CuriousG
Half-elven
Jan 28 2013, 11:33pm
Views: 399
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This is funny, because while I find Mary quite beautiful, I don't like her all that much, yet here I am going to defend her--a little.
What I liked about Mary, both at Sybil's death and Edith's wedding, was Mary's honesty in saying that they're not close and probably never will be. That has a ring of authenticity for some families, at least, and while Hollywood prefers dramatic breakthroughs where people reunite and bury all their hatchets, that doesn't happen all the time. Maybe it's because I don't like Mary all that much that I appreciate her honesty that much more in these moments. Though it also seems tactless and a little cruel. Like I say, I'm only supporting her a little.
As for motivations for others, I watch the show expecting not to understand the Upstairs people, I suppose, though you make a great point about Jane Austen's people being understandable. At least for specifics, I would say:
1. Robert is out of touch, and part of the aristocratic view that "doing business" is uncouth and beneath him, hence he has no business sense and doesn't know how to run the place. He's also part of the aristocratic tradition that wants everything to stay the same, so he won't make any changes and delegates the operations to others, whether they do a good job or not. And there's the sense of entitlement that he's rich and should always be that way, so why lift a finger unless it's to shoot grouse? It seems to me that British nobility doomed itself with these attitudes, and he represents them.
2. Mary's similar to Robert in all these views, and that came out in the friction between her and Sir Richard. When he talked about buying paintings for their new mansion, she said her lot inherited them, and all this buying he talked about seemed uncouth to her. She expects Downtown to perpetuate itself and keep her in lazy luxury, this same ruling class that criticized the poor for being lazy.
That's how I see it, anyway.
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