You can always go Downton

You can always go Downton

On Monday, Joanne Froggatt of Downton Abbey fame won her first Golden Globe for best supporting actress in a series. I started to squeal, scream, cry and do a victory dance in my head as if I had just won the award myself. But because I was at work, I dutifully simmered down and continued with my enchanting office life. 

It was a well-deserved win, one resulting from Froggatt's extremely moving role as a survivor of rape in season four. Even though the despicable act happening to the show's most-loved lady's maid was hardly shown on screen, it was still a little too unsettling, too real. How Froggatt's character dealt with this burden as the story progressed gave viewers a look into the victim's life after the fact, as well as the darker side of English society in the early 1900s.

Although some complain that the series is heading down a sappy road, I still like it as usual, and can at least say there's still fantastic acting to fall back on, as the fresh-off-the-stage Globe illustrates. 

I will probably run the risk of being seen as having the taste of a British grandma for being borderline obsessed with Downton Abbey, but the thing is, while I'm having a jolly good time watching the show, I'm actually learning a great deal from it, too. That's the thing about well-made period dramas — they don't require an omniscient narrator with a booming voice spelling out what the deal is in every scene. 

Starting with the sinking of the Titanic, the journey through the five seasons have made me well-acquainted with the atrocities of World War I, the Marconi scandal, how gay men were treated, the deadly Spanish flu and why the Irish were always hating on the British aristocracy, among other social issues and political milestones. Then there are the smaller and subtler things — how to save a thickened sauce; which haute couture houses were the ultimate ones to head to; why raising pigs was more profitable than cattle; and why butlers never wore gloves — that nevertheless give compelling insight into the upper crust's way of life that was alive a century ago. 

It's a marvel to watch this cinematic opulence that magnificently captures the era it tries to replicate. In this age, television series are bigger and better than ever before, and Downton has an approximately 1-million-pound budget for each episode. There is probably no better way to absorb history than through a series that brings new titbits every week. It's really too bad that no Thai series works on that scale. 

It's a hefty investment to make, but one that will know no borders if well-made enough. Up to 120 million viewers worldwide have at some point tuned in for an hour of Crawley family glamour, all the while steeping in what it is like to be British at various levels of the social pyramid. Cultural influence through film, as well as image-boosting for a country, can be so easily achieved. We've seen how Korean historical drama Dae Jang Geum has inspired our own viewers to have a real bite of Korean cuisine and medicine.  

I try to rack my brain for a decent Thai period drama that isn't a classic novel adaptation, or at least one that has taught me anything besides how to hook a rich, blue blood hubby. It then dawns on me that most of the ones I have seen are nothing but modern-day, stale plot lines and shallow characters, masquerading under faux-1930s frocks.

Rarely will you see meticulous attention to detail given to create convincing costumes, authentic props and realistic plots that truly allude to the time frame a particular show is set in. In no way are our lakorns an accurate window into what people's lifestyles, attitudes and social norms were like back in the day.

The ones centred around war and historical heroes aren't much better. My imagination cries itself to sleep having to think about the tacky gold backdrops and outfits that look like they've been recycled over and over since 1960. We never have a shortage of war-driven dramas, but they never transcend overbearing messages of being patriotic, with way too many bad Myanmar guys with black eyeliner.

That hot-red line of syrup barely made me flinch as I watched someone being axed across the neck the other day in the new series Bang Rajan. I can only wish that the crew had taken their action scenes to another level, using grotesque effects and a full platter of war horrors so I actually feel somewhat sad instead of yawn when watching portrayals of our ancestors die.

If we're talking battle scenes, it's the Game Of Thrones bar we should start aiming for. MC Chatrichalerm Yukol's extravagant Phan Tai Norasingh was supposed to be on Channel 3 by now, but the talks never worked out and it will be edited for the silver screen instead.

It might have been achingly analogous with other hero soaps — and might only have kept those fascinated with stiff dialogue awake — even if it did hit the telly, but its high production value should make it a spectacle worthy of a non-Thai's time, as well.

We have an interesting history worth telling, one that doesn't always have to be centred around nationalism and all about glorifying the royalty. What we can skip are the remakes of classics and try instead a more relatable story.

In truth, Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes simply starts his story off merely with a dead heir, which pushes his aristocratic family to the verge of losing their ancestral home to some distant, middle class cousin.

You know period drama is done well when it doesn't start out as a history lesson but ends up as one anyway.

There's no set rule, but one thing's for sure — if you want to do period drama, go big or go home. 


Parisa Pichitmarn is a feature writer for the Life section of the Bangkok Post. 

Parisa Pichitmarn

Feature writer

Parisa Pichitmarn is a feature writer for the Life section of the Bangkok Post.

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