Praised for its unabashed portrait of the "death care" industry, HBO's Six Feet Under is less about the business of death than the art of living well. Created by the Oscar winner Alan Ball (American Beauty), this innovative, controversial show charts difficult territory--from death, dying and bereavement, to female and gay sexualities, to family obligation and relationships--laying bare in the process an American cultural consciousness. This book examines such predominant themes as the dead body, magic realism and the grotesque, American cultural politics, family relationships, homosexuality, motherhood and more. A complete episode guide to the first four seasons is included.
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'This is the essential appeal of the book - it manages to combine the serious with the comic and ironic, just as its subject series does.' - Media Education Journal
Book Description
Praised for its unabashed portrait of the "death care" industry, HBO's Six Feet Under is less about the business of death than the art of living well. Created by the Oscar winner Alan Ball (American Beauty), this innovative, controversial show charts difficult territory--from death, dying and bereavement, to female and gay sexualities, to family obligation and relationships--laying bare in the process an American cultural consciousness. This book examines such predominant themes as the dead body, magic realism and the grotesque, American cultural politics, family relationships, homosexuality, motherhood and more. A complete episode guide to the first four seasons is included.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
25 of 25 people found the following review helpful
By S. Overfield
Format:Paperback
This book is wonderful if you're a literate SFU fan, and most of the show's fans are. This book has a variety of hard-core analyses of the different elements of SFU, and each one--except for a silly article that's more confessional than analysis--offers a very illuminating perspective on an aspect of the show. That SFU lends itself to such examination is hardly surprising if you are a fan. The real pleasure to be found in the book is seeing the show scrutinized by such intelligent people, which is not only a compliment to the show, but also underscores just how transcendant and perfect the show was. In essence, this book is a collection of writings by fans like you and me but who happen to have Phds and teach at universities. Reading about the Fishers in this way provides a new narrative of sorts in which the Fishers are again alive. Meaning, the show's over, which makes me want to kill myself, but here is a chance to read about their adventures in a fresh way that makes them alive that little bit longer. The only drawback to the book are the few extremely goofy poems and overly morbid photographs that unnecessarily interrupt the pages.
In short, this book is an extremely thoughful love letter from intellectuals, and the Fishers deserve nothing less. I still can't believe the show's over.
In short, this book is an extremely thoughful love letter from intellectuals, and the Fishers deserve nothing less. I still can't believe the show's over.
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Most of the contributors to this volume of essays on HBO's 5-season hit SIX FEET UNDER praise the series as groundbreaking, smart, well-written, honest, and deeply felt. I share their high opinion of SFU and find that I continue to find new things to delight in (if you can use that expression for a series that focuses on death and damaged human relations) each time I watch an episode.
If you're a fan of SFU or just someone who likes to watch television thoughtfully, you'll find this volume helpful. These are not newspaper style reviews; most are essays by academics focusing on one character or aspect of the show. There is academic jargon here to be sure (in some essays more than others), but I found I could navigate it fairly easily with a dictionary at my elbow (though I had to Google "diegesis" to understand Peter Kaye's article on the music of SFU). Special attention was given to gender issues. Part III is entitled "Post-Patriarchal Dilemmas: Making Visible the Female Subject" and contains essays on Ruth Fisher (the mother whose unexpected and premature widowhood launches season 1), Claire (her only daughter), and Brenda (a complicated outsider who becomes increasingly involved with the family over the course of the series). I found Erin's MacLeod's "Desperately Seeking Brenda: Writing the Self in Six Feet Under" especially engaging--in part, because I found this character more baffling and frustrating than any other in the show. As with many of the essays in this volume, I suspect MacLeod wrote her essay at some point during season 3 or 4, but certainly well before Brenda's full trajectory was known. She seemed to have missed the opportunity to comment on Brenda's personal post-patriarchal experience (the death of her own father, Bernard Chenowith). I think the volume would have been greatly enhanced if contributors were given an opportunity to attach Afterwords to their essays based on having seen the entire series, including the amazing final episode in which viewers are shown exactly how each of the main characters faces her/his own death.
Gender is also the key theme in "Part IV: Post-Patriarchal Dilemmas: Masculinities Reconsidered," with Queer Theory playing an important role in Brian Singleton's "Queering the Church," which focuses on the way David Fisher deals with his homosexuality, and Samuel A. Chambers's "Revisiting the Closet," which focuses on the experiences Russell Corwin, an art school classmate of Claire's, a relatively minor character in the series. Again, it would have been interesting to know what these authors thought upon seeing the last episode of season 5.
My favorite essay in the whole volume, however, was "Playing in the Deep End of the Pool" by Thomas Lynch, who is a funeral director (from a family of funeral directors) in addition to being a skilled writer. Besides providing useful insights into SFU's portrayal of his profession, he gives the first critical perspective I've read on Jessica Mitford's classic 1963 expose of the death care industry, THE AMERICAN WAY OF DEATH, that makes sense without seeming defensive.
The book includes an Episode Guide (through the end of season 4); a Film and TV Guide (baffling for what it includes--The King and I?--as well as for what it omits--where are Rachel, Rachel; Four Weddings and a Funeral; Longtime Companion; The Passion of the Christ, to name a few?); a Bibliography that doesn't include every work sited by the authors; and an Index.
If you're a fan of SFU or just someone who likes to watch television thoughtfully, you'll find this volume helpful. These are not newspaper style reviews; most are essays by academics focusing on one character or aspect of the show. There is academic jargon here to be sure (in some essays more than others), but I found I could navigate it fairly easily with a dictionary at my elbow (though I had to Google "diegesis" to understand Peter Kaye's article on the music of SFU). Special attention was given to gender issues. Part III is entitled "Post-Patriarchal Dilemmas: Making Visible the Female Subject" and contains essays on Ruth Fisher (the mother whose unexpected and premature widowhood launches season 1), Claire (her only daughter), and Brenda (a complicated outsider who becomes increasingly involved with the family over the course of the series). I found Erin's MacLeod's "Desperately Seeking Brenda: Writing the Self in Six Feet Under" especially engaging--in part, because I found this character more baffling and frustrating than any other in the show. As with many of the essays in this volume, I suspect MacLeod wrote her essay at some point during season 3 or 4, but certainly well before Brenda's full trajectory was known. She seemed to have missed the opportunity to comment on Brenda's personal post-patriarchal experience (the death of her own father, Bernard Chenowith). I think the volume would have been greatly enhanced if contributors were given an opportunity to attach Afterwords to their essays based on having seen the entire series, including the amazing final episode in which viewers are shown exactly how each of the main characters faces her/his own death.
Gender is also the key theme in "Part IV: Post-Patriarchal Dilemmas: Masculinities Reconsidered," with Queer Theory playing an important role in Brian Singleton's "Queering the Church," which focuses on the way David Fisher deals with his homosexuality, and Samuel A. Chambers's "Revisiting the Closet," which focuses on the experiences Russell Corwin, an art school classmate of Claire's, a relatively minor character in the series. Again, it would have been interesting to know what these authors thought upon seeing the last episode of season 5.
My favorite essay in the whole volume, however, was "Playing in the Deep End of the Pool" by Thomas Lynch, who is a funeral director (from a family of funeral directors) in addition to being a skilled writer. Besides providing useful insights into SFU's portrayal of his profession, he gives the first critical perspective I've read on Jessica Mitford's classic 1963 expose of the death care industry, THE AMERICAN WAY OF DEATH, that makes sense without seeming defensive.
The book includes an Episode Guide (through the end of season 4); a Film and TV Guide (baffling for what it includes--The King and I?--as well as for what it omits--where are Rachel, Rachel; Four Weddings and a Funeral; Longtime Companion; The Passion of the Christ, to name a few?); a Bibliography that doesn't include every work sited by the authors; and an Index.
14 of 16 people found the following review helpful
By N. Wong
Format:Paperback
I am glad that a book on Six Feet Under has been published. The book contains a number of useful essays, regarding the notion of death, American culture, homosexuality, feminism, music and other aspects in the excellent TV drama.
The essays are grouped neatly and are very well-organized. Readers will absolutely find something insightful under each section. Interestingly most, before each section begins, there is a poem, regarding the theme of that particular section. So, the book is not entirely academic and research work, but also some creative writing.
The most useful part of the book, I think, is not just the selected essay, but the detailed bibliography provided at the back.
One thing I don't like about the book is that some essays are quite narrow in discussing the content of the drama. For example, a few essays merely talk about the plot in several episodes in the first two seasons. Yet, the season 4 of the drama has been out, so it'd be more extensive and convincing if the essay could cover all four seasons.
I wish after the finale season of the drama, a more detailed and in-depth anthrology would be published. Six Feet Under is not just a TV drama, it's literature, it's a classic. It deserves more written records.
The essays are grouped neatly and are very well-organized. Readers will absolutely find something insightful under each section. Interestingly most, before each section begins, there is a poem, regarding the theme of that particular section. So, the book is not entirely academic and research work, but also some creative writing.
The most useful part of the book, I think, is not just the selected essay, but the detailed bibliography provided at the back.
One thing I don't like about the book is that some essays are quite narrow in discussing the content of the drama. For example, a few essays merely talk about the plot in several episodes in the first two seasons. Yet, the season 4 of the drama has been out, so it'd be more extensive and convincing if the essay could cover all four seasons.
I wish after the finale season of the drama, a more detailed and in-depth anthrology would be published. Six Feet Under is not just a TV drama, it's literature, it's a classic. It deserves more written records.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Ideal Companion for the HBO Masterpiece
Academic in nature, this is perhaps the best and only place to start examining Alan Ball's monumental series, Six Feet Under. Read more
Published on November 14, 2009 by Flippy
4.0 out of 5 stars
SFU fun for the English Major in you
Obviously only for the Six Feet Under enthusiast, Reading SFU does a good job of canvassing a number of interesting approaches to the show (examining specific characters, specific... Read more
Published on May 16, 2007 by S. Wong
4.0 out of 5 stars
a must have
For fans of Six Feet Under, this is a must have. It is true that some of the more personal stuff, like the poems, are a bit weak, but most of the essays are strong and... Read more
Published on April 27, 2006 by Harriet Jameson
5.0 out of 5 stars
OVER MY HEAD
The show is very fun to watchand easy to understand
but this book is way over my head they discuss so much symbolism and connections i think it would be hard for the average... Read more
but this book is way over my head they discuss so much symbolism and connections i think it would be hard for the average... Read more
Published on July 19, 2005 by B. Olson
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 100
books:
See all 100 books this book cites
- American Way of Death by Jessica Mitford on 5 pages
- The Loved One by Evelyn Waugh on 4 pages
- Angels in America: Part Two: Perestroika: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes (Pt. 2) by Tony Kushner on 4 pages
- This Thing of Ours by David Lavery in Front Matter, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Magical Realism: Theory, History, Community by Lois Parkinson Zamora in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
See all 100 books this book cites
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