Website program review.
Downton Abbey – Episode 1 Series 1
The plots in Downton focus on personal relationships between
the hierarchy and servants, various scandals involving sex, marriage and
bribery and the glamorous, grand lives of the upper class. Downton Abbey has a
target audience of an older audience with a range of classes as it is on Sunday
night, which takes away BBC’s audience, as it is the big program for 9 o’Clock.
This time drama is set in the Victorian age which is signified by the grand rural
estate which homes dozens of maids whom chore after a wealthy family. The
audience can derive the hierarchy in the manor by the camera shots as the
camera shots are quick and higher angled when the scene is in the lower part of
the manor where the maids live. In contrast, the camera angles are slightly
lower and less rushed and steadier when focused on a member of the family
upstairs. An iceberg would be a perfect analogy for the way the audience can
perceive downton abbey as the bottom of the manor is not on show however is the
most busiest whereas the top of the manor is prestige, less populated and very
grand. The dialogue is also an obvious sign to the audience that there is a
class difference between two types of people in the same manor as the maids
have a common accent compared to the posh one of the upstairs. The camera long
shots establishing the estate obviously shows/ makes the audience understand
the grand stature of the family who own it.
However the main stand out feature that will make the
audience understand the portrayal of class is the costumes and make up, the
upper class wearing expensive corsets and gowns topped with feather hats whilst
the low class wear aprons and black cloth with no make up.
A main signifier for the audience about the time in which
this period drama is set is firmly told via the news of the Titanic sinking in
the very first episode, this automatically puts the audience in an early 1900’s
mind frame.
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