Thursday, February 25, 2016
Jacques Coulardeau at Academia.edu (51)
DOWNTON ABBEY, BRITISH TO THE
DEEPEST ROOTS
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU
This series is a masterpiece in a way, not by
its producer but in itself. Note this is true for several reasons, over six seasons of course, six
the number of Solomon’s wisdom.
1- The period chosen here is
crucial for the modern world. It
is when the colonial mind of our European culture reached its summit and
started its downfall with the First World War. After WWI colonialism in Europe
was finished, even in spite of the Nazi relapse.
2- In Great Britain
3- In Great Britain it was urgent
they came to terms with the Irish question and it was hard in this noble family
for whom an Irishman could be a chauffeur but the husband of one of their
daughters, of the youngest most rebellious of the three daughters, that was an
other story.
4- In the whole world it came
to the surface of history that everyone had to have, has to have, a money
earning job of some kind and that everyone has to live with the means they are
able to earn by their work. The aristocracy has to learn that their mansions are
not only theirs but they are the heritage of humanity and as such they have to
open them to the curiosity of simple people, and that can become a regular
income to take care of this heritage.
5- In the whole world too it
is to be assumed that servants are no longer a special class serving the
aristocracy – and the rich – in total subservience. Servants could never be the
same and the number of servants had to go down and many had to find new social
positions for which they were qualified or could acquire qualification,
provided education was open to all.
It is such questions and
quite a few more that make this series a real masterpiece and the production is
so lavish, florid, beautiful, extravagant that no one can resist and not push
the door or the TV remote control’s button to start the adventure.
Research Interests:
Education, Service Quality, Public Health, Ireland, Aristocracy, Hospital Management, WWI, Pig Farming, Universal Primary Education, World War One, Universal Basic Education, Gender and family history; history of subaltern groups
such as servants and children; questions of masculinity and fatherhood, Domestic Servants, British Aristocracy and country houses, UNIVERSAL PRIIMARY EDUCATION, and Pig Farming Business Plan
# posted by Dr. Jacques COULARDEAU @ 12:50 PM 
