Downton Manor also depicts the horrific lives of gay men. Let's learn and not go back, warns gay butler
A royal visit and self-discovery
The year is 1927 and the life stories of all the residents of Downton Manor continue. While the main theme of the film adaptation of the popular BBC series is the King's visit to Downton Manor, there are, of course, no shortage of other sub-plots concerning its inhabitants. Thomas Barrow, a servant who has already been revealed to be gay during the course of the series (and has one brief affair with a cheerless ending), is no exception. "On screen you see Thomas begin to discover a whole new world, there are moments of happiness, but he loses them. Thomas's whole journey is very emotional and shows how difficult and dangerous it was to be gay in interwar England," describes Thomas's portrayer, Rob James-Collier.
Undercover Gays
"Our intention with Thomas' storyline was to show what gay people faced during this period in history," says Alastair Bruce, who worked as historical advisor on the project. According to him, moreover, the cinematic treatment of the Downton estate in Barrow's experience includes an accurate depiction of gay life in interwar Britain. Thus, for the first time, viewers will see Barrow begin to get involved in the closeted gay scene, visit a secret gay bar, face police harassment, and also search for love. "It's a beautiful scene when Thomas finally realises - my God, there are other people like me! To not only tell that story, but to see this whole flip side of gay life, it's just heartbreaking," James-Collier said.
In light of the historical context, then, where even the worlds of women and men were still strictly separate in the 1930s, homosexuality is a topic that has been deliberately overlooked. On the other hand, when marriages (not infrequently entered into for purely practical reasons) were not consummated, they began to become suspect. "At that time homosexuality was illegal, it was against God, and if a person was gay, people thought he was disgusting," summarizes Robert James-Collier, who therefore, in the series, as Barrow, also tried to "cure" his homosexuality with drugs and went through a long evolution as a character - from a hated and vengeful man to a character who aroused great sympathy and empathy.
British reality
Homosexual behaviour/relationships were not decriminalised in Britain until 1967. In this reality, therefore, all men who were gay were previously at risk of losing their jobs and also of going to prison. Thus, the intention of the filmmakers, in their own words, was not only to explore all the nooks and crannies of the issue of different sexual orientation in interwar England, but also to portray all the psychological effects that this condition could have on gay men. "We're moving forward and looking at where we came from," James-Collier said of the struggle for equality for LGBTQ people. "It's important and right to get this message out and remind people of what they faced virtually a short time ago. Thomas' whole storyline is full of hope and says - let's never go back there again," he concludes.
