Any recs for books/movies that show class difference in relationship?
I read Alias Grace right after watching Days of Heaven a few days ago, and I think that’s the main cause for my asking this question. I’ve just become very interested in the master/servant sort of dynamic and I’d like to read/see more of it.
As this can be misconstrued, I am definitely NOT looking for something in the form of a Harlequin romance, or some kind of kinky sex porno. It’s mainly… the examination of that class difference that appeals to me, if that makes any sense.
[If you’re not familiar with Alias Grace or Days of Heaven (you are missing out!) then think of something in the vein of Jane Eyre]
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29 Answers
I remember “who’s the boss” had just that dynamic.
The movie, “Driving Miss Daisy.”
The movie, “Séraphine.”
The movie, “Precious.”
‘The Sleeping Dictionary’ (although race is involved as much as class)
‘Upstairs, Downstairs’ (excellent classic Masterpiece Theatre)
Any of E.M. Forster’s books ~ “A Passage to India” and ‘A Room With a View’ are my favorites.
‘Rebecca’ by Daphne du Maurier.
‘The Long Walk Home’ by Will North.
Howard’s End has a good fix on the early middle class in England.
My Man Godfrey is a classic, as is the BBC PG Wodehouse series Jeeves.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
On the sappy side, the movie Love Story.
On the light-hearted side, the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta H.M.S. Pinafore. and the opera L’Elisir d’Amore.
On the mysteries-of-the-human-heart side, a fascinating study of subtle and complex relationships is found in the 1997 Dutch film Karakter (highly recommended). One of the three principal relationships in the film is that of the master and servant.
Okay, I don’t want to say it but I do… Titanic
Ragtime
Les Miserables
Norma Rae
Roots
Spartacus
There was a great weekly show, British, about a family before ww1, their lives and their servants’ lives. I want to say Up the Down Staircase.
@faye; Dracool mentioned “Upstairs, Downstairs” in answer three.
@gailcalled That’s probably it. What about the cook who ended up owning a hotel? Again, British. Many of Catherine Cookson’s books.
@faye: Are you talking about Mrs. Bridges in Upstairs, Downstairs or another work entirely?
@gailcalled Was Mrs Bridges played by a slim women with masses of auburn hair?
Almost forgot a favorite, Mrs Brown.
@faye: No, Mrs. Bridges was short, frumpy, wore a cap and apron and spoke with a lower-class accent. The woman you are thinking of is Hazel Forrest, who arrived as a secretary. James (the aristrocratic son of the Bellamy’s) fell in love with her, married her and treated her badly. There was a clear class issue there, and it ended badly for both of them.
@gailcalled Then it is another show entirely and since I liked it very much, it’s even worse that I can’t remember the title.
“Shirley Valentine”? TV, movie, book?
It was a television show. The thin women with all the hair was an amazing cook in one of the grand houses and eventually went on to run a hotel in London. I’ll think of it at 3 am some night. The Duchess Of Duke Street, I think, I just googled Masterpiece Theatres past.
@faye It is The Duchess of Duke Street; great series.
Lady Chatterly’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence
Sons and Lovers D.H. Lawrence
Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen
All of Dicken’s novels have class distinctions. See Great Expectations, for example, and Bleak House.
I’d say Gone with the Wind might be a good example, even if it inspects falling from grace and being owned a lot more than social status difference, but it’s still pretty damn interesting in that respect.
Also, mud sex and amputations, this book has everything.
I would sayy “Driving Miss Daisy” its awesome hope i helpedd!
@kanic12 : I suggest you read answer number two, please.
Don’t forget “Breaking Away” the bicycle race movie set in Bloomington, Indiana (1979). The director wanted to show class-clash in the United States.
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