100 Kick-Ass Female Characters: #38
38. Claire Fisher, as seen on Six Feet Under, portrayed by Lauren Ambrose
I really love pre-"True Blood" Alan Ball when his stories focus on families. "American Beauty" is one of my favorite movies (and you'll see it later on this list), so when a new show by Alan Ball premiered on HBO when I was a sophomore in high school, I immediately tuned in. And while this is one of the rare shows where I literally love every character, Claire will always have a special place in my heart.
Claire is the baby of the family, born 14 years after her brother David and 17 years after her brother Nate. Because she was born after all the "family" stuff, Claire has always felt removed from the Fisher family, a feeling which only increases after her father's unexpected death. Claire makes bad choices (drugs, Gabe, Billy) but it comes from a place of trying to find herself. She sees how unhappy her mother is, how unhappy David is, how unhappy Nate is now that he's come home to help run Fisher and Sons Funeral Home, and Claire doesn't want that. Unlike the rest of her family, Claire is artistic with photography being her specialty. She often has trouble relating what she wants for her life to her family, which is why she develops a closer relationship with Brenda, Nate's girlfriend/wife.
But what I love most about Claire is that her story (much like everyone else's on this show) is a coming of age story which is rarely told. There are no great lessons or necessarily teachable moments; you know, sometimes you sleep with a guy, he tells everyone, and you have no choice but to put a severed foot in his locker (and, while this is metaphorical for most girls, not so much for Claire.) While Claire is trying to figure out who she is and who she wants to be, she's also figuring out her relationships with her family, who, in the wake of their father's death, finally see her and remember she's there. Claire loves her brothers; she knows before anyone that David is gay and is protective of him for it because she knows how unready David is to come out. She always had a hero worship for Nate, who left home when she was a baby and returned only to be the cool big brother, but it isn't until their father dies that they really get to know each other. And Claire's relationship with her mother Ruth is the best; Ruth tries so hard with Claire (for better or worse) but neither she or Claire seem to master a mother/daughter relationship. But they both keep trying, and it's heartwarming to see.
The reason Claire is truly kick-ass though is that she travels so far from the angry teen we meet in the pilot and becomes a person no one ever expected her to become. And so I leave you with this, which I maintain is one of the most powerful scenes ever shown on television:
I really love pre-"True Blood" Alan Ball when his stories focus on families. "American Beauty" is one of my favorite movies (and you'll see it later on this list), so when a new show by Alan Ball premiered on HBO when I was a sophomore in high school, I immediately tuned in. And while this is one of the rare shows where I literally love every character, Claire will always have a special place in my heart.
Claire is the baby of the family, born 14 years after her brother David and 17 years after her brother Nate. Because she was born after all the "family" stuff, Claire has always felt removed from the Fisher family, a feeling which only increases after her father's unexpected death. Claire makes bad choices (drugs, Gabe, Billy) but it comes from a place of trying to find herself. She sees how unhappy her mother is, how unhappy David is, how unhappy Nate is now that he's come home to help run Fisher and Sons Funeral Home, and Claire doesn't want that. Unlike the rest of her family, Claire is artistic with photography being her specialty. She often has trouble relating what she wants for her life to her family, which is why she develops a closer relationship with Brenda, Nate's girlfriend/wife.
But what I love most about Claire is that her story (much like everyone else's on this show) is a coming of age story which is rarely told. There are no great lessons or necessarily teachable moments; you know, sometimes you sleep with a guy, he tells everyone, and you have no choice but to put a severed foot in his locker (and, while this is metaphorical for most girls, not so much for Claire.) While Claire is trying to figure out who she is and who she wants to be, she's also figuring out her relationships with her family, who, in the wake of their father's death, finally see her and remember she's there. Claire loves her brothers; she knows before anyone that David is gay and is protective of him for it because she knows how unready David is to come out. She always had a hero worship for Nate, who left home when she was a baby and returned only to be the cool big brother, but it isn't until their father dies that they really get to know each other. And Claire's relationship with her mother Ruth is the best; Ruth tries so hard with Claire (for better or worse) but neither she or Claire seem to master a mother/daughter relationship. But they both keep trying, and it's heartwarming to see.
The reason Claire is truly kick-ass though is that she travels so far from the angry teen we meet in the pilot and becomes a person no one ever expected her to become. And so I leave you with this, which I maintain is one of the most powerful scenes ever shown on television:
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