Our Fascination with the British

An Unincorporated Division of The Anonymous Anything Society

Our fascination with the British

Anachronism: A person or thing from a former age that is incongruous, i.e., lacking propriety to the present. - Webster's Collegiate Dictionary.

Nothing so epitomizes this as 'Downton Abbey" the latest television offering by Masterpiece Theatre and The British Broadcasting Company, set in England in the decade before 1920. The hue and cry in the USA press over the beginning of it's third season on our Public Broadcasting System amazes me.

I must admit that I am a belated fan of this multifaceted soap opera from Not-So-Great-Anymore Britain. I am just beginning to analyze the reason for others' fascination with the serial.

Despite not being able to understand much of the dialogue spoken by a variety of accents spoken in the United Kingdom, I have come to believe that this is the way the "Titled Class" in England justified its existence in the Victorian age and beyond, and to some extent with the monarchy, still does today.

For centuries, The Lord and Her Ladyship lorded over everything and everyone by providing a certain amount of picayune pay to some of the lower classes and in return the serfs paid them for the privilege of seeing that Their Lordships lived in great mansions, collected rents from all and were waited upon, "hand and foot."

Other than enjoying elaborate meals, shooting grouse and hunting foxes on horseback, that's mostly all the people at the apex of this feudal system did. A few males led armies into battle, often disastrously.

I remember a time when it was said that "The Sun Never Sets on the British Empire." The explorers, entrepreneurs, traders and settlers who brought that about were of a different class than "The Lord in the Manor-Born."

We have always shown our adoration of certain members of the Royal Family and of numerous English artists who have filled our music halls and motion picture screens for most of our lives. Case in point: Name one recent film in which Anthony Hopkins has not appeared?

I was taken aback somewhat by a friend of similar age, who proposed to me last year that "Elizabeth was the best Queen we ever had."

Decidedly stilted, self-absorbed, at times ridiculous to our eyes and ears, but still great fun. Maggie Smith deserves a special award for her portrayal of "The Dowager" in "Downton Abbey." The supporting cast is superb, and the addition of Shirley MacLaine as the most typical "American Millionaire Mother" of Her Ladyship is absolutely perfect casting.

- Phil Richardson, Observer and Storyteller

Phil's current post can be read at: http://www.imrightagain.com

If you wish to comment, Phil can be reached at: k7os (at) msn (dot) com