the english family i never had.
hubby and i are 2 episodes shy of completing season 3, upon which we plan to pore over every piece of pop culture literature out there referencing the best drama ever made. well, hubby is sufficiently disciplined to avoid any article discussing spoilers for season 4. i, on the other hand, being female, human, and interacting in society at a very basic level, already know a few key plot lines that i could not avoid otherwise.
sometimes, i have to remind myself that downton abbey is FICTION. the reason i've avoided korean dramas since 2001 (one of my silly regrets is that i didn't watch more korean tv w/my awesome roommate e), why i avoid games like "candy crush," why i have never purchased a subscription to "us weekly," is bc i have a highly HIGHLY addictive personality. and the fluffier the content, the more it'll swirl around in my head, pushing out productive thoughts, righteous thoughts, morally sound thoughts, and supplant them with something base. fun, yes, but base all the same.
reasons i love downton abbey:
1) it is a soap opera disguised as "masterpiece theatre." so i don't feel gross for watching it. and yet, the sheer number of characters and plot lines feeds into my short attention span, much the same way an old school episode of beverly hills 90210 might.
2) certain themes are comfortingly familiar, and actually, quite korean. the heaven-forbid-crossovers between class, attempts at holding onto tradition at any cost, dramatic childbirth scenes, the restrained attempts at affection, all of this is something over which first and second generation korean-americans could easily identify. but it's all so civilized. and the costumes so majestic. and the men look so dashing. no fainting spells by overly dramatic mothers. no grandmothers threatening to die should the youngest run off with the chauffeur. no random plots involving amnesia. and even when father figures get upset, it's never under a red-faced drunken spell resulting in a bunch of soju glasses being knocked off a table.
3) the show is making history real to me without my realizing it. history was always a subject in school that i was ambivalent about. i didn't struggle with it, nor did i excel at it. it was just something that i forced myself to learn, much in the same way i considered spelling or grammar rules an academic necessity. but loved ones of mine, including hubby, bff, father, and college roommate, are all history buffs, and i often wondered what i was missing. i am embarrassed, but shameless enough to admit that this tv show, and its corresponding literature, have made world war 1, the industrial revolution, and even the sinking of the titanic a lot more relevant to me. and i realize that it's the retelling of history as a real STORY, not as facts to memorize, that is the key.
4) the sweeping music. i have always loved a good musical score. and i love how the show uses music to clue us into something ominous, humorous, grandiose, and/or all of the above.
5) i love the audacity of the show -- it makes no bones about being completely romantic, tragic, violent, ostentatious. it is all or nothing. but always, always tasteful. how do they do this? i guess that's the difference between the english and the american. if an american show tried to sway 100% in any of these directions, it would feel gratuitous, for shock value, for publicity. but the english have demonstrated in this show that you can be completely genuine, without sacrificing one's dignity. in fact, to be genuine is to preserve one's dignity. is there a single scene where the dowager countess is not truly honest? but her loyalty to family is perhaps one of the most dignified characteristics ever portrayed in film. and the proposal scene, oh be still my yet pitter-pattering heart. the gently falling snow, the stunning costumes, the script...perhaps one of my favorite romantic scenes of all time.
caffeine is wearing off...kids are getting antsy...will sign off now.
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