Downton Abbey film spotlights 'horrific' treatment of gay men the 20s

Contents:

• THE DIRECTOR OF “DOWNTON ABBEY” OPENED UP ABOUT THE MOVIE’S TOUCHG GAY STORYLE
• DOWNTON ABBEY'S THOMAS BARROW AND THE FUTURE OF THE GAY PAST
• THE ‘DOWNTON ABBEY’ MOVIE’S GAY STORYLE ALMOST HAD A DARKER ENDG
• DOWNTON'S ROBERT JAM-COLLIER OPENS UP ABOUT 'HORRIFIC' GAY STORYLE
• DOWNTON ABBEY’S ROB JAM-COLLIER REVEALS REACTN TO ‘HORRIFIC’ GAY STORYLE
• DOWNTON ABBEY'S CREEPY GAY SECRET
• ROB JAM-COLLIER SAYS HIS CHARACTER’S GAY ROMANCE IN ‘DOWNTON ABBEY’ MOVIE IS ‘LOVELY’
• NEW DOWNTON ABBEY MOVIE SH A LIGHT ON THE ‘HORRIFIC’ TREATMENT OF GAY MEN 1920S ENGLAND
• ‘DOWNTON ABBEY’ DIRECTOR DISCS THE REALI OF CRAFTG A 1920S CLOSETED GAY ROMANCE
• DOWNTON ABBEY’S GAY STORYLE TAK A MUCH DARKER TURN UPG SEASON
• DOWNTON ABBEY STAR MOVED BY GAY STORYLE NEW MOVIE
• THE ‘DOWNTON ABBEY’ MOVIE GAY BAR SCENE IS ACTUALLY PRETTY HISTORILLY ACCURATE
• DOWNTOWN ABBEY: THE NEW ERA – EVERYONE’S FAVORE GAY CHARACTER RETURNS
• ‘DOWNTON’S ROB JAM COLLIER TALKS ‘HARROWG’ GAY STORYLE

THE DIRECTOR OF “DOWNTON ABBEY” OPENED UP ABOUT THE MOVIE’S TOUCHG GAY STORYLE

Michael Engler, the director of the newly released Downton Abbey film, weighed on the importance project’s touchg gay urse, there will be major spoilers om this pot on, so if you haven’t seen the film yet, you may want to steer you rell, at the end of the six-season n of the origal Downton Abbey seri, most characters were blsed enough to get a satisfactory endg.

DOWNTON ABBEY'S THOMAS BARROW AND THE FUTURE OF THE GAY PAST

Thomas had fleetg, clanste affairs wh other men, and at one pot the seri attempted to change his sexual clatns by unrgog gay nversn therapy.

THE ‘DOWNTON ABBEY’ MOVIE’S GAY STORYLE ALMOST HAD A DARKER ENDG

The two spend the rt of the night together walkg around and nnectg about their liv as closeted gay men. Thomas Barrow (Rob Jam-Collier)—former footman, would-be blackmailer, and early morn homosexual everyman—is now head butler on staff, givg him ample opportuny to teract wh the visg stars, and particular, wh the bonair Guy Dexter (Domic Wt). Is Thomas an accurate unveilg of historil homosexualy, hidn but fully formed, jt wag for to notice his existence?

Hello to the future of the gay past. In the film, dienc will see Barrow the ntext of a wir gay world for the first time: visg a secret gay bar, dodgg police harassment, and possibly even fdg love.

"I thk one of the thgs that Downton Abbey don’t get right is that actually a great al more of those young men who were service were homosexual. Barrow is stantly regnizable as a morn gay man, even if he never que those words.

DOWNTON'S ROBERT JAM-COLLIER OPENS UP ABOUT 'HORRIFIC' GAY STORYLE

Gooch//Getty ImagOn the one hand, this feels like an elaboratn of that famo gay liberatn slogan “we are everywhere, ” expandg to be “we were everywhere” also. On the other hand, seems to remove sexualy om the doma of history entirely, suggtg that the experience of beg gay has always been the same, no matter the place or perd. While everyone else the show be, Barrow already qutn for queer Downton Abbey fans, then, is this: Is Thomas an accurate unveilg of historil homosexualy, hidn but fully formed, jt wag for to notice his existence?

Or is he a backward projectn of our current ia of what means to be gay, an anachronism disguised as a revelatn? Like Thomas Barrow, Alec Scudr seems preternaturally gay, fully aware of his sexual sir, that they are exclively for men, and that they mark him, irrevobly, as a different sort of person.

DOWNTON ABBEY’S ROB JAM-COLLIER REVEALS REACTN TO ‘HORRIFIC’ GAY STORYLE

In the post-Edwardian perd, upper class men were more likely to already unrstand the world terms of heterosexuals and homosexuals, wh a bright and absolute le dividg the two. But whereas Scudr and Barrow seemed to thk of themselv as gay, el-Adl experienced his sire for men differently. Increasgly, sexologists, policians, and wrers began to promulgate the ia that the behavrs were signifiers of homosexualy, to be surveilled and curtailed.

DOWNTON ABBEY'S CREEPY GAY SECRET

Compton Mackenzie, pictured send om the left the ont row, wrote several works about gay men.

BettmannA workg class man like Thomas Barrow, livg the untrysi, was unlikely to have accs to this kd of rmatn about gay inty.

ROB JAM-COLLIER SAYS HIS CHARACTER’S GAY ROMANCE IN ‘DOWNTON ABBEY’ MOVIE IS ‘LOVELY’

As s passed, the neat fictn of bary sexualy beme broadly acknowledged “tth, ” leavg ls and ls space for middle-dwellg, workg-class men like Buckgham and an earlier and earlier age, people would be tght— streets as much as schools—that homosexuals existed, that they were unlike other men, and that any apparent “middle ground” was actually a slippery slope head straight to hell. Barrow might have been an implsible outlier at the begng of the show 1912, but by the 1950s, workg class men who intified as homosexual were throngg the streets of London.

Thomas Barrow, Downton Abbey‘s valet-turned-butler, whose dark journey durg the seri saw him take some wrenchg steps to try and “cure” himself of homosexualy, received a much more hopeful treatment the new feature film of the same name. The film, which troduc Barrow to a world he has never seen before, a clanste unrground social scene where gay men n openly nnect, where he's led by Richard Ellis (Max Brown), part of the royal entourage that has e to vis Downton. Engler also spoke about the gay storyle wh Indiewire, about some of the choic that were ma when pictg the 1920s gay scene, particular the gay ‘speakeasy' that gets raid.

NEW DOWNTON ABBEY MOVIE SH A LIGHT ON THE ‘HORRIFIC’ TREATMENT OF GAY MEN 1920S ENGLAND

Said Engler: “In pictg that world, that gatherg that he go to, we had to fd a way to tell that didn't feel anachronistic even though there's almost no rearch that one uld actually do about a place like that bee there was no gay bars York 1927. There's people of lor gay bars, and there's guys who go to the gym and are mcle-y gay bars. Robert Jam-Collier has revealed his reactn after beg given a gay story le the upg film.

The former Corrie star has spoken out about the treatment of his character of beg a gay man the 1920s. Robert, who plays butler Thomas Barrow, says that he got an emotnal sight to what was like for gay people this perd. ‘It also hammers home what was like to be a gay man those tim, was horrific and ’s brought back and jt shows how different was.

Robert returns as Thomas (Picture: ITV)Former Corrie star Robert Jam-Collier has revealed his own reactn to landg an important gay storyle the upg Downton Abbey film. The actor, who plays valet-turned-butler Thomas Barrow for the big-screen outg, after starrg the ITV drama, said his plotle shows the treatment of beg a gay man the 1920s. Speakg of beg given the opportuny to lift the lid on what was like, Jam said was an emotnal sight to a horrific perd for gay people.

‘DOWNTON ABBEY’ DIRECTOR DISCS THE REALI OF CRAFTG A 1920S CLOSETED GAY ROMANCE

He’s opened up on his important storyle (Picture: PA)He ntued: ‘It also hammers home what was like to be a gay man those tim, was horrific and ’s brought back and jt shows how different was.

Gay butler Thomas Barrow fally gets his happy endg Downton Abbey: A New Era. This time, however, we’re treated to somethg new: a gay happy endg. But on a trip to York, Barrow is ved to an unrground gay bar, where he is arrted after the club raid by police.

At a time when gay sex was punishable by life imprisonment, and gross cency by at least two years behd bars, Barrow was a prer suatn. The most fascatg gay villa on televisn is Downton Abbey's schemg unr-butler Thomas Barrow, played wh smolrg menace by the darkly handsome Rob many characters on the wildly popular Brish seri, Barrow is a mass of ntradictns. He attempts to blackmail a gay aristocrat season 1, yet he falls unrequed love wh pretty boy footman Jimmy, whose life he sav, season the season 5 premiere alone, Barrow tri to blackmail lady's maid Baxter to revealg dirt on the valet Mr.

DOWNTON ABBEY’S GAY STORYLE TAK A MUCH DARKER TURN UPG SEASON

Bat, yet he rcu Lady Edh and sav the day when the hoe tch 's villay is rooted his seethg rentment of his aristocratic employers, but more importantly, the fact that he's a closeted gay man a time when homosexualy was punishable by gay storyle is takg a dark and creepy turn the current season, which ma s U. All signs suggt that he's attemptg some 1920s versn of gay "nversn" an terview wh Brish tabloid The Sun, Jam-Collier hted that his character's journey will get much worse before gets better:"It's fally dawned on Thomas he isn't gog to be allowed to love and he may give up that partment. At the time was illegal and agast God to be gay, so he's got this tremendo cross to bear.

DOWNTON ABBEY STAR MOVED BY GAY STORYLE NEW MOVIE

Yet viewers both gay and straight will likely be transfixed by what's gog to happen to Barrow. Downton Abbey star Rob Jam-Collier has spoken out about his character’s gay storyle the six-season seri and now, film, Downton Abbey. More than that moment of romance, though, Downton Abbey fally giv portrays the secret gay subculture of 1920s England.

THE ‘DOWNTON ABBEY’ MOVIE GAY BAR SCENE IS ACTUALLY PRETTY HISTORILLY ACCURATE

The actor, who plays butler Thomas Barrow the ITV seri and s big-screen outg, said that his character’s storyle “hammers home what was like to be a gay man” 1920s England. Alistair Bce, who served as a historil adviser on the film, said that Barrow’s experienc are an accurate pictn of gay life terwar Bra.

Downton Abbey seri had lengthy gay plot. “Bee Thomas Barrow is gay and is, sentially, the bad guy for much of the show, a lot of people wh the dtry n only see you as that, ” he said 2017. It seemed that was Thomas’ bt chance at happs as a closeted gay man 1920s England.

After all, he hadn’t had much luck love the past, and homosexualy was emed a crime at the time. Left to his own vic, Thomas starts hangg out wh one of the royal servants and eventually stumbl upon an unrground gay nightclub full of men dancg, lghg, and drkg. “In pictg that world, that gatherg that he go to, we had to fd a way to tell that didn’t feel anachronistic even though there’s almost no rearch that one uld actually do about a place like that bee there was no gay bars York 1927, ” said Engler.

DOWNTOWN ABBEY: THE NEW ERA – EVERYONE’S FAVORE GAY CHARACTER RETURNS

Although there were rerds of tablishments London where gay men uld gather, those were primarily for procurg sex partners. There’s people of lor gay bars, and there’s guys who go to the gym and are mcle-y gay bars.

Later, when the royal retue is about to take their leave of Downton, Richard reveals that he’s also gay and hop Thomas will stay touch. It stras belief that not only would everyone at Downton accept the homosexual their midst, but that he would be promoted after attemptg to molt another man. From real historil events of the time leadg to major soc-polil and enomic chang to rocky relatnships between siblgs, shockg aths, and the liv of gay men at the time, the show vered a lot of ground terms of realistic story arcs.

‘DOWNTON’S ROB JAM COLLIER TALKS ‘HARROWG’ GAY STORYLE

He sought pannship as a gay man, but he ually read the signs wrong and got hurt each time. In the new film, Thomas Barrow (Robert Jam-Collier) gets to vis a gay bar lled Turton's.

But once they're si, Thomas se that 's a secret bar filled wh gay men drkg, dancg, and generally havg a good time.

A Vice article about the history of UK gay bars not that 18th century spac for gay men to meet that were known as "molly ho" are well-documented, but that siar meetg spac existed long before that. Historian Peter Ackroyd told the Guardian 2017, "As a percentage of the populatn, there were as many gay bars 18th-century London as there are today. " In 1912, a bar lled The Cave of the Goln Calf, Bra's "first 'gay bar', as we know today", opened London, but was around for only two years.