Screen Moments: Six Feet Under - AKA Starting At The End

As anyone who knows me, a lot of my work has been influenced by the talent that is Alan Ball. From American Beauty

(Speedy aside to say I haven’t yet formed a thought about how I’ll approach art that have problematic elements associated with them, as I’m being usually very specific about moments in the art and how it inspired me it may not come up. But discussing a work where the creator themself is problematic may have to be side-stepped. American Beauty just has a problem actor to my knowledge.)

to his opus that is Six Feet Under and thanks to HBO for taking a chance on a TV show about a repressed family’s issues who run a funeral home. The setting is the key though, having people encounter this family while they are grieving allows for real existential questions and open-hearted statements to be made without it seeming hokey.

It also leans into a poeticism/magical realism that I adore (and steal ideas from) to this day; each episode starting with a death of a new character, the main characters all confront their inner demons in the form of conversations with ‘ghost’ family members and every shot is lit and composed to be painterly standing it apart from the more gritty shows on HBO at the time like Sopranos and OZ. Often the dialogue takes my breath away and the rhythm of which is what I used to write my first ever play Silver Shores.

So the clip (Season 4 - Episode 12 named ‘Untitled’) I chose really expertly shows off several of these aspects. David wakes up and throughout this season he’s been struggling with anxiety over an assault that occurred the season before. His brother Nate has been having interactions with the ‘ghost’ of their Dad almost every episode since season 1 but David has never had the pleasure. Alan Ball has always said that there are not ghosts in this show’s universe they are talking to aspects of their own psyche. So this represents David finally feeling he’s got any kind of connection to his father within himself, so can now see him and accept advice, which is a beautiful end of season catharsis. Alongside this, is the choices to film in the doorway while it rains (cleansing imagery innit!) leaving the final shot like a painting of father and son.

Feeling Seen Moment: “You hold on to your pain like it means something”

Honorary Mention: David and Kieth’s rocky relationship that stands the test of time