Responses to Upstairs Downstairs

1) Is the representation of the Chauffeur portrayed from a biased point of view? If so why?

The Chauffeur is portrayed from a biased point of view because he is painted in a negative light. This is because at the beginning he is abrasive towards Lady P. and his boss, this shows that he is disrespectful towards his superiors. Then the portrayal of him becomes more entrenched in negativity as he upsets the Downstairs residence as they are offended by his uniform of the British Union of Fascists i.e the Black Shirts. This is highlighted by the arrival of the German Jewish new maid. After the rally, he informs the police unnecessarily about Lady P's borrowing of his car to get away form the aftermath of the violent rally. This then reflects badly on him as by doing this he upsets the Upstairs family. All this leads to the conclusion that the Chauffeur is portrayed in a bias light. We believe that this is because it is a more reflective character portrayal as the producers would have known about the war and the consequences of the fascists movement to come.

2) In what ways could you say that the upstairs family and the downstairs staff are clinging to tradition in a changing world?

 In one way the Upstairs family is trying to cling to tradition because Lady Holland wants Lady Persephone to not have any opinions on the politics of today and tells her that she should just take an interest in it and have a knowledge so she can understand what the males of the house are talking about. However, Lady Persephone disagrees with this as she wants to to support the fascists and go along with Harry Spargo and attend a rally with him, this shows that the younger generation want things to change and Lady Persephone wants women to be more equal and wants to rebel from the family, whereas the older generation wants the women to obey the men (or what she tells the man) of the house and want things to stay the way they are at the moment. 

    The downstairs staff however, go along with the Upstairs family as they are ultimately their bosses and they have to follow their opinions and beliefs, but they do follow traditions as they have their own routines. For example they always sit and listen to the radio by the fire, and they follow orders from their superior. Although they are of the 'lower status' in society they have their own mini-society within their work place, for example they all listen to Head Maid and the male butler as they have the most authority out of the downstairs staff. This divide in the house creates a class divide and boundaries for everyone to follow, for example the Downstairs people don't get involved in the personal lives of the Upstairs and visa versa.

3) Why do you think Lady Persephone wants to join the Black Shirts?

At the beginning we think that Lady P wishes to join the Black shirts purely out of rebellion against her elders. This rebelion originates from a previous confrontation with Lady Holland about how she is only allowed interests not opinions, this then makes her more inclined to defy Lady Holland. However, once she attends the rally with Spargo she becomes absorbed in the beliefs of the fascist way. We believe that she didn't fully understand the meaning behind the fascist movement whereas Spargo is portrayed to understand it a lot more. 

4) Can you find similarities between Lady P and Jenny from An Education?

We can find similarities between Lady P and Jenny because they both start out naive and they both wish to have independence and freedom to do as they wish, however as they both develop and find new relationships they start to differ dramatically. Lady P becomes more involved in finding independence by joining the Black Shirts and attending rallies and forming her own opinions, not the opinions of her family. Whereas Jenny thinks that she's gaining independence but in fact she has just moved from parental control to David's, once she is in this relationship she becomes very subdued and judgmental against those who are different to her. Overall this shows that once the fairytale of their partners and the life they have with them falls away Jenny and Lady P are made to go back to their families and are back in their control. 

5) Whose British collective identity do you think is strongest and why? The Downstairs staff, the Upstairs family or the Black shirts (also known as the British Union of Fascists)

We think that the Downstairs staff have the strongest British collective identity... to be continued!!!