Men of the House : the Construction of Masculinity in British Period Drama Television Series Since 2010

Abstract

As current debates in Western societies show, traditional gender roles are changing fast, and we see ourselves confronted with questions that transcend the division of roles between men and women, questioning the binary division of gender and even of biological sex. Yet, while old ideas of masculinity and femininity are losing their relevance and foundations, the allegedly conservative genre of the period drama is at least as popular as ever – if not more, as the global success of series like Downton Abbey shows. This book sets out to answer the question whether the most recent representatives of this genre, namely Downton Abbey (2010-2015), Mr Selfridge (2013-2016) and Upstairs Downstairs (2010-2012), nostalgically idealize times of seemingly clear-cut gender divisions, or whether they propose new conceptualizations of masculinity for the future. Several discursive strands that explicitly thematise masculinity run through all three series: The home and the role of the patriarch as ‘man of the house,’ the role of war, the body, and trauma for masculinities, the role as breadwinner and entrepreneur, and the relationship between the sexes as well as fatherhood. These are analysed using the methods of (multimodal) critical discourse analysis and social semiotics, combined with elements of spatial and subject theory. The results of this detailed analysis show the extent to which our current understanding of historical masculinities is used to either deconstruct or affirm modern masculinity.