It’s funny that I don’t enjoy the Jeeves and Wooster comedies, but I don’t and because of that I recently declined an invitation to see Jeeves At Sea. P.G. Wodehouse wrote many musicals, novels, and plays and his works are all widely enjoyed for his wit and writing skill. So, why do the Jeeves plays make me cringe? I get the humour and I’m glad that they make people laugh, but something in me feels the sting in the tail of the jokes.
I lived in England until I was in my early 20s and in that time there were a few occasions when I experienced social class distinction, and twice the put-downs hurt so much I have never forgotten them. That, I suspect, is at the root of my resistance to Jeeves and Wooster.
There are many ways in which social status is confirmed and distinctions are maintained, and they include everything from manners to accents. Sadly, some upper class people are quite oblivious to their own sense of superiority, but the lower classes are never able to forget their position. Servants of the aristocracy have had to develop coping techniques in order to keep their jobs, and we see that played out in many television series including Upstairs Downstairs, Downton Abbey, and The Crown.
The fact that Jeeves is wiser and wittier than his master, Wooster, should be no surprise to anyone because wit and wisdom are enjoyed in all walks of life. But, Jeeves’ intelligence is the basis for the humour, especially when juxtaposed against Wooster’s misadventures. The joke, on the face of it, is on Wooster.
Taking a step back, though, it becomes clearer that laughing at Wooster makes his ignorance acceptable. It is not unlike realizing that the fictional sitcom character Archie Bunker from All In The Family became a working class icon, even though he espoused racism and bigotry. Both Wooster and Bunker wrap bigotry and ignorance in comedy, and both make it seem okay.
P.G. Wodehouse’s experiences enabled him to appreciate some of the follies and shortcomings of the aristocracy, and his writing skill and humour enabled him to write very popular comedies. What he could not anticipate, though, was that laughing at upper class eccentricity makes their bad behaviour and buffoonery somehow acceptable. Boris Johnson has capitalized on that, but Meghan Markle has been a victim of it.
I do not object to Wodehouse’s plays in themselves, but I do object to the ethos of the aristocracy that they foster. Upper class twits are just not funny to me these days.
Snowbird of Paradise 
Thanks for parsing that out. I wanted to like Jeeves too, but couldn’t quite get there.
I wrote this as I was trying to figure out why I felt as I did. I’m not sure I nailed it down, but the reason is in there somewhere.
If not nailed down, you got pretty darned close!
Thanks, Lorna. 🙂
I encountered Wodehouse’s novels in the public library when I was in my early teens and read as many as I could find. I thought they were hilarious. I was a great fan. I’m sure I had no knowledge of the class system in England at that time. Later in life I tried to read one, and it was not nearly as funny. The things we love as teenagers, the kind of humor we love doesn’t last. I didn’t know he wrote plays. I didn’t begin to understand the English class system until later in life after I had met quite a few English people. My mother’s second husband was English, for example. I don’t think I have met any English people in my life who were not intensely aware of class in different ways. My mother’s husband (who was christened Bertie, by the way) was very put out because my mother taught my son to play chess. Chess was not appropriate for his class, apparently. He would walk out of the room whenever they played.
Wow. That is an amazing story, Barb. I know that there used to be social class distinctions between soccer and rugby, but I didn’t know it went as far as checkers (which we called draughts) and chess.
I don’t think he disapproved of checkers.
Right. I just inferred that would be his preferred game from his rejection of chess.