines give an insight into how both social classes lived, not only through their surroundings and lifestyle, but in how they dress. The wealth of the Crawley family is shown through the fashion of the day, their home life and the differences in their occupations and education. Stereotypically people who belong in the upper class are represented to be very wealthy and this is indicated in Downton Abbey by the clothing they wear. They have different outfits for hunting, shooting, and fishing and evening wear. The ladies wore elegant, up to the minute, fashionable outfits, in the latest materials and styles which were indicative of their wealth.
The owner of the estate (Lord Grantham) fills his days overseeing the estate work which involves meetings with his farm manager, game keeper, estate workers, as well as his bank manager; He also entertains guests with activities such as hunting, fishing and shooting as well as socialising with the aristocracy of the day. He entertains important guests for dinner and travels extensively to London, where he owns a house and is a member of an exclusive Gentleman’s’ club. This indicates his status within the post Edwardian society.
The women of the Crawly family have no occupations in the early episodes of the programme and entertain themselves with writing letters, embroidery, entertaining people to afternoon tea, occasionally joining the men in hunting and shooting activities. As the programme progressed into World War I, their lives change and they took on other roles as Nurses and drivers for the war effort, which was unusual for the upper classes.
The servants and workers at Downton are represented as the lowest class in that period which would be working class. There are obvious differences between the two classes in all aspects of wealth, occupation and education. The Marxist theory is present here with the two-class system, with the Crawley family (The Bourgeoisie) being higher up with more respect as they own their own property and then the servants working for them (The Proletariat).
The day to day life of a servant at Downton is the representation of a stereotypical lifestyle of a person in the working class in that era. Their days consist of cleaning the house from dusting to cleaning the fire pit, cooking as well as seeing to bedrooms and cleaning/ironing the clothes. Some also had the duty of serving at the table, some also being lady maids which meant dressing and styling the ladies hair and clothes. They did this all for minimum wages and the food they got was very basic and usually staples such as bread. This shows how they weren’t very wealthy and the jobs they undertook were very grim and labour intensive, usually meaning that they weren’t very intelligent.
The clothing the servants wore reflected the fact they were for every day work purposes and weren’t expensive. The women more plain white aprons with their hair simply tired back. While the men wore smart but simple suits and they were serving the family and guessed therefore needed to look respectful.
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