Reframing the Dowager: Nostalgia in Downton Abbey

Abstract

The popular and immensely successful British TV-series Downton Abbey (2010–2015) has been interpreted alternately as an escapist fantasy or as a retrogressive text which performs the ideological work of conservatism. But the appeal of Downton Abbey stems rather from its treatment of social change than its alleged escapism. Such reading suggests itself especially when it comes to Violet Crawley, the Dowager Countess of Grantham. An analysis of the verbal behavior of this TV character shows that the dowager countess constructs new meaning on both the textual and extratextual level by reframing. In presenting alternative ways of thinking and acting to both viewers and the other characters on the show, the dowager countess is the voice of reflective nostalgia in Downton Abbey. This makes Violet Crawley a subversive character who denounces what the series pretends to romanticize.

Keywords:

• conservatism
• Violet Crawley
• dowager
• Downton Abbey
• heritage drama
• nostalgia
• period drama
• reframing

Notes

1 Such comic effect, however, is at times also employed to poke fun at the audience. In season 4, Robert objects to buying a wireless because “[t]hat people should waste hours huddled around a wooden box” is for him “a kind of thief of life” (season 5, episode 2). Am I the only one who feels caught out at Robert’s words?

2 Yet, the Dowager’s seeming outdatedness which this comment suggests is qualified by Robert’s remark that his wife Cora “won’t have it in the bedroom” for the same reason (season 1, episode 1).

3 German original: “Leicht muß man sein, mit leichtem Herz und leichten Händen halten und nehmen, halten und lassen. … Die nicht so sind, die straft das Leben, und Gott erbarmt sich ihrer nicht.” Translation by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Janelle Pötzsch

Janelle Pötzsch is a philosopher with expertise in ethics, political philosophy, and philosophy of literature. She is a researcher and student advisor at the Centre for Teaching and Learning of Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany.