At the beginning of this movie, it was said this family was middle class. I don't know what England considers middle class, but I would say the family was very much upper class.
They had a son at Oxford, two children in private elementary school, a maid, a cook, nice house and the ability to buy whatever they wanted.
This family was certainly more than middle class.
I was thinking the same thing. :) Great movie though.
shareAgree! Especially since it was filmed in America (or so I read), and the economic situation at the time.
Even in good times, upper upper middle class at least!
The fact that both Mr. and Mrs. open the movie thinking about the purchases they wanted to make would likely place them at the high-end of middle-class. It was wold-wide depression and they still had plenty of disposable income but they were somewhat circumspect showing they couldn't do anything they pleased.
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The USA has three levels of middle class.
We have upper middle class, middle class and lower middle class.
A doctor's family or architect's family (just as in the movie) would be upper middle class and would still be referred to as simply "middle class".
Young people often confuse upper middle class with upper class. Upper class are people such as Donald Trump and so forth.
Unlike England, there is no set rule for classes and is simply based on income levels and nothing more.
Never in a million years would Donald Trump be considered 'Upper Class' - neither here in the 'Colonies', nor in Jolly Ol'E.. He would, and will probably, always be considered 'Stratospheric Income' - but rather limited 'class'. 'Class' does not 'do' 'The Apprentice' or any other sort of 'reality' TV ... (rotf,lmho!)
In 'Jolly Ol', the 'Middle Class' often had household help, and for quite an extended period of time. Even those of just 'reasonable' income would have a 'day visiting' housekeeper, cook, or 'kitchen maid' , even in small villages. For example, in Agatha Christie's, even Miss Marple had help in the kitchen, and with her housekeeping (Florence, her maid), and had a former maid, as well (Gladys). Of course, Miss Marple had inherited a kind income from John Rafiel ... but that was in one of the later stories ... ;~}
What the world needs now are MORE SQUIRRELS! Then there would be fewer NUTS running around, loose!
In 'Jolly Ol', the 'Middle Class'Yeah, whatever. That's a very astute argument you have there. share
In view of their lavish home and life-style, opening scenes of Minivers dithering over their respective secret purchases (especially her new hat) seemed downright ridiculous.
shareMr. Miniver was a professional, i.e. he was educated though still worked for a living. This is the hallmark of the middle class.
share"They had a son at Oxford, two children in private elementary school, a maid, a cook, nice house and the ability to buy whatever they wanted."
Plus they had a house and private dock on a river and a 30+ ft boat to go with it. (I'm assuming that it was at least 30 ft since in the movie the person charged with rounding up the boats in the area for their "secret mission" said he was looking for all boats over 30 ft in length.)
But thanks to k999m who on Jul 26, 2010 helped explain the difference between "middle class" in England and "middle class" in America. I too wondered the same thing when I first watched the movie.
And we never saw the nanny. I just watched the film and these people gave scant attention to their children. I'm sure you couldn't ask a maid or a cook to look after children so I'm sure they must have had a nanny lurking just off camera.
shareIn answer to the OPs opinion that the Miniver family was not middle class they most assuredly were by British standards. The British upper class consisted of the royalty, nobility and landed gentry. The upper class traditionaly could not work for a living. They had virtually three professions available to them, the clergy usually at the bishop level, politics, and the military. Other endeavors were in the arts, poetry (Lord Byron, Lord Tennyson) but these were not means of support but were dilletantish in nature. The middle class included barristers, doctors, architects and business men many of whom were wealthy.
shareEveryone in that area of England had a boat and private dock if their house was on the river (also apparent in the movie Hope and Glory). It was a village, they were upper middle class at best. Remember, even in Austen and Bronte novels, families were often described as living in "genteel poverty"...they were poor, but still had cooks and servants....they were living off a very old estate.
shareUpper class in the UK is the aristocracy.
We really don't have an upper class inthe US, just some who think they are.
Lady Beldon, being titled, is a class up from the Minivers. She is aristocracy.
"great minds think differently"
If you look very, very closely at my original post, that's what I've already said.
shareBoomerMovieFan, if you look very, very closely at the earlier of your two posts, I don't think that you will find Lady Beldon mentioned.
It is worth a mention. It impacts on the attitude of Her Ladyship.
"great minds think differently"