Ronja Steiner

Ronja completed her bachelor’s degree at FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg with a major in Scandinavian Studies and a minor in English and American Studies, including two semesters at Háskóli Íslands in Reykjavík. She continued her studies at FAU, receiving her master’s degree in English Studies with a focus on literature and culture. During her time at FAU, she was actively involved in student representation and community activities. Her academic interests include popular contemporary fantasy and science fiction, historical fiction, gender and representation, intermediality, aesthetic strategies, and narratology.

Project: Silent Tears and Steady Thrones: Navigating Change Through Sentimental Narratives of Family, Identity, and Duty in the British Period Dramas The Crown and Downton Abbey

My thesis explores how The Crown and Downton Abbey construct sentimental narratives of family, identity, and duty to navigate and emotionally mediate moments of historical and cultural transition. It investigates how both series employ emotionally resonant character arcs alongside aesthetic strategies (such as music, symbolism, and visual spectacle) to portray political and societal transformation. By grounding these shifts in private, intimate storytelling, the series offer audiences a way to process contemporary anxieties surrounding identity, continuity, and belonging. It also engages with paratextual contexts, such as podcasts, tourism, and media discourse, to show how these narratives extend their cultural influence beyond the screen, reinforcing collective imaginaries of British heritage in a post-imperial, post-Brexit cultural landscape.