Downton Abbey And Philosophy (2012) - Plot & Excerpts
Darowski Reason is, and ought only to be, the slave of the passions, and can never pretend to any other office than to serve and obey them. —David Hume1 Despite airing on the BBC and PBS’s Masterpiece, Downton Abbey fits the soap opera tradition. In fact, the show’s creator, Julian Fellowes, has said that he doesn’t mind the series “being labeled a ‘posh soap’,” and clearly he has employed the twists and turns associated with that genre.2 One of the most prominent soap opera tropes that Downton Abbey deploys is a bevy of villainous characters. Yet in a series with a wicked wife, a seductive soldier, a subversive chauffeur, a philandering farmer, and a manipulative media mogul, two characters come immediately to mind as villains: Thomas and O’Brien. These two have been so identified with villainy that when comedian and actor Patton Oswalt, an avid fan of Downton Abbey, was asked during a red carpet interview to choose his favorite villain from the series, he was only given the choice between Thomas and O’Brien.3 Thomas, a footman in the first season and a soldier in the second, and O’Brien, Lady Grantham’s lady’s maid, are regularly shown scheming and plotting together.
What do You think about Downton Abbey And Philosophy (2012)?
