A Feminist Review: Downton Abbey

I did it. I jumped on the Downton Abbey bandwagon, watched both seasons and have been speaking in a pseudo British accent all week.

In the words of my friend Dani, whose apt description of the show deserves to be repeated, it’s a Victorian soap opera; but a Victorian soap opera we love and watch. Who can deny that the filming is gorgeous, Maggie Smith as the Dowager Countess rocks the house, and that Matthew and Mary must end up together? (Don’t deny it, you’ve been rooting for them too.)

Besides all that, it strikes me as a very female centered show. While the show has many male protagonists, they seem anterior to the women in the show, as if they move around the plot lines staged by the female characters. The men do….stuff, but the women plot, scheme and control the various situations.

The show also does a good job of exploring the issues of class and wealth, since the show covers not only the aristocratic family, but also the various staff and servants who occupy the house.

Two things though, feminist wise, about this show: one, the feminist agenda is sometimes present, but only subtly, a characteristic that I appreciate. For instance, they deal with the consistent double standard of male and female sexuality that was present during that time (and which still rears it’s ugly head today); a man may have as many dalliances as he likes, but a woman may not. One of the best examples of this subtle feminism comes when two characters, one a wealthy woman, the other a housemaid, particularly must deal with the resulting scandal that comes from their indiscretions. Because of their differing social standing, the consequences are vastly different; the wealthy woman must face public censure, while the housemaid is fired from her job and must endure a life of poverty.

I appreciate how the show handles this issue as it allows these storylines to develop naturally, instead of having the characters step outside of historical accuracy and start grandstanding about how terrible it is. The injustice is clearly shown through the situation and events, while allowing the characters to stay true to the historical time period in which they are operating (when such beliefs about sexuality would have been widely accepted).

Two, the token women’s rights activist. Every period show has to have at least one woman who has an incredibly modern viewpoint about women’s issues. I don’t like it. Not because I don’t agree with the things these characters say, but because it’s a cliche plot device that is unnecessary. Downton Abbey fell into this trap of course in it’s character of Sybil, the youngest daughter of the wealthy Crawley family, and suffragette, political activist extraordinaire.

Now, there probably were young women like her, running around in 1912, but the need to have a goody-goody character like her in every show is getting old. Give the audience some credit, we know a little bit about history, so we know that most women probably didn’t hold 21^st century viewpoints, that’s ok. And creating a character, just so you can spout off a political ideal that wasn’t common during the time period, isn’t good writing: It’s cheap.

This makes it sound like I hate the character of Sybil and the plot line associated with her, which isn’t really the case. I just think that the writers are trying too hard there, and that their more subtle plot lines feel more natural and better written.

So, there you have it, Downton Abbey gets a decent rating as a feminist show in my book, not to mention that Shirley Maclaine is joining the show for series 3 (I just did a happy dance whilst sitting down at that news). What do you think? Does Downton Abbey sufficiently deal with the female characters in the show? Or does it need some work? What do you think about the interactions between the sexes on the show?

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