M Night: genius and subversive

Rating: 10/10 (11 February 2005)

M Night Shyamalan is an allegorical director  this is the thought that must be remembered whenever you go to watch one of his films. Unbreakable, for example, is not a film about a man who realises he has super powers; it is actually a story examining the relationship between a man and his wife and son, and the relationship between the individual and his or her more general relationship with society.
So it is with The Village  look at the details:
1) All the inhabitants are white and middle or upper class.
2) There is no alcohol or pre-marital sex.
3) There is no rock or rap music or TV or internet.
In other words, The Village is an idealised modern gated community of the type springing up all over the US.
So:
dangerous towns = urban life
invented monsters = imaginary paedophiles and drug dealers
bad colour = blood  the obsessive fear of any kind of physical harm
Ivy's blindness = blindness to fear, which allows her to see what people are really like inside
Lucius's bravery = an ability to overcome fear, this affords him the desire to explore the world
The watchtowers = the creation of unnecessary security measures to further strengthen the fear needed to control the villagers
Noah donning the monster's robe = the real dangers often come from within our own community, and grow out of ignorance, of jealousy and even, sometimes, love.
One of the most significant points is made when Ivy leaves the Village and is surprised by the kindness of the young guard she meets. The only genuinely altruistic act of the entire film is carried out by a total stranger, who provides help to Ivy for no gain at risk of loosing his job. This is M Night telling us that goodness of heart does not come from indoctrination, but comes from normal human nature.
In other words, rather than a failed horror film with an intrusive twist at the end, The Village is actually an intelligent commentary on the lies and deceits that neo-con white middle class America is perpetrating on its youth out of unjustified fear in a desire to engineer an ideal community based on ignorance and naiveté.
Unfortunately, mainstream Hollywood has become so devoid of genuine imagination and intelligence that it can't spot genius when it is right under its nose.
10/10 from me.