I have to say that I found the reading by Matthew Sweet, Inventing the Victorians, very interesting. I am totally guilty of stereotyping the Victorian era and buying into the ideas that it was a boring, conservative and repressive time in history. It was actually quite eye opening to read about how progressive these people were. The author debunked many misconceptions about this era, from the covering of piano legs, entertainment, gender and race issues (however, I’m not going to be buying into the idea that discrimination didn’t exist, just because there was an Asian member of parliament and a female journalist documenting WWI, anytime soon), but they were significantly more open minded than I ever knew. I think it was this reading that actually made the point that America at this time appeared to be more conservative than England.
I thought the reading by Wilson was rather dull in comparison to the reading above, however, after reading Inventing the Victorians, it made me appreciate Wilson’s piece all the more, and the section on Gilbert and Sullivan almost comical. Here you have Sweet pointing all of the falsities in regard to stereotypical Victorians, but flash back over a hundred years and Gilbert and Sullivan are not only perpetuating this stereotype, but helping to create it. They point out and make light of such things as corrupt politicians and the role of women. The author even points out that “The downside of Gilbert and Sullivan mania-as an expression of the English character and attitude to life generally-is that it can make large sections of the populace who ought to think a bit harder snigger instead.” The point is even made that the progression of feminism suffered as a result of the Gilbert and Sullivan operettas.
It’s obvious while seeing these operettas that they are meant to be funny, and I get the joke, but it seems as though the people who lived during that time failed to realize what a statement Gilbert and Sullivan were actually making, whether they meant to or not. I just find it comical that Sweet is making an argument for the respect and appreciation of Victorian people, but he’s fighting against a stereotype that the Victorians did in fact to a certain degree create. Granted I think the modern age has taken advantage of that stereotype, but perhaps the Victorians were not all as progressive as Sweet would have us think.
