upstairs, downstairs then, now, and whatever is in between

I decided, as a means to entertain myself and distract my discipline from writing, that I would revisit BBC history and watch the entire series of Upstairs, Downstairs. This is not an altogether startling enterprise when considering my ridiculous addiction to the British television production company or the fact that there is actually a new ‘sequel’ about to debut next spring.

It is interesting – not just because it is a pretty worthwhile piece of television history. I’m only just completing the first series, which was produced in 1971. Television was different then. Film was different. Slower. Not so many flashy edits or music added into the background to remind us what to feel. More pressure is on the performance and the writing. 

Certainly the method of filmmaking is an inadvertent comment on the beginning of the 70’s. But so is that writing and acting. The representation of 60 years prior through the lenses of post swinging 60’s… is really quite fascinating.

An episode I watched yesterday was about socialism. It’s funny because that was a pretty blatant theme. But, after watching it, I did recognize some undercurrents of other episodes. And it is interesting to watch this series about the socialist movement at the start of the 20th century, written in the last third of that century – after the empire had fallen and Britain incorporated socialism. But… one could even argue that there were hints of an attitude that would elect Margaret Thatcher eight years later.

But this episode did get me thinking, as does any Dickens story or my favorite North and South… about what really propelled socialism. And what it fixed.

It’s easy to forget when we have refrigerated food and cars and eight hour work days… that once upon a time, a time long before we breathed our first gasp of oxygen, that these things were not reality. That once upon a time business owners and land owners (who thought it was testimony to their greatness to not have to work) exploited the masses – the less fortunate – the poor. And they died. Well, that’s a bit harsh… but there was starvation and disease and not a lot of opportunity to maintain a healthy life. And so, to even out the score, the socialist movement took root.

I don’t want to write a history essay. But, I do marvel at how inaccurate our comprehension of that ideology is these days. If you are naïve enough to believe Glen Beck’s version of history… well, of course the poor were always worthy of being poor and the rich are the victims. Or maybe… maybe you might realize that things changed to make life better for us. But for whatever stupid reason right now, we want to throw them away.

I suppose not everyone sees it this way. And I’m pretty certain that most people who watch the story of the Bellamy family and their servants can’t be bothered with sentiments of political movements then and now… but… I really don't have an affection for the class system of servants and the idle rich. Or the devastatingly poor.