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Serving

We are a tad obsessed with Downton Abbey. (We already have our tickets to see the movie in September.) Our favourite part is being able to see life in the house from all sides: the upstairs and the downstairs. We’re not just following Lord and Lady Grantham, we intimately know Mrs. Hughes, Mrs. Patmore, and Mr. Carson.

Sometimes when we’re watching the show, I’m wondering what the staff is thinking as they’re serving the family. Most clearly enjoy their job and wouldn’t necessarily want another position in life. Whenever someone is thinking about leaving Downton, there are always people who defensively weigh in with how much they enjoy a life of service and how they would never leave.

As someone who loves her work, I totally get it. If you gave me the option to stop working, I wouldn’t want to take it. I enjoy what I do too much, and I take great pride in a job well done and the level of attention I give to detail. So I’m not sure why I’m surprised whenever the Downton staff verbalizes that same sentiment: they’re happy with a life of service.

The Atlantic had an article this month about the new servant class; the jobs that support the wealthy. The personal chefs and the personal trainers and the dog walkers and the massage therapists. The article loops in people who work for establishments or businesses, such as people who work in a salon or drive for Uber, which is different from Downton.

What drives the staff at Downton is the personal connection. Their work is reflected in the success of a single family. If the Crawleys are doing well, they’re doing well because of Daisy’s cooking, Anna’s dressing, or Barrow’s shoe shines. Whereas in our current service industry, you have no clue what happens to the person after they leave the salon or car unless they’re a repeat customer. Even then, a person has dozens or even hundreds of repeat customers. It’s hard to see your cog’s place in the larger machine.

The article and rewatching Downton Abbey provides food for thought as you move through your day. How many people out there are supporting your life? How many lives does your work support?

6 comments

1 Megan { 08.25.19 at 2:41 pm }

It’s well worth noting that Downton Abbey was written and overseen by a former conservative politician whose wife is a hereditary mucky-muck. It is a work of fiction produced by someone who had never in his life had to shine anyone else’s shoes, or make anyone else’s dinner, or scrub anyone else’s floors, for a living.

So of course the characters say that they love being “in service” and can’t imagine anything else. Of course Molesley is crushed when Matthew Crawley tells him he doesn’t really need a valet and can dress himself. Of course Mrs. Patmore expounds on the value of knowing your place in the world. There is a rich, powerful, old, white man who puts the words in their mouths.

I enjoy Downton Abbey (I’ve watched the whole thing twice over). I also enjoy my job in public service, and find it fulfilling.

But to read DA as a profound meditation on the meaning of work and service to others seems rather a stretch.

For what it’s worth, I think Call the Midwife does a much better job of depicting and discussing what it is like to do the repetitive, little-noticed work that serves and uplifts our fellow humans.

2 KatherineA { 08.25.19 at 5:27 pm }

The Atlantic article was interesting. Have you ever watched PBS’ series “Manor House”? They took a bunch of modern people and basically put them in a house similar to Downton Abbey at a similar time (a little earlier in the 1900s if memory serves, but reasonably comparable) and one set was “family” and the other were “servants”. It…did not go well. The one scene I remember very clearly was one of the parlor maids having to turn her back to essentially become invisible when a family member passed her so they wouldn’t have to bother greeting her and the cast member talked about how incredibly dehumanizing that felt. I love, love, love Downton Abbey and have every intention of dressing up to go see the movie…but I’ve always felt a tiny bit concerned about how much the show romanticizes the aristocrat/servant dynamic at times. It’s absolutely food for thought to consider who is supporting my life and how that’s working.

3 Ashley { 08.27.19 at 10:39 am }

The thing I love the most about Downton Abbey is how it depicts the massive cultural shift that was happening at that time in history. There was a lot going on in the early 20th century in the years depicted by the show that made for a lot of changes happening. The major shift for the household was in how labor relations were changing and how that affected the aristocracy. The days of an entire household of live-in servants was dwindling. The lower classes were gaining more of a voice through more organized labor unions and labor laws. Add on top of that all of the other world-wide events and it was a very interesting time. I haven’t seen the show since it ended (I want to try to re-watch it before the movie but I’m not sure I’ll find the time), but I remember thinking some of the staff seemed oddly emotionally close to their employers, which could just be my perceptions of what it must be like to be someone living in the basement and not upstairs. It seemed like the Crawley’s were a good family to work for, but perhaps not all households were the same. Plus, it is a different time than it is now, so the personal feelings of individuals living at the time might be vastly different than our own living in a different century. It’s nice to think everyone was working together for a common goal, but the reality is, one family was gaining more for the efforts.

4 loribeth { 08.27.19 at 9:02 pm }

I love Downton Abbey too, but as a study of upperclass family relationships with their servants (& vice versa), I think it’s probably a lot warmer & fuzzier than reality was.

Re: KatherineA’s comment, I saw Manor House on PBS some years ago & really enjoyed it. It was quite an eye-opener, though! One of the maids quit midway through because of the drudgery of the work and the way she was treated, not only by the family they all worked for but the higher-up servants. She was a modern girl and the whole system just went against the grain of who she was and what she believed in. At the very end, before the experiment wrapped up & everyone returned to their real lives, the noble family came downstairs for the very first time to see where the help had been working & living, like they were touring a museum. (And after they left, one of the footmen & one of the maids spent the night in the master bedroom, lol. )

5 loribeth { 08.27.19 at 9:05 pm }
6 a { 08.28.19 at 3:32 pm }

I was thinking about this today, since I need to get my hair cut. It’s a good thing the girl who cuts my hair doesn’t have to depend on me to make her living – it’s been at least 14 months since my last haircut.

(c) 2006 Melissa S. Ford
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