Six Feet Under
At its very best, Alan Ball’s series was simultaneously a powerful show about death and a caustically funny show about life. Since Six Feet Under had a very assured tone, one that skirted toward bleak comedy but didn’t shy away from being daring and unrelenting in its sourness, it needed to have an opening title sequence that did not feel too off-kilter or tasteless. The show was set in a family funeral home, after all.
And for a series that merged comedy and drama quite well, Six Feet Under’s opening is just as terrific a blend of odd images and stirring music. Thomas Newman’s glassy and spare score offers just the right atmosphere. The music is appropriately somber but it never feels heavy. The mix of instruments is strange but the whole feeling isn’t bizarre, although the creeping notes in the first 30 seconds are arresting and suspenseful in the best way.
The opening titles also feed into much of the show’s content with some lovely images. The blackbirds flying overhead that bookend the sequence are symbols of death, the lone tree on a hilltop suggesting that the show is about a family. The separating hands hints at the dysfunction between the characters on Six Feet Under, while the rest of the refined, funeral-ready procedure reveals the occupation of the Fisher family. The imagery during this sequence is washed out and beautiful. The emphasis on bright colors gives us the feeling of a close proximity to a heavenly world beyond. As opening title sequences go, many of the ones that were created after Six Feet Under have tried their best to imitate its atmosphere and themes.