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Upstairs, Downstairs: Joke Over (1975)
Brilliant study on the evil consequences of chivalry. White knights take careful note!
***Spoiler Alert***
While Upstairs Downstairs is sympathetic to characters of all social classes, this episode shows most clearly the moral failings of the English aristocracy. It reveals in stark clarity the social mechanisms of the decline and fall of Victorian England: female privilege, chivalry and male disposability. These were all perfected during Queen Victoria's rule, reaching their zenith around the start of WW1. That Upstairs Downstairs captures the detail in such a personal and intimate way makes the program worth its weight in gold.
In this episode Georgina's self-centredness provides a series of object lessons in why the decline and fall was right to happen. The first is the threat of violence-by-proxy via Georgina's drug-pushing American friend as he bullies Edward into relinquishing the keys to the car to satisfy the lady's merest whim. Georgina is the true instigator but a man is placed in the frame for plausible deniability.
The second lesson is when Richard Bellamy chastises Edward in true chivalrous chest-thumping fashion without the slightest interest in hearing the facts of the matter. He assumes the little lady Georgina has done nothing wrong and provides the chauffeur no chance to tell his side of the story. His assumption from the outset is that when a damsel is in distress it is always a man's fault. Edward's very livelihood is on the line but still there is no attempt to hold the irresponsible woman accountable, as if she has suffered enough by the trauma of killing an innocent man. Even Richard Bellamy's apology, which comes much later after Georgina comes clean with the truth, falls well short as it would never have happened of its own accord; it was Georgina's feelings that Richard was seeking to protect yet again.
The third is when Georgina herself completely fails to take responsibility for what she's done, assuming that 'just having fun' is sufficient to absolve her of responsibility. It's as though she considers evil not to be related to what she has just done, but some sort of congenital defect that those not born into the female aristocracy have.
The fourth is in the petulant way Georgina reacts when Peter her trust fund 'friend' says he isn't going to testify on her behalf. She wants him to say she wasn't going too fast, presumably in order to suggest to the magistrate that even though she was drunk, selfish and acting completely irresponsibly she should not be punished because some unidentifiable part of her was being careful. Again, the presumption seems to be that evil is somehow unrelated to her behaviour.
The fifth is how everyone seeks to present Georgina to the judiciary as having no moral agency; that even though she's an adult in every other respect, she's not responsible for the consequences of her own actions and decisions when driving a car. Even the sensible but sel-involved Lady Bellamy doubles down on the chivalrous tendencies of her husband and denies Georgina moral agency. This is not dissimilar to the way many men and women behave today; it's clear where today's public exaltation of deviancy had its beginnings.
Finally there's Lord Stockbridge's evidence at Georgina's inquest. He eventually comes forward to 'reveal' that Georgina wasn't travelling very fast, and it is this that gets her off a conviction. Forget the fact that she was a beginner driver who was drunk-driving a car she'd no experience driving, with idiot drunk friends, in the early hours of the morning, after a party. Lord Stockbridge 'proves' his 'love' by charging in to save the fair maiden, even though she deserved to be sent to prison for what she did. This is foolishly upheld as the good, right and proper thing for a gentleman to do.
Perhaps the strongest lesson is the chest-thumping behaviour of the principal white knight, Richard Bellamy. A more disgusting display of misguided chivalry is hard to find. Richard rarely has any good reason to play the white knight other than to make himself feel good about himself. This isn't love and it certainly isn't honourable. It shows through whom female privilege primarily comes about - the patronising protector provider male.
This episode shows how easily woman in the West can count on weak-willed men who are hungry for women's approval to stand up for women despite their most egregious behaviour. Things like justice, honour, righteousness mean nothing to such men. While the discerning viewer will apportion blame appropriately, it's a shame the show didn't make the point that a man in Georgina's position could never count on similar support from a woman. That would have made this episode very revealing indeed.
Upstairs, Downstairs: Whom God hath Joined... (1972)
A journey into the poisonous heart of the spoiled little lady
Elizabeth Bellamy, spoiled and sanctimonious daughter of Sir Richard, moves back home after a drunken dalliance with a sly old fox (played by the inimitable Charles Grey) results in a pregnancy. Young Elizabeth was never a likable character, displaying all the traits of the selfish little upper class girl accustomed to having her backside kissed by daddy first then afterwards by one and all, but after her poisonous and insensitive treatment of her husband's bedroom difficulties, thankfully her days on the show were numbered.
Even though the writers chose to portray Elizabeth's infidelity and other personality defects sympathetically and as justifiable rather than morally deficient, she does get her just desserts in the end and eventually exits the show. The viewing public is rewarded for their patience with the infinitely more pleasant Georgina.
It's a shame British men have been treated as disposable servants of women, but it's unsurprising in the last days of a dying civilisation. It always seems to happen that way - once women are "emancipated" from whatever "oppression" they feel at the time it's only a matter of time before they consume their own society. It's amazing how the writers of Upstairs Downstairs were able to capture this detail so beautifully. It could not be done today, because all the female characters on British TV Drama these days must, by feminist decree, converge on a porn star cross between Andrea Dworkin and Sheryl Sandberg.
Well done Upstairs Downstairs, you've created a time capsule of immeasurable value.