critical appraoches downton abbey

The extract opens at least a day after the Titanic has sunk with the maids and servants being awoken to starts the day's work. It shows the servants quickly prepare the house before the Lords and Ladies awaken. When the newspapers arrive the entire staff is in shock at sinking of an apparent unsinkable vessel. the nobles of the house show subdued shock, sympathy, surprise and possibly indifference at the death of numerous unfortunate passengers.
 The extract's genre is historical drama. And everything is era appropriate for it being set in 1912.


The extract features several long tracking shots: The first one follows the one of the servants as she leaves the lower levels to light the fires on the ground floors; the second tracking shot follows various other servants as they attend to their duties preparing for the nobles of the house to awaken and descend for Breakfast; The third tracking shot follows Lord Grantham as he descends the stairs to the dinning room for Breakfast. The first and second tracking shots are quite quick and hectic as are all shots involving the Servants of the house. But the shots involving Lord Grantham and the editing regarding those shots are quite slow denoting his status and wealth.


The music has a sense of regal, elegance especially when Lord Grantham descends the stairs. There are chimes of the bells in the kitchen.


The mise-en-scene is era appropriate the old fashioned maid costumes, The Male servants have pressed suits with starched collars. The Kitchen is full of brass and copper pots and pans and silver trays and cutlery. The news papers are ironed and there is discussion of electricity being a relatively new thing being introduced in homes. There are wood fires and the news papers are ironed. Mr Carson is shown polishing what appear to be brass candelabras. Mrs Hughes carries large iron keys with her. there is a system of bells connecting to each room to the kitchens in the servants quarters, so that the servant are made aware. there are wooden crates by the back door and the paper boy is covered in soot and ink wearing scruffy blackened clothes. At the News paper printers. There is a woman operating a Morse code machine. The colours of the house are Grand and elegant but muted for instance the walls of the dinning room are a dulled shade of yellow. There are ancestral portraits upon the wall of the dinning room.