AO1 - Analysis of "The Sixth Sense"

The Sixth Sense (1999)

“The Sixth Sense” (1999) is a psychological horror/thriller, due the jumpy nature of the film, written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. At the time of production, Shyamalan was famous for his writing and direction in other films, such as; “Wide Awake” and “Praying With Anger”. Night was born in India, but was raised and grew up in Philedelphia, Pennsylvania. He is the son of two doctors. Shyamalan’s passion for writing and film direction came when he was 8, where for his birthday, he was given a Super-8 camera. At an early age, Night began to start modelling his career on that of his idol, Steven Spielberg. From the success of “The Sixth Sense”, Shyamalan went on to direct and write for; “Unbreakable”, “Signs”, “Lady in the Water” and “The Last Airbender”.

In the UK, the film's certificate is "15", and the typical audience of this film would be teenagers, young adults and middle ages, that would be a fan of apprehensive, stop-start films. The Sixth Sense gained the certificate it had because of some of the gorey scenes in the movie. For example, when the young male ghost that walks around Cole's flat turns around, half of his head is missing. Another would be of the car crash scene, where we see the woman who died in the accident, covered in blood and cuts. The BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) has deemed the content of the movie too disturbing for individuals under 15 due to the nature of the film's content; murders, abuse, ghosts and things that could be deemed terrifying for chidren. If the film was released today, the certification would be much lower than what it was in 1999. This is because of the ability to create much more gorey, disgusting scenes and that content featured in this film is so much easier for children to get access of.

One of the main characters in the film is child psychiatrist, Dr Malcolm Crowe, portrayed by Bruce Willis. Shyamalan selected Willis to play Crowe has he thought it'd be interesting to see Bruce's take on a different sort of movie hero - a total contrast to the typical hero role he plays, like that of the Die Hard movies. The socially awkward eleven year old boy, "Cole" is played by Haley Joel Osmet. Shyamalan praised Osmet for his remarkable acting skills for an eleven year old, highlighting that he could cry on queue. Lynn Sear, Cole's mother in the film, is played by Toni Collette. Collette stated that the highlight in shooting the film was the scene in the car with Cole, where Cole reveals his secret - he can talk to the dead.

The film is set in America in the 1990s, and follows a troubled, withdrawn, isolated boy, named "Cole Sear", who can see and talk to the dead. Dr Malcolm Crowe is shot in the lower abdomen in the first ten minutes of the story, by a previous patient, Vincent, however, we think he has recovered as he begins to see Cole the following fall. The reason Malcolm was shot was because Vincent thought that he failed him, and wasn't able to "help" him. Vincent, portrayed by *****, had the same issues as Cole - he was able to see and talk to the dead. To rid himself of his 'demons', he shot the doctor, and then shot himself in the head because of the Malcolm's failure to believe. The next fall, Dr Malcolm Crowe begins to see Cole, however, it's not until he's seen him for what we think is a few weeks Cole reveals that he can see and talk to dead people, and that "sometimes, they don't know they're dead". Crowe is still skeptical over Cole's "power", but realises it is similar to Vincent's case, therefore, refers back to a recording of him, where he hears whispering from someone else in the conversation, leading to Malcolm to believing in Cole's ability. Dr Malcolm Crowe figures that the dead need help, and suggests that when he's contacted by the dead, he helps them, as he believes the dead stay on Earth to gain help or to deliver a message. At the end of the movie, Malcolm finds out that he's in fact dead, and the "help" he needed was to know he wasn't a failure.











The Sixth Sense has a high profile, well thought advertising campaign, that has lead the film to high success. Within the campaign, film trailers, posters, radio adverts and television promotions are designed to find an audience that will potentially watch the film. The poster alone leads us to believe that "The Sixth Sense" is that of a sci-fi film. Using the bright lights, with someone walking into them reminds us of some kind of "alien kidnap, with the face of Bruce Willis looking onwards, with an element of desperation in his eyes, which makes you empathise with the character, but you begin to wonder what's happening. The light symbolises the world of the dead, and, as the films narrative states, this is what "Cole" does. He crosses the line between reality and paranormal, and is able to live in reality and at the same time, the paranormal. The golden, sepia-toned colours that are used on the posters give the poster an archaic edge, possibly representing the past. The trailer doesn't let slip the biggest secret of the film, that Dr Malcolm Crowe is dead. We just think that Cole can talk to and see ghosts and no-one else can - we're not informed of what Willis' role is within the film, all we presume is that he plays Cole's father - which we know later is wrong.

To be fully understood, the film should be watched twice. The first time you watch the movie, we don't realise that Dr Malcolm Crowe has passed away throughout the period he helps Cole, therefore we read his relationships with people in a totally different way to what we would a second time. On first watch, his relationship with his wife appears to be on the rocks, and the first we see of this is in a restaurant scene where Dr Malcolm Crowe tried to grab the menu, but his wife reached for it and got to it before Malcolm, and she says in a frustrated fashion, "Happy Anniversary". We presume that Dr Malcolm Crowe has forgot and is the reason behind the wifes behaviour. If we were to watch this scene after we've seen the movie once before, we'd understand her behaviour is caused by her grief of losing her husband, Dr Malcolm Crowe.

In the movie narrative, the colour red is used frequently. Presumably, this is to represent a mixture of different emotions. First of all, it could represent anger or hate. For instance, in the restaurant scene on first watch, we think the Dr Malcolm Crowe's wife is in a mood with Malcolm, and the 'red' seems to fuel our anger. Red is also used in gorey scenes, for example, when blood is used. Another use of the colour red is when the colour represents when the line between the land of the living and that of the dead has been crossed. For example, when Cole is in the "den" in his room, the blankets are read and he's about encounter the ghost of a dead girl.

In the film, there's a particular scene that makes good use of shots and angles - the scene in which Cole is amongst his peers and teachers at school. Cole is using his abilities of being able to talk to the dead to wind up the teacher and gain attention, by bringing up his teacher's past, where he was bullied for stuttering, nicknamed "Stuttering Stanley". Cole continues to wind up his teacher until eventually he reaches boiling point and he slams his fists onto the table. Using a worms eye view shot to capture this event, it furthers the idea we have about the teacher, who's now powerful and strong after being succumbed to bullying. It really enhances how the teacher is trying to lash out, and almost intimidates the viewer if watching.