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There once was a BBC series called "Upstairs, Downstairs". It was an understated (if occasionally tear-jerking) class study about the way that the upper classes depended upon their servants and the way their servants found dignity in their employment.
This miniseries has just three things in common with it: the title, Jean Marsh, and the house's address. EVERYTHING else is wrong, and a travesty of the sort of thoughtful, nuanced plots and characterizations in the original. If anything, this show clearly delineates just how far the BBC has slipped in its inexorable slide into smarmy sensationalism and politically-correct pandering to approved identity politics, and middlebrow tastes and mores. Doubt me? Take a look:
1. They try to sexy things up with a female family member having a barely-concealed affair with a male servant. That would've been unthinkable in the original series, and unthinkable in reality in the 1930s. Any head-of-house even suspecting such a dalliance would've sacked the servant and, in all likelihood, have him thrown in jail (or worse). I suppose I should be surprised they didn't make the servant black, for good measure. Yes, yes -- men in such households dallied with servant girls but, double-standard tho' it was, the other way 'round was unthinkable.
2. They have to yank on the heartstrings (and assuage the guilt of the British public who were largely indifferent to the plight of the Jews) by having a Jewish refugee arrive as a new maid -- who (naturally) had once been an upper-class lady, and turns out to be one of the most noble characters (cue the violins). And, since simply making her out to be a victim in five respects wasn't enough (a persecuted Jewess, a foreigner, a virtual widow, a mother separated from her child, and being reduced to servitude), they then have to kill her off with...asthma. I'm surprised they didn't give her a wooden leg and a speech impediment as well.
3. The other most "noble" character is, of course, non-white -- the virtuous Hindu. We are expected to feel outrage and pity because he is somewhat excluded from the family's intimacy. Never mind the fact that he (1) came from a lower-class family and (2) is now living in comfort and security at the largess of the Holland family, in exchange for having to type up Lady Holland's memoirs. Oh, the indignity! -the outrage! (cue fist shaking at the sky)
4. The casting of the original was pretty much flawless. The casting here is seriously uneven -- the biggest clanger being "Hallum Holland" (what WERE they smoking when they came up with that gem of alliteration?!) who simply does not look remotely like a British aristocrat. A Chippendale's dancer, a gay beefcake model, an Italian gigolo, yes. A British aristocrat, no. This was a key role, and no amount of eyebrow-furrowing or eye-flashing can make up for the fact that he's utterly miscast.
5. Ham-fisted irony: the humble houseboy, whose mother gives him a picture for his wall that admonishes "Blessed are the Meek", is named "Johnny Proude". Oh, the IRONY! DO YOU GET IT?! HUMBLE! MEEK! And yet: PROUDE! Where do we get these ideas, you ask? From Sainsbury's, in a handy 4-pack!
6. Behold: the world's most annoying, in-your-face maid, "Ivy Morris". She sings! She dances! She's a lovable little scamp, always up for a spunky remark, a shag with another servant, or a heartfelt sob. Imagine an 18 year-old Little Orphan Annie after too much cocaine and you'll have her character pegged. Strewth.
7. And direct from Central Casting: the Eccentric, Controlling Mother! She has a pet monkey, fer chrissakes! She's ridden elephants! Is that crazy or what?!!1! Clearly, this is an "Upstairs, Downstairs" for an audience who was weaned on 1990s sitcoms and dramedies, who read tabloids and hates anyone that they believe is more privileged then they are. An audience who thinks in black and white, who is incapable of connecting dots or grasping subtleties, who accepts every stereotype of victimhood and is quick to condemn any tradition as the province of the enemy.
Really, it's remarkable that Britain today is actually a first-world nation, prosperous and low in crime, when you consider that this show depicts it as having been built and run by people who are shallow, vapid, helpless, prejudiced and/or downright evil. And probably child-molesting Satan-worshipers too. Yes, Britain must've been built by gnomes, aided by noble non-Caucasians, noble non-Protestants and noble (insert whatever other minority happens to be fashionable at the moment). Handicapped lesbian Chinese dwarfs, mostly.
What this show *really* should've been called is "Upstairs, Downstairs 2: Revenge of the Servants". Because after all, rooting for the underdog is more than just a sporting notion: it's now MANDATORY.
score 3/10
rch427 22 April 2011
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw2418037/ |
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17-1-2021 11:13:12