Through close analysis of sixth sense and in particular the restaurant and living room scene. Discuss the techniques that M. Night Shyamalan uses to deceive the audience into thinking that Dr Crowe is alive.

The Sixth Sense is a popular late 20th century supernatural thriller directed by M.Night Shyamalan, which made $600 million gross profit worldwide. Shyamalan is famous for twists and turns in his films and the sixth sense is no different. The sixth sense is about a distinguished child psychologist Dr. Malcolm Crowe who had just won an award for his outstanding work. However shortly after he was shot and killed by Vincent Gray, a bitter old patient that Crowe failed to help. We then see him fall onto his bed with Anna his wife beside him; however we see no blood or even the wound so we assume that he survived when it cuts to the next scene with the title on the screen “the next fall”. He we see Crowe sitting on a bench with his notes ready to meet his new patient a troubled young child named Cole. Throughout the film we are deceived and tricked into thinking that Crowe is alive by the camera work, editing techniques, the music and even the Mise en scene (the set and surroundings).I am going to explore exactly how the audience are deceived into thinking that Crowe is alive.

Some of the first deceptions occur in the living room scene. This scene is very important to the plot and carrying on the deception that started when he was shot. Before any of the characters even say anything the first thing you see is the room. It looks like the perfect atmosphere for a counselling session: the two chairs are facing each other, it looks comfortable, the television is not on therefore it is very quiet which makes it seem like the meeting was planned by the mother and by Crowe even though he is dead. This makes us think that it was planned and that Crowe is therefore alive.

The next thing you see is Crowe and Cole’s mother sitting opposite each other so we assume that they were talking to each other in addition Cole’s mother has a pensive look on her face as if he has told her something about Cole however we know that they were never talking she was just waiting for Cole to return home from school.

Cole then walks into the room the camera uses the MCU shot to show all of them together in a triangle with most of the focus of Cole. The triangle also gives the same amount of importance to Crowe and Cole’s mum as they are both in opposite corners of the screen. This shot makes it seem like a meeting of importance not just a child returning from school which again makes it seem like a counselling session which makes it seem like Crowe is doing his job and ghosts don’t do jobs so he must be alive.

When the mother goes to greet Cole Crowe is watching intently again doing his job, he then smiles to show happiness when Cole and his mother are having an intimate talk to show happiness which is a very Human emotion and one that you don’t expect of ghosts as they have nothing to be happy about as they are dead. She then walks off and glances in Crowe’s direction and says “you’ve got an hour” we assume that she means that he has one hour for the session but she actually she is talking to Cole and telling him how ...

This is a preview of the whole essay

Crowe then starts talking to Cole and asks him if they would like to “play a game?” where Crowe guesses what Cole is thinking, if he is right Cole moves towards a chair if Crowe is wrong he walks towards the door. They are then locked in a duel like situation it moves to a CU of Cole’s face, then a MCU of Crowe’s face.

The scene focuses on Cole it makes him out to be the odd one so we don’t even think of Crowe as anything more than a psychologist. Then when they start playing the game Crowe slowly makes progress with Cole as the shot cuts back and forth between Cole and Crowe we can see how they are separate, apart like they have nothing in common when in fact Cole is a young troubled boy who can see dead people and Crowe is an old troubled man who can only be seen by this boy and The boy is his only hope to

rest in peace. He needs Cole, they must help each other, however the cutting doesn’t show this it shows how Cole is troubled and Crowe is ordinary and therefore not a ghost.

As the scene continues and as Crowe make progress the non-diegetic music comes in to symbolize a breakthrough. Crowe is finally getting through to Cole; Crowe is connecting with Cole exercising empathy, empathy that couldn’t be reached with a ghost. So he must be alive. As the scene goes on you can see that the music for Cole and Dr Crowe are very different, Cole’s music is more sorrowful and powerful making use of a wider range of notes to show his sorrow and his pain. The music shows his troubles and what is going on inside his head; it is as metaphor for his feelings. Where as Crowe’ music is more quiet, less busy this shows that he has few troubles and that he isn’t feeling any particularly strong emotions. Then as Cole walks backwards the music starts to fade showing the growing distance between Cole and Crowe and when he reaches the door it cuts off completely to show Crowe’s failure another human emotion, why would a ghost care about helping people?. This all contributes to deceiving us that Crowe is alive.

The restaurant scene is also key in keeping up the deception that Dr Crowe is alive. As he walks in to the restaurant late the director makes use of the over the shoulder shot of Anna, all we can see is Crowe walking in with an apologetic look on his face (another human emotion) and he walks to his seat although he doesn’t walk through the tables like a ghost would he walks around them like a normal person. This shot is used so we can’t see the look of Anna’s face so we don’t know whether she is looking at him or not. As he sits down he says “I thought you meant the other Italian restaurant I asked you to marry me in” immediately she looks to the side, we assume that she does this to show annoyance that he is late and has not called when really she is depressed because it is her dead husband’s wedding anniversary. The camera also tracks in slowly and over her shoulder to show the bill and her immediately snatching it from the table because she is angry with him and doesn’t want him to pay. Then he carries on his monologue about why he was late and then mentions Vincent (the man that killed him) lightly comparing him to Cole with no anger or bitterness, even though this man shot him and ended his life, but he seems to have forgiven him as he survived the attack, however he doesn’t know he is dead so has few negative feelings towards him. This makes us believe that Crowe is still alive.

Crowe then continues apologizing for being late when he says “I know it makes you mad” At this moment Anna appears to glance in his direction and then sigh as if he has hit a nerve, when the truth is she is just grieving. At the end of the scene the camera tracks over and focuses on her when she says “happy anniversary” like she is making a small dig at him with a sarcastic comment as because he was late it wasn’t a happy anniversary. However she is saying it to herself to round up the meal, she went for the meal to remember him and the phrase is sarcastic but it wasn’t aimed at anyone she was just making a statement.

During the whole scene we never see both of them together in one MCU of their faces, we only see parts of them to show how they are apart know, how they aren’t really engaging, this contrasts to the fact that the whole scene is one long shot which suggests that they are united as a couple when in fact they are not. This shows how they are separate but we think this because he isn’t at home very often, he is always working when in fact it is because he is dead and not really there. It is also one continuous shot so it doesn’t break his monologue, it is very important for him because this is where we see why he cares so much about Cole and why he feels obliged to help him.

Another reason we do not expect that he is a ghost is because of where they are, they are in a large restaurant with hundreds of people; it isn’t the sort of place you expect to see a ghost. He just blends into the surroundings, everyone is doing their own thing, eating their meal and involved in their own conversations, this is all diegetic sounds not spooky cliché music. No one looks around at him he goes un-noticed so we assume that he is alive.

However these aren’t the only deceptions there are also the more obvious deceptions. The most obvious one is that Crowe doesn’t look like a ghost, he walks around like a normal person, doing normal things, he isn’t transparent, blue, white, he doesn’t float and he doesn’t have a scary voice. He is the same in death as he is in life and that is why we do not pick up on it, he doesn’t fit the stereotype, he isn’t the usual cliché ghost. In addition he doesn’t fit the profile of the other ghosts in the film, he shows no obvious wound as this is in his back and he is always wearing a jacket, until the end no one has a cold breath when he is around and most importantly Cole isn’t afraid of him like he is afraid of the other ghosts. Much of the film’s deception is based on us not being attentive enough, we assume too much, and these small assumptions add up to the complete deception. For example; in the living room we assume that Cole’s mum is looking at him, we assume that she is talking to Crow when she says “you’ve got an hour”, we assume that when Anna says “happy anniversary” that she is talking to him. Even when Crowe walks in and he sees Anna watching the wedding videos we assume that she is watching them because she misses him because he is always at work. The reality is that she is watching them to remember him because he is dead.

Crowe wears the same clothes throughout the film but we do not see this because he always has different accessories, like the jumper, the coat, the jacket and the tie. These are all things that he interacted with throughout the night he was killed but we don’t recognize this is one of the many clues throughout the film that he is actually a ghost. Firstly we never see Crowe eat drink or use the bathroom, we never see Crowe and Cole talk in the presence of anyone else; no one ever answers him except Cole; he didn’t move the chair in the restaurant before he sat down; at the young girl’s house he didn’t cast a shadow when Cole and the young girl did and when Cole is explaining how he sees dead people at the hospital the camera is on Crowe therefore most of the time, Cole is telling the Audience there and then that “they don’t know they’re dead” and “they only see what they want to see” but we can’t put the pieces of the puzzle together and guess that Crowe is dead even though the truth is staring us in the face. Crowe doesn’t even realize he is dead until the last minute so how are we meant to figure it out?

But that is why the film is so popular and has made $600 million gross profit; a combination of great camera work, great sets, great music and a great director; that is how we are deceived. The Sixth sense is one of those films that keeps you on the edge of your seat waiting to watch the story unfold and that is what makes the film so enjoyable, it keeps us guessing. Shyamalan’s attention to detail is phenomenal, no matter how many times you see the film you still can’t find any flaws only more clues that Dr Crowe is alive. That is why I believe that is one of the best films of the late 20th century.

Tom Gavin 10E English coursework Page