THE SIXTH SENSE's use of Genre to shape Content and Form
“Genre may be defined as patterns/forms/styles/structures which transcend individual films, and which supervise both their construction by the filmmaker and their reading by the audience”. What Ryall calls “patterns/forms/styles/structures” is most commonly know as Schatz’s “SYSTEMS OF CONVENTION”. These conventions guide the director in crafting the story. But, the audience is equally aware of this set of rules. Genre therefore works both as an inspiration to shape a movie but also as a key to apprehending the latter.
THE SIXTH SENSE (M. Night Shyamalan, 1999) follows the relationship of a child psychologist and a young boy who has the ability to see dead people. It scored the second biggest worldwide gross of its year and earned writer-director M. Night Shyamalan three Academy Award nominations. Furthermore, it has been ranked 89 on “AFI’s 100 Years…100 Movies” list.
THE SIXTH SENSE is not only a landmark in filmmaking; it is also a landmark in genre’s history. It revived the supernatural drama as a genre, spawning a series of films with similar patterns and styles in the first decade of the 21st century.
The supernatural genre, or supernatural drama, had long been a subgenre of horror. It deals with the universe of the paranormal and the occult. It occasionally contains some thrills but mainly focus on individuals facing metaphysical events and beings. Interestingly enough, Neil Wilson considers “the ghost story” to the foremost representative of the supernatural drama, therefore making THE SIXTH SENSE its quintessential archetype. Other notable examples include THE UNINVITED (Lewis Allen, 1944), THE HAUNTING (Robert Wise, 1963) or POLTERGEIST (Tobe Hopper, 1982).
After the phenomenon of M. Night Shyamalan’s film, the supernatural drama organically evolved from being a subgenre of horror to standing as its own’s. Indeed, WHAT LIES BENEATH (Robert Zemeckis, 2000), THE OTHERS (Alejandro Amenábar, 2001) or most recently HEREAFTER (Clint Eastwood, 2010) directly follows the conventions of the supernatural genre and were recognized by the audience as such…
The supernatural drama helped shape THE SIXTH SENSE’s form and content but also strongly contributed to the audience’s reading and understanding of the film.
Therefore, one will first explore the use of the genre from the filmmaker’s point-of-view before studying it from the viewer’s perspective.
In most films, form serves content. Content is the substance of the piece: its meaning and narration. Form is the visual and editing style used to emphasize the message and tell the story efficiently.
Shyamalan considers that “all [his] movies are spiritual”. Spirituality is a theme present in the Supernatural genre because it directly relates to belief and faith. One has to believe in a greater force to successfully accept the occult. This aspect of the genre has been present since its inception. THE UNINVITED’s opening narration clearly sets the tone: “They call them the haunted shores (…). That’s not because there are more ghosts here than in other places, mind you. It’s just that people who live whereabouts are strangely aware of them”. In THE SIXTH SENSE, Malcolm Crowe doesn’t believe his patient when the former opens up and confesses he has a sixth sense (50’). Yet, he has to face the facts when hearing dead people on tape. He embodies faith, suggesting the ghosts just need help, “even the scary ones” (70’).
The supernatural genre is serious and never satirical. Shyamalan’s approach doesn’t differ. THE SIXTH SENSE is never a comedy or a parody such as GHOSTBUSTERS (Ivan Reitman, 1984) or GHOST TOWN (David Koepp, 2008). Instead, it is a detailed account of a spiritual world co-existing within our own, with an inspired subject matter: the afterlife. Cole Sear is a young boy who was “chosen” to “see dead people”. He witnesses them “walking around like regular people”. But there is a catch: “They don’t know they’re dead” (49’)… Indeed, the ghosts are not “lost souls” (THE UNINVITED) or “noisy ghosts” (POLTERGEIST), like in most of the supernatural dramas. They fit in the category most commonly know as “Are we dead yet?”. Those ghosts do not realize they have passed away. In addition to that, those ghosts have “unfinished business”. They haven’t left because they still have something very important to do. It is obvious Shyamalan used the genre to shape something unique, a combination of two typical ghosts to create the SIXTH SENSE’s ones. He deliberately did not make a derivative film. Nevertheless, it is unlikely Shyamalan would have done so if they weren’t the genre’s conventions in the first place. Choosing to take a different path than other films’ within a genre is not a rejection of the codes; it is rather a development of those patterns.
The supernatural genre is always anchored in human drama, thus justifying the designation of “supernatural drama”.
Shyamalan’s defines his work as having “an emotional perspective”. In THE SIXTH SENSE, this perspective is explored through relationships. The relationships between Cole and his mother, Malcolm and his wife as well as Cole and the ghosts. There is a common element to those interactions: the lack of communication. Cole does not share his hardships with his beloved mother because he does not want her to see him as a “freak” (27’). Malcom has grown apart from his wife, constantly putting work ahead of her. “They barely speak anymore. They’re like strangers” (47’). Cole is afraid of the ghosts; they are angry and harm him. In the supernatural genre, there is always a contrast in the human relationships. Something creates a difference and allows the characters to solve their problems. In THE GHOST AND MRS. MUIR, the passion between Gregg and Mrs. Muir sets in opposition her relationship with other men. In THE SIXTH SENSE, it is Malcolm and Cole’s exchange, which allows them to move on in different aspects of their lives. Thanks to Malcolm’s help, Cole opens up to his mother: “I’m ready to communicate with you now” (88’). Malcolm finally “tells his wife” she “was never second”. (96’). Cole understands he misunderstood the ghosts. They were not trying to harm him. They were simply angry because they had “unfinished business”. He therefore does things for them, using his gift and compassion to help them move on… That is also a characteristic of the supernatural drama. A character often turns a curse into a blessing. In HEREFATER, George Lonegan uses his ability to establish a communication between Marcus and his deceased twin.
Genre also helps to shape form. As there are patterns for content, similarities exist for style. The supernatural genre often has a compelling visual style, crafted to drag the viewer in. THE SIXTH SENSE may just be its best example.
M. Night Shyamalan thinks “cuts are overused”. To him, the composition of the frame is the most important. In THE SIXTH SENSE, he demonstrates a command of all the genre’s visual structures. The lighting is “low-key”. This creates a “chiaroscuro” effect, accentuating fear but also the possibilities of the unknown. It also perfectly gets across the characters’ state of mind: they are trying to know who they really are. The pace is very organic, slowly building up tension. Occasionally, one encounters a thrilling scene, meticulously designed to scare through the alternanation of silence and sound but also the graphic (blood, dirty etc) aspect of its subjects (55’).
The style is very much character-based. There are very few shots without characters. And they are the one moving the story forward. They are also the one moving the camera forward (87’) or backwards (95’)…
There are conventions within THE SIXTH SENSE. Whenever it gets really cold, it means angry ghosts are there. The colour red is rarely in the movie but featured importantly in certain shots for “anything in the real world that has been tainted by the other world”8 and to “connote really explosively emotional moments and situations”9. This convention is a key to read the film when one decides to experience multiple viewings…
Shyamalan creates his work for an audience. And this audience is able to read form and understand content partially because it is aware of genre’s conventions.
The film genre gives guidelines to the reading of a film. For the supernatural genre, one is aware of its patterns. Indeed, the viewer is already familiar with the notion of “ghost” and afterlife. They know “special” people can “communicate” with the former. Therefore, the scene where Cole confesses his secret (“I see dead people” at 48’) does not create any issues about the reading of the plot. It is quite the opposite. Genre facilitates the reading of films. In a way, film is like a language and genre is the grammar of this language. Every genre comes with its “own encyclopaedia”: presuppositions, anticipations and facts (ghosts are dead people or vampires must feed on blood). The key of genre is that it gives a comfort zone to the audience; they are rarely completely lost in a film. And they shouldn’t be. Otherwise, the meaning of THE SIXTH SENSE would appear pointless and the story would be confusing. As much as the viewer likes to be surprised and entertained, to embrace fresh films and original plots, there needs to be something he knows to connect to the piece. In Shyamalan’s film, even if one is unfamiliar with the concept of “unfinished business” and “Are we dead yet?”, the narrative progression is still clear.
But how does one become familiar with the genre’s conventions in the first place? Genre is rarely a pure work of fiction; they are always rooted in the real word. That’s often how genre actually came to be. M. Night Shyamalan is of Indian ancestry and has been highly influenced by Hindu spirituality. And a lot of myths about ghosts and spirits actually come from that culture. The supernatural drama fed on that and THE SIXTH SENSE is a perfect example. The audience is aware of different cultures: that’s why genre is anchored in culture. And that’s why, when one watched his first ghost film, he or she still gets it properly.
Genre also allows the audience to understand the film because through genre comes point-of-view. Indeed, every single genre film has a point-of-view and a meaning. It is inherent to the very concept of genre: the viewer perceives those patterns and styles as a character sees them.
In the supernatural genre, this character is often an outsider to the occult world. In a way, he or she is the audience. That is how one understands the film. In THE SIXTH SENSE, Malcolm’s point-of-view is adopted. And he has a self-revelation: he actually died when he got shot.
The strength of the ever-famous final twist is that it gives another perspective on the story. It forces the audience to understand the film all over again. What one thought he or she understood was actually a truth, but not the truth. The real meaning of THE SIXTH SENSE is that we need to communicate and embrace faith. We all die someday. But it will not be the end. We will have to watch over our loved ones and move on to the next step. And that meaning is perfectly gathered by the audience after the final twist. Though the point-of-view has shifted, it ultimately delivers the message of the film…
Genre is very influential for filmmakers. Shyamalan used the codes of the supernatural genre to craft a different and original story when doing THE SIXTH SENSE. Yet, the style of his film is very efficient, drawing inspiration from recognized supernatural dramas. The audience was able to properly read the form because it already had knowledge of the genre through films and culture. The content was properly understood because genre comes with a point-of-view and with a point-of-view comes a message…
THE SIXTH SENSE is one of those rare films, where both the filmmakers - namely M. Night Shyamalan - and the audience embraced the supernatural genre to shape and spread a timeless story. The story of a boy, who could see dead people and a ghost, who did not know he was dead...
TZ,
February '11
Bibliography
Ryall T., (1975/76). Teaching Through Genre, Screen Education 17
Schatz, T. (1983). Old Hollywood/New Hollywood: Ritual, Art, and Industry, Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press
Wilson N., (2000). Shadows in the Attic: A Guide to British Supernatural Fiction 1820-1950, The British Library
Schatz, T. (1983). Old Hollywood/New Hollywood: Ritual, Art, and Industry, Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press
Wilson N., (2000). Shadows in the Attic: A Guide to British Supernatural Fiction 1820-1950, The British Library
