Thème n°28: Anglais
Yvan Cruchaud
UPSTAIRS & DOWNSTAIRS
Up to the middle of the 19th century, hundreds of thousands of people worked as servants in the Western world. This servant - master relationship was crucial in European culture. As a result, many books, plays, novels, diaries, and of course films have taken up the subject and have investigated several aspects of this relationship.
The purpose of the present TM project is to analyse how some of these works use the tensions between the wealthy world "above stairs" and the more modest world "downstairs". Not only do these two differing perspectives bring to light aspects of the unfair nature of the class system, but also offer a more universal illustration of the human aspiration to live a fulfilling emotional life.
Students who choose this research project should have a taste for literature and for the cinema, and be prepared to read and write in English. You will be asked to define a specific subject related to the general theme mentioned above, and investigate Upstairs & Downstairs in the books or films you will select as primary material.