ABSTRACT
The USA television drama Six Feet Under ended after five successful seasons, in 2005. Six Feet Under has inscribed a gay aesthetic; this has much to do with its production context and with the programme's writers, producers, and directors. Six Feet Under also deals with class in a complicated fashion – one might risk saying it has an uncanny, or queer rendition of class positions and relations. Generically Six Feet Under is a hybrid: elements of family saga/soap opera, romance, American gothic, supernatural fiction, ribald tragi-comedy, Magical Realism, the grotesque, farce and pathos, experimental or avant-garde can be identified in the formal structure. The first episode of Six Feet Under opens on Christmas Eve, traditionally the moment of celebration when the new King is born. Six Feet Under will go on, over the five years of the programme, to thoroughly explore the import of homosexual prejudice for contemporary Americans.
