Social Problems, Fear and Human Nature

Rating: 8/10 (14 March 2018)

The film The Sixth Sense (Shyamalan, 1999) is a story of Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment), a young boy with a supernatural ability to see the dead. This ability, or sense, has been haunting him since birth causing him social insecurities to communicate with those around him for fear of being an outcast. Dr. Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) is a psychologist trying to understand Cole situation and help him. The Sixth Sense (Shyamalan, 1999) confronts social problems of those who are deemed different from what society considers 'normal', encountering the fear of the unknown and truths of human nature set aside individual desires to help those in need.
Multiple times in the film The Sixth Sense (Shyamalan, 1999) Cole is referred as a freak by the kids in his school. He is a child that keeps to himself and avoids talking with others about his experiences. He lives in a constant state of fear which can be identified through his body language. In the past Cole has tried to express what he is dealing but people become quick to judge him negatively. In one scene Cole tells Dr. Crowe about a picture he drew in school of a man killed by a screwdriver to the neck. The school had a meeting with his mother who cried over the event. Cole states "I don't draw like that anymore...I draw people smiling, dogs running and rainbows" (Shyamalan, 1999). This scene provides an example of how individuals on the surface present that everything is fine because that is what others want when in reality they may be struggling on the inside.
Dr. Crowe in The Sixth Sense (Shyamalan, 1999) struggles with the decision to continue to help Cole because of the amount of time needed to help him. While Dr. Crowe feels obligated to aid Cole, it is interfering with the time he could be spending with his wife. Dr. Crowe loves his wife but he also knows Cole needs him. This scene helps to understand the conflict some face when deciding what is more important, helping others or focusing on one's own needs
This film uses two techniques that relate to the theme of fear and the unknown. One technique is motif of a room getting cold. When the presence of the dead are in the room the individual fells a sudden coldness and cold air can be seen from their breath. Another technique involve dark rooms, or the lack of sufficient lighting, where it is hard to make out what is truly there. Unable to clearly see our surrounding allows fear to sit in and imaginations to run wild. These techniques are used for the audience to experience the same sensations as the characters in the film.
A similar suspense film Shutter Island (2010) also has a main theme around social problems and how other in society are view that do not fit what is considered normal. The Sixth Sense (Shyamalan, 1999) leaves the audience considering the question of how far one is willing to understand and help someone else who may be in need.