Sherryl Wilson, "'No Need for Fear or Secrets': Ruth Fisher and Grotesque Realism in Six Feet Under" (page 3 of 3)
I have argued elsewhere (Wilson) that confessional television talk
shows represent an enactment of grotesque realism through which the
fragility of self in the postindustrial age can be thought through. In
such shows confessional practice enables the exploration of the grime,
grind, and debris of daily life in close up. I would argue that,
likewise, Ruth's confessions—in the florist shop as well as at her
husband's funeral—articulate a grotesque realism, as risky
performances through which profound issues affecting self and identity
are rehearsed in dramatic form. Ruth's risk-taking, or stunting, here
precipitates the turning point in her relationship with Robbie within
the narrative of Six Feet Under. The intimacy engendered by the
disclosure allows each character the possibility of renewal through this
more open relationship. Stunting provokes an ambivalent response,
however, simultaneously attracting ridicule and admiration. Thus this
episode also represents a risk in terms of audience response. "A Private
Life" does end with David coming out to his mother. Although we do not
expect a conventional narrative turn that would see the mother and son
in some mutually affirming embrace—and indeed, this does not
happen—there is nonetheless an expectation of a narrative movement
toward closure in which this incident leads to a catharsis for David, a
release from his torment of secrecy. But this does not happen either.
Rather, Ruth remains isolated from her son while David is prostrate,
locked in the agonies of self-revulsion and despairing in his aloneness.
While David's struggle to reconcile his homosexuality with the social
homophobia that threatens him physically and psychically is powerfully
drawn, it is a subject already known to television audiences. Ruth's
disclosure is more transgressive because it dramatizes a less familiar
form of coming out.
What we see are the difficulties of working through sexual identity
in constricted normative spaces and the possibilities opened up through
a grotesque performance. Although her unruly behavior speaks to the
messiness of everyday life, it is not the raucous noise produced by
Patsy and Edina in Absolutely Fabulous (Arthurs; Kirkham and
Skeggs). The high-octane level of hedonism that functions as the
narrative fulcrum of Ab Fab operates as a comical commentary on
the respective excesses of the 1960s and 1980s cultures. Nonetheless,
while Patsy and Edina transgress boundaries of propriety, theirs is a
one-dimensional representation of unruliness that does not necessarily
challenge existing social norms. Ruth Fisher has a depth and complexity
attributed to her character that arises from the juxtaposition of her
sedate demeanour and attitude of continuing maternal concern with a
resolve to move beyond the inner life that the domestic space
represents, to exhume certain aspects of her psyche. Although this
exhumation begins at her husband's funeral with her confession of
adultery, the "adventure" of self-exploration continues throughout the
series with the development of her sense of sexual selfhood. Other
aspects of Ruth's personality are revealed—to her and to
us—through this experimentation; we see new sides of Ruth through
her playful friendship with Bettina, her near-fetishistic pleasure in
Arthur's handkerchiefs, and her sustained effort to engage with her
children through the intimate, messy and awkward aspects of lived
experience. This juxtaposition of stunting—sexual and
otherwise—and maternal care gives her character a powerful
three-dimensionality as she breaches the official discourse of
motherhood with embarrassing but intimate revelations of her inner life.
In rendering the middle-aged woman visible in this way, Six Feet
Under produces the "critical disorientation of habitual ways of
seeing" that Robin Nelson calls for in television drama. Ruth presents
us with a critical perspective within which the dramatic representation
of older women opens up the possibility of re-evaluating social and
familial relations more generally.
Works Cited
Arthurs, Jane and Jean Grimshaw, eds. Women's Bodies: Discipline
and Transgression. New York: Cassell, 1999.
Dentith, Simon. Bakhtinian Thought: An Introductory Reader.
London: Routledge, 1995.
Ellis, John. Seeing Things. London: Routledge, 2000.
Kirkham, Pat and Beverley Skeggs. "Absolutely Fabulous:
Absolutely Feminist?" In Geraghty, C. and D. Lusted, eds., The
Television Studies Book. London: Arnold, 1998.
Nelson, Robin. TV Drama in Transition: Forms, Values, and Cultural
Change. Basingstock, UK: MacMillan, 1997.
Russo, Mary. The Female Grotesque: Risk, Excess, and Modernity.
London: Routledge, 1995.
Six Feet Under. Created by Alan Ball. HBO. 2002–.
Tullock, John. Television Drama: Agency, Audience, and Myth.
London: Routledge, 1990.
Wilson, Sherryl. Oprah, Celebrity, and Formations of Self.
Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave, 2003.
Endnotes
1. Nelson's notion of critical realism stands in contrast to
postmodern dramas such as Twin Peaks. Nelson argues that, despite
the critical potential that lies in Twin Peaks' refusal to center
the subject and its subsequent recognition that identities are not
fixed, the series' inclination toward fun works to preclude social
criticism. While viewers may be actively engaged in the playfulness of
Twin Peaks they may not be freed from reactionary attitudes.
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