Oh goodness, I love this show. Totally agree there's a lot of sexism/classism/homophobia in it, but I kinda of thought that the show was in part a commentary on that - it's trying (in a very delicate way) to lift the lid on the prettified Merchant Ivory world of the standard period drama.
I loved that the saintly Earl of Grantham was showed to be a total prick when his daughter got hurt and his first response was 'well, I'll fire the chauffeur. It amused me to have an Irish radical as a chauffeur but this has gone too far' and you suddenly see that his supposed lovely beneficent paternal 'good aristocrat' is pretty shallow and basically only lasts as long as no one steps out of line. I loved that it showed the absolute terror of the working class at getting ill - the cook with her eyes, the valet with his leg - and what is made quite clear is that the reason it is such a big deal is that there is no safety net at all. And of course the poor oldest daughter, who basically had an awful experience (which, upon reflection, is pretty close to come of my teenage experiences, of guys assuming I was more experienced that I was and me not really knowing how to deal with it and blaming myself afterwards) and she has been hideously pilloried for it, with the rumours ruining her socially and clearly messing with her head horribly.
I agree the gay characters in it have made me cringe hideously, and I do agree that Julian Fellowes is a little too in love with the class structure he is meant to be dissecting for it to work, but I think it's doing some interesting things, whilst still remaining something that can attract an audience, and specifically the kind of audience who likes period dramas. And it's a lot more self aware than the vast majority of them. Which isn't, of course, to say it doesn't have issues. I am hoping, btw, that Sexy Irish Chauffeur is going to do a lot more next series. In my dream Downton Abbey Season Two he and Youngest Daughter will be much more radical and end up running away to be political, thus making the Earl of Grantham face up to the limitations of his supposed liberalism, just like Chava and her Russian in Fiddler on the Roof. I do not know if Julian Fellowes will, however, disappoint me horribly.
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I loved that the saintly Earl of Grantham was showed to be a total prick when his daughter got hurt and his first response was 'well, I'll fire the chauffeur. It amused me to have an Irish radical as a chauffeur but this has gone too far' and you suddenly see that his supposed lovely beneficent paternal 'good aristocrat' is pretty shallow and basically only lasts as long as no one steps out of line. I loved that it showed the absolute terror of the working class at getting ill - the cook with her eyes, the valet with his leg - and what is made quite clear is that the reason it is such a big deal is that there is no safety net at all. And of course the poor oldest daughter, who basically had an awful experience (which, upon reflection, is pretty close to come of my teenage experiences, of guys assuming I was more experienced that I was and me not really knowing how to deal with it and blaming myself afterwards) and she has been hideously pilloried for it, with the rumours ruining her socially and clearly messing with her head horribly.
I agree the gay characters in it have made me cringe hideously, and I do agree that Julian Fellowes is a little too in love with the class structure he is meant to be dissecting for it to work, but I think it's doing some interesting things, whilst still remaining something that can attract an audience, and specifically the kind of audience who likes period dramas. And it's a lot more self aware than the vast majority of them. Which isn't, of course, to say it doesn't have issues. I am hoping, btw, that Sexy Irish Chauffeur is going to do a lot more next series. In my dream Downton Abbey Season Two he and Youngest Daughter will be much more radical and end up running away to be political, thus making the Earl of Grantham face up to the limitations of his supposed liberalism, just like Chava and her Russian in Fiddler on the Roof. I do not know if Julian Fellowes will, however, disappoint me horribly.