Downton Abbey and HBO’s Girls seem to be talking to each other, says Anand Giridharadas in a New York Times piece. 

The early 20th Century world of Downton’s British aristocracy knew “there is a way to do everything, from cleaning spoons to dressing for dinner.”

But then World War I unleashes its chaos, confusing notions about who is independent and where one stands. Thus,

The family driver, believing in equality and marrying for love, runs away with the family daughter; thus the men wear black tie instead of white to dinner one night; thus a new generation of servants is less servile, more willing to question.

HBO’s Girls yields the fruits of that push a century later — and it isn’t pretty, he says — as four young women navigate the stresses and opportunities of New York City: a world that “says you can be anything but does not show you how.”  Read the rest of this entry →