Our Romantic Notions of Aristocracy

Truth be told, whether we realize it or not, we all harbor romantic notions of aristocracy. Though we claim equality as a cultural value, there is a part of us that dreams of leisure, luxury, comfort, power, and the freedom to do whatever we want.

Don’t believe me?

In 2011 Dowmton Abbey, the famous television series about an aristocratic manor and the various personalities who inhabit it, set the Guinness World Record for highest critical ratings for a television show.

In the 2015 music video for Taylor Swift’s song “Wildest Dreams,” Swift is cast as a golden-age film…