rhetorical analysis edit

7/28/2019 Rhetorical Analysis Edit

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Rhetorical Analysis Downton AbbeyOpening Credits

The PBS-Masterpiece Classic show, Downton Abbeyhas one of the most

fitting and memorable opening credits of any television series. Through music and a

series of vignettes, it appropriately sets up the audience to understand the show as

one of a strict social order.

It opens with probably the most iconic scene in the credits as a whole (other

than the main title of course), a dog walking with his master on a beautiful spanning

green field up to a spectacular old British house. With this first glimpse, the creators

introduce the top of the food chain, so to speak. The man and his dog on a leisurely

stroll represent the people that live in the house, the people that were born into a

very wealthy and prominent English family and the lack of responsibilities they hold

on a daily basis.

Beginning with a pitch-black frame, a large French style window dramatically

opens with light pouring past the frame. This contrast from dark to light is

esthetically stunning and a beautiful way to capture attention. The view outside the

window is slightly blurred from the sunlight, but a statue and very green garden are

visible outside it. Representing the day beginning for everyone in the house,

whether a servant or a resident, this scene portrays the splendor of the house itself.

It is quite clear that these windows do not belong in the home of a commoner; they

surely are in the home of someone important.

The third scene is the primary introduction to the class system that existed in

the early 1900s in England. It shows a bell being rung by someone upstairs down


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to the servants, letting them know that they are awake and ready for the day to

begin. Servants were very common (and quite essential) for large homes with

prominent families who did not know how to take care of themselves.

The letterbox in the foreground spilling over with letters, in the fourth scene,

is meant to prove how important the people living upstairs are and how seemingly

insignificant the servants are. This is the clear focus of the scene, but there is

simultaneously a maid walking up a staircase in the background. Oddly, and

deliberately, the maid is blurred. This is to hint to the audience that the maid is not

the important part of this snippet (although many of the main characters in the

show itself are maids).

After the letter room scene, a shiny copper kettle is shown on a stove. It

reaches boiling point, begins to steam, and is quickly taken away by an unidentified

hand. This represents the efficiency of the house and how all jobs have to be done

quickly and effectively or disaster (disaster meaning not that the forks are not in the

right order at the dinner table) will ensue. Also displaying the perfect proficiency of

the estate, the next scene is a side pan of a dinner table being set so carefully that a

ruler is used to measure the distance from the plate to the many pieces of

silverware. But again, the servant is faceless representing their invisibility

throughout the house.

The only view shown in slow motion, the following sequence is a petal falling

down from a vase of white flowers. This fall represents that downward turn that

Downton Abbey as an estate will take, and the fact that it falls down in slow motion

is to emphasize that this tumble will not happen quickly, the money will dry up


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gradually, petal by petal. Although the descent is imminent, there is a flicker of hope

shown by a lamp turning on. They must try to preserve the house in its pristine

condition even though it is falling apart, represented by a chandelier being dusted

off.

Representing again the class system, the title is finally shown with the house

being reflected below it. The house above is in a background of clouds and a blue

sky, while the one below is in a solid black abyss. This obviously proves that the

upstairs residents live blissful lives with no cares other than who will they marry

and what drink they will have with dinner, while the servants living below must

deal with all of the wrath of the trivial mistakes that they make.

The music associated with the series is perhaps the most brilliant part of the

opening. Beginning with spicatto violins - the musicians are bouncing their bows up

and down on the strings in lieu of moving the bows back and forth smoothly - and a

piano playing short low chords, there is no real melody. This creates an immediate

attitude of unrest, which continues throughout the entire thirty seconds of this

sequence, as this theme does not stop until the title itself is presented.

All of the scenes are timed stunningly with the music behind them. As soon as

the window opens in the second section, the violins and piano are joined by a

section of cellos thickening the texture of the piece and a singular piano playing the

high melody that is the true theme song. A chorus of violins enters at the frontend

of the display of the bell being rung, playing in a legato style a very simple, yet very

lovely, arpeggiation that flows easily up and down. The simplicity of this entrance

displays the ease of the lives of the people who live upstairs, and how they do not


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realize how good they have it. This arpeggiation combined with the previous

melody and other aspects creates a seemingly classical piece that evokes a canonical

sense.

During the mailbox scene the music catches the tail end of the arpeggio from

the previous moment and begins the next melodic section, which is identical to the

first except for one note change. This one note change is a higher note in the center

of the theme, which suggests that there will be more like it and that the end of the

credits will be musically repetitive. Tension is growing. These musical motifs

continue through the kettle and table setting segments to help transition from scene

to scene smoothly.

Musically, the following sequences that represent the imminent collapse of

the estate due to money problems are tenser than all prior as they build and build

through the already established melody getting higher and seemingly faster

(although there is actually no tempo change). This illusion catches the attention of

the viewer, and there may be the realization that these moments do not simply

represent daily chores.

Furthermore, most theme songs for shows end with a resolution down to the

tonic chord (the chord that the key is based around), in fact, so do most songs in

general. However, this one does not, it moves up instead, leaving the listener

wanting more, even though they probably do not even realize it. This strategic

move on the composers part leaves room for a new theme for each episode, and in

each episode the first few seconds allow for musical interpretation for whatever is

happening. It is a brilliant and incredibly effective idea.


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Though the direction of these excerpts may not be realized through an initial

viewing or two, it is blaring when a closer look is taken. The opening credits of

Downton Abbeydo their job perfectly, and tell what is to come.

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