The Sense of Symbolism in The Sixth Sense (spoilers)

Rating: 8/10 (16 December 2005)

The Sense of Symbolism In The Sixth Sense, the color red represents sanctuary and a sense of feeling safe, as well as a sign of fear because the use of red with Cole signifies his wanting to be safe from the ghosts, and because the red also shows the first signs of ghosts and fear. Furthermore, the use of red throughout the movie gives certain hints to the fact that something happened.
Being a young boy who sees ghosts can be terrifying. The sense of feeling safe could be extremely hard to find, especially if the ghosts appear at anytime. Cole, the boy, is left with only his mother after his parent's divorce. This seems to be the main problem, but later on in the movie, we realize that it's not that at all. Cole sees dead people. These ghosts scare him so he finds places where he feels safe. He often goes into the church, which has bright red doors. In the church, he plays by himself and stays there as often as he can. He also steals a small statue of Jesus, who is wearing a red robe. This stands out because the Jesus is the only statue wearing red. He then takes it back to his house, where he has a red fort in his room made out of blankets. Inside the tent, he has many figurines of Jesus and crucifixes. He feels that the fort is his sanctuary from the ghosts.
Dr. Crow, played by Bruce Willis, is a child psychologist who tries to help Cole through his problems. Once a bond is formed between Cole and Dr. Crow, Cole tells him his secret of seeing ghosts. Dr. Crow is skeptical of this, of course, but later finds similarities between Cole and an old patient of his. He finds that not only is Cole telling the truth, but his past patient also had the "sixth sense" of seeing the dead. Dr. Crow finds his sanctuary in the basement of his house. In the basement, he holds all this past records of old patients, and does research in order to help Cole. Oddly enough, the door to the basement is all white, but the doorknob is red. This stands out against the white and shows that the basement is where he feels safe and where he can find some answers.
Even though red symbolizes the feeling of being safe, it also shows fear and the first signs of ghosts. Cole doesn't fit in and he realizes this. He dreads going to school everyday. The school is painted red, and shows his fear of not fitting in, and also shows that maybe something happened earlier there. Later on, Cole tells us that the school used to be an old courthouse where they hung people. He knows this because he sees ghosts hanging from the ceiling. Dr. Crow talks to Cole about his problems and asks him if he ever writes upset words. These are words that come randomly that one just writes downs without knowing what they are writing. Cole has done this, and it shows the writings that he did, which are in red ink. Throughout the movie, Anna, Dr. Crow's wife, seems very distant from him. He finds pills in the bathroom that are for depression. He has no idea what is going on, but the pills are red, which can symbolize her inner fear of losing him. Red can either show fear or sanctuary.
The use of red also shows that something happened that the audience isn't aware of. For instance, a young girl visits Cole and wants to tell him to give her father a box. Cole and Dr. Crow went to the girl's funeral to find that the mother of the girl was keeping her sick. When the mother is first shown, she is wearing a bright red dress at a funeral. She stands out against all the black. This shows that there is something going on that the audience doesn't know about.
The Sixth Sense is a great movie that has plenty of twists and turns that keeps the audience hooked from the opening scene. If you're a person who wants to be able to sit there and think about everything you just saw when the movie is over, then The Sixth Sense is the right movie for you.