Reading, watching movies, talking about life. 50 high-scoring movies a year! No.3
I turned to Downton Abbey on the movie website several times before, but I automatically ignored it, because I didn't have much affection for the so-called aristocracy and high society, nor did I have the slightest interest in becoming such a person. This time, I suddenly felt that it would be good to have a little more knowledge to see what their lives were like, so I opened it up. After watching it, I feel better than expected. The old-fashioned British aristocracy is still worthy of respect, and there are many things worthy of our pondering.
The film is based on the TV series. The TV series "Downton Abbey" started broadcasting in 2010 and ended in 2015. It has six seasons. British TV dramas have always been relatively short, so it is a huge system to last for six seasons like "Downton Abbey". Therefore, many of the people watching this movie are fans of the TV series, and they know the background and personality of the characters in the play well. But in fact, even if you haven't watched the TV series, you don't know the background of the movie, and there's nothing to mind, it doesn't affect your acceptance of the movie.
While watching the movie, the word "honor" popped into my head, and most surprisingly, it was a group of Downton Abbey servants who brought it to mind.
The story of Downton Abbey originated in a letter. One day, Downton Abbey received a letter from Buckingham Palace, saying that the king and queen would be staying at Downton Abbey for one night on the way. It was a great honor to be able to serve the king and queen, so the whole manor was boiling, from the owner of the manor to the butler servants, and even the entire town where the manor was located was excited and busy.
Amid all these excited crowds, the director focused more on the servants in the manor, headed by the butler, who became the envy of the whole town because of the opportunity to serve the king and queen face to face, and thus staged the show. Lots of fun scenes. For example, because he was worried about the new housekeeper Barrow, the owner invited the retired old housekeeper Carson back to temporarily preside over this big scene, which made Barrow, who has always been obedient and obedient, very unhappy. For example, Mosley, who had left the manor to make a living at a nearby school, came to ask the housekeeper to give him a chance to return to work in these days.
It's just that they were obviously too happy. The pomp of the royal family outing was far from what they could have imagined. Butlers, cooks, tailors, valet and maids, etc., all carry around, and many of them have more than one set, with backups in case one of them goes wrong. Downton's servants, who were originally going to use what they had learned all their lives to serve the king and queen, suddenly found that their service objects had changed from members of the royal family to royal servants. What makes them even more depressed is that they have been deprived of control and can only be dispatched by royal servants, and they also feel at a loss in the kitchen and room they are used to.
In the face of all this, the Downton servants felt extremely frustrated. They believed that this was not only an insult to themselves, but also an insult to Downton Abbey. Therefore, they decided to rise up and defend the dignity of Downton Abbey. They used a little trick to temporarily transfer the royal housekeeper away, locked the chef and others in the room, and regained control of the manor. They prepared the dinner in their own way, and there was no mistake.
During the meal, when the king and queen learned that the dinner was not prepared by their servants, they were only slightly surprised and did not pursue it too much, and their manor owner did not investigate after the fact, the fooled royal servant. People are not stupid enough to cry to the king about what happened to them. In short, the servants of Downton Abbey, by virtue of their own wisdom, successfully got a chance to prepare a dinner for the king and queen. They won back their dignity, maintained the glory of the manor, and they have not been punished for it. Everyone is happy.
Some people say that so many people scramble and use various means, but in the end they just get a chance to serve others, which makes people feel very boring. I don't think so, because serving kings and queens is a great honor, both for their masters and for themselves. This kind of glory comes from the recognition of one's own identity and the recognition of the team in which he is a member. The servants of Downton Abbey are proud to serve in Downton Abbey. The honor of Downton Abbey is their own honor. If their actions can win honor for the manor, they are willing to sacrifice for it.
Unfortunately, we live in an age of lack of honor. Everyone is rational, pursuing individuality and freedom, and dedicating to a certain cause or cause. Such grand narratives can no longer arouse the waves in our hearts. What everyone cares more about is enjoyment, whether it is their own food, clothing, housing, and transportation, whether they can wander around and travel, and whether they can lie down directly and comfortably. Therefore, we are completely unable to understand the value pursuit of these servants in Downton Abbey. But the problem is that after enjoying the song, the inexplicable feeling of emptiness and loneliness will still come to my mind. At this time, will you have a little bit of envy for Downton's servants?
The sense of honor has always been an important part of aristocratic life. In order to maintain honor, those refined and elegant nobles and young men will choose to duel with others without hesitation, even though they know that there is a danger of death. And this kind of value pursuit naturally penetrates into all levels of society and into all aspects of social life. Even trivial things like cooking a meal or making a bed will be elevated to the level of honor. By contrast, those of us living in the new society have become more refined egoists.
In the final analysis, the sense of honor is always associated with the collective. If we do not include ourselves in any collective, and lack the sense of belonging and identity, honor is a tree without roots and will never grow up.
Of course, watching this movie is mainly about watching the style of the old-fashioned British aristocracy. Their living conditions shown in the movie are indeed in line with our definition of aristocratic life: the center of their lives is banquets and dance parties, worrying about what to wear all day long, and always arguing with people for fun, inheritance, etc. Wait and fight. But it seems to be different from our stereotype. These nobles have their own personalities, but they are all reasonable and get along well with the servants, not all pampered. In the heavy rain, he personally arranged the tables and chairs for the military parade, etc.
Sometimes we do need to look at other people's lives and try to understand the logic of their lives, even if this group is not what we respect. I believe that being able to read other people's lives can help us deal with our own lives better.
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