Sofascape

Downton Abbey and Homeland are back. I have been trying to hold on to the plot lines of both for some months now. As a result, I only have a tenuous grip on what is going on, which at times is problematic, especially with Homeland. Fortunately, I also have an ever patient husband who not only fills me in on the plot but, incredibly, is able to record two or more programs at once. He can even fast forward the ads when we’re watching the ‘live’ showing. This is something I’ve never been able to get my head round, with the result that when he’s away programs which ought to last an hour take twice as long and I end up going to bed before they’ve finished. I’m determined to get on top of this before he goes away again. 

On Sunday, we were faced with two defining questions (they would define the evening and how we would be feeling by the end of it and possibly for some of the following day), which of the two to watch first – Downton or Homeland? We went for Homeland, as I didn’t want to risk the appalling prospect of something going wrong with the recording gizmo. A bird in the bush is worth – well, something. The following evening we watched Downton which, in any case, had been preserved for us by a universal device ‘out there’ somewhere which enables you to watch programs you might have missed. This is something I haven’t got my head round yet and I must admit, it worries me. In fact, it’s a concern which ranks third in my ‘life’s urgent to do tasks’, after making sure our wills are up to date and planning our funerals. The idea of being condemned to living alone on a diet of Come Dining, My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding (and others of a similar genre), and a range of same-ish talk shows is too awful to contemplate.

But then there’s always the news, that part of the evening when we connect with a world which somehow carries on against all odds. I have no problem getting on to my favourite news channels – CNN’s Amanpour followed by the second half of Channel 4 – back to CNN if Channel 4 is not up to par, but back again to Channel 4 in time for the weather and that interesting little reflection on faith and ethics which follows.

After that, it’s a case of processing the news through  cooking.  One of the reasons why programs like Downton Abbey and Homeland are significant is that they allow us to process reality through non reality.  Downton hails back to a golden past, although it was golden only for the very few. Their lives were serviced by, and entirely dependent on a majority who, in different ways, were the ‘below stairs’ population of an entire nation. Downton is also a microcosm in which to experience the concerns of patriarchal privilege. With the sudden departure of her personal maid, who will dress the Duchess of Grantham?

 Downton’s world is also heavily sanitised. This, we all know, and are prepared to go along with because of the costumes and location, perhaps, and the great one-liners given to Maggie Smith. But also because it occupies the imagination in such a way as to allow space for the much harsher world which existed for some, and which continues to exist now in other parts of the world. At the same time, it reminds us of how much less stressful life could be if we could expect courtesy to shape the way we relate to others, instead of having to legislate for it. 

Downton provides us with an imaginative space in which to process reality. Homeland  does the same thing, but in a different way. It shows us a contemporary America that is fast becoming something of the past. In a curious way Homeland is beginning to feel more ‘dated’ than Downton because in the reality which we currently inhabit, it is becoming plain that America can no longer afford to maintain its Lone Ranger persona in the world. Homeland gives us the chance to take this reality on board, paradoxically, by taking us into the world of espionage and counter-terrorism in a way which seems all too real. So Homeland gives us some mental space in which to come to terms with how power might function in the future in the light of what are still recent memories. It also offers us a slightly different way to pray. Prayer can now be shaped and given substance with the help of a television drama which reflects something of our collective fears and paranoia and of our fascination with violence. This in turn helps us to begin to pray into the realities we are currently faced with. We might begin by praying for America and its future.