tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7308496865542922193.post3613506864264255134..comments2024-03-29T04:21:22.820-07:00Comments on Stories are Good Medicine: Masculinity and Disability on Downton AbbeySayantanihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11408914738803274489noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7308496865542922193.post-64520684400133235162011-02-23T04:54:18.972-08:002011-02-23T04:54:18.972-08:00Thanks so much for your comments Zoe - so glad you...Thanks so much for your comments Zoe - so glad you enjoyed the piece. I agree that even Miss O'Brien is somewhat 3-dimensional -- but neither Thomas nor the Duke are allowed to be anything but purely bad. It's troubling in many ways in an otherwise outstanding show.Sayantanihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11408914738803274489noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7308496865542922193.post-77297295267714600512011-02-22T13:29:33.535-08:002011-02-22T13:29:33.535-08:00I'm really glad to read this - I too love Down...I'm really glad to read this - I too love Downton Abbey, and I too was troubled at the portrayal of Thomas as a character of pure wickedness. The one other gay character, the Duke, is also shown to be something of a cad, a lying fortune-hunter who uses and discards people. <br /><br />In a show that makes such an effort to be nuanced and fully rounded (even O'Brien shows evidence of a conscienve at the end of the show) I do think that this is evidence of unexamined predjudice on the part of an otherwise outstandingly talented writing and production team.Zoë Marriotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01275368005359548134noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7308496865542922193.post-20835565603026028102011-02-01T10:55:14.257-08:002011-02-01T10:55:14.257-08:00Thanks Kurt lovely list! I'll absolutely be in...Thanks Kurt lovely list! I'll absolutely be incorporating them in my work!Sayantanihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11408914738803274489noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7308496865542922193.post-14944008530225273242011-01-30T12:36:13.351-08:002011-01-30T12:36:13.351-08:00Interesting piece. Thanks for bringing attention t...Interesting piece. Thanks for bringing attention to the show. I will definitely check it out. If you're interested in companion scholarly pieces about quad rugby ("murderball"), my co-author James L. Cherney and I have written several communication articles and book chapters about it:<br /><br />Lindemann, K. (2010). Masculinity, Disability, and Access-Ability: Ethnography as Alternative Practice in the Study of Disabled Sexualities. Southern Journal of Communication, 75, 433-451.<br /><br />Lindemann, K. (2010). Cleaning up my (Father’s) mess: Narrative containments of “leaky” masculinities. Qualitative Inquiry, 16, 29-38<br /><br />Lindemann, K. & Cherney, J.L. (2008). Communicating in and through “Murderball”: Masculinity and disability in wheelchair rugby. Western Journal of Communication, 72, 107-125.<br /><br />Lindemann, K. (2008). “I can’t be standing up out there”: Communicative performances of (dis)ability in wheelchair rugby. Text and Performance Quarterly, 28, 98-115. [Reprinted in Henderson, B. & N. Ostrander (2010). (Eds.) Understanding disability and performance studies. London: Routledge]<br /><br />Cherney, J.L. & Lindemann, K. (2009). Sporting Images of Disability: Murderball and the Rehabilitation of Identity. In Billings, A.C. & Hundley, H. (Eds.) Examining identity in sport media (pp. 195-216). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.<br /><br />Kurt Lindemann<br />http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~klindema/index.htmKurt Lindemannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03912924800847744425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7308496865542922193.post-8210157215725353712011-01-26T20:34:02.262-08:002011-01-26T20:34:02.262-08:00Thanks for your comment Amitha! I don't think ...Thanks for your comment Amitha! I don't think I'd have a problem with Thomas being evil (although I wish he was a bit more 3 dimensional) because, as you say, gay characters, like Mr. Bates' disabled character, are too often limited to being noble and good -- if he wasn't so obviously an 'emasculated' foil to the 'hypermasculine' Mr. Bates. I feel like it's a hierarchy of oppressions - you can either be good and disabled or evil and gay...So I guess to me they both feel like charicatures of issues rather than complex people...<br />OH, and I hadn't thought of the youngest daughter as 2-dimensional (I'm waiting to see if she has an upstairs-downstairs romance with the socialist chauuffeur!) but I definitely think you have a point here!<br />My fave character? The Dowager Countess/Mother - who, BTW, also walks on a cane, but the show doesn't seem to take notice of that -- because she's a woman? older? and therefore it doesn't cause us anxiety to see her as disabled? hm.. regardless, she rocks...Sayantanihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11408914738803274489noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7308496865542922193.post-26466474589007515532011-01-26T19:42:14.133-08:002011-01-26T19:42:14.133-08:00I'm happy to have come across your blog! I am ...I'm happy to have come across your blog! I am a huge fan of Downton Abbey and Masterpiece Theatre in general, but I have to agree that Mr. Bates is not a perfect character (or rather, he is too perfect depending on how you look at it). I'm not sure if I agree that Thomas is as equally terrible. I guess I'm getting used to gay characters *having* to be good to show that script writers are open-minded (much like they've done with Mr. Bates), and I like that Thomas is allowed to be conniving and manipulative, though not completely un-relatable. Yes, he is a backstabber, but he is also very lonely and his quest for promotion is rather sad. He's actually one of the more interesting characters in my view.<br /><br />The character that actually irritates me the most is that of the youngest daughter. Her gung-ho feminism is a bit heavy-handed to me and feels like they are trying too hard to show the history of women's issues rather than allowing it to flow naturally from the story.Amitha Jagannath Knighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17405379017465940050noreply@blogger.com