America Six Feet Under: Serial Death and the Paternal Ghost in Neo-Soap Opera
Keywords:
Six Feet Under, neo-soap opera, television series, dark humor, funeral rituals, postmodern cultureAbstract
This article analyzes the television series Six Feet Under (2001–2005) as a neo-soap opera that subverts traditional genre conventions through its dark humor and gothic themes. The paper explores how the series, created by Alan Ball, uses the suburban setting to critique repressed white America, particularly through its portrayal of funeral rituals and family dynamics. The article argues that Six Feet Under departs from the conventional soap opera formula by killing off the patriarch in the first episode and having him return as a ghostly figure. This study examines how the series employs self-reflexive moments and black humor to parody traditional television family series, thereby commenting on postmodern popular culture and mass media discourses. The author contends that the series' innovative narrative techniques and visual details distinguish it from standard soap operas, making it a significant contribution to the neo-soap opera genre.
(The abstract and keywords were prepared retrospectively for indexing purposes using AI-assisted tools and editorial review, based on the original article. They did not appear in the original publication.)
References
Abelman, Robert. Reaching a Critical Mass: A Critical Analysis of Television Entertainment. Mahwah, London: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1998.
Ang, Ien. Watching Dallas. London: Methuen, 1985.
Cawelti, John. Adventure, Mystery, and Romance. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1976.
Fiske, John and John Hartley. Reading Television. (1978) London, New York: Routledge, 2003.
Fiske, John. Understanding Popular Culture. (1989) London, New York: Routledge, 2001.
Harvey, David. The Condition of Postmodernity: An Enquiry into the Origins of Cultural Change. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1989.
Kingsley, Hilary. Soap Box: The Papermac Guide to Soap Opera. London: Papermac, 1988.
McLuhan, Marshall. Understanding Media. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1964.
Mitford, Jessica. The American Way of Death Revisited. Rev. ed. London: Virago, 2000.
Morley, David. Family Television: Cultural Power and Domestic Leisure. London: Comedia, 1986.
Morley, David. Television, Audiences and Cultural Studies. London: Routledge, 1992.
Mumford, Laura Stempel. Love and Ideology in the Afternoon: Soap Opera, Women, and Television Genre. Bloomington, Indianapolis: Indiana UP, 1995.
Storey, John. Cultural Studies and the Study of Popular Culture. Athens: U of Georgia P, 2003.
