How often do we see and yet not truly see?
I see dead people;
they don’t know they're dead.
If the Sixth Sense and its twist ending are any indication,
it occurs more often than we think.
How often you see them?
All the time.
You failed me. [Gunshot]
[Screaming]
Even in this final reveal, there’s a meaning that most people still miss.
Hi, I’m Matt. And this is Logos Made Flesh.
Here’s how it works.
After Dr. Malcolm Crowe is shot by a former child patient,
he spends the rest of the film trying to redeem himself by helping the young
Cole Sear who shows many of the symptoms that plagued his former patient.
What am I thinking now?
I don’t know what you are thinking now.
Cole is at first wary of Malcolm and Malcolm uncertain of himself.
But over the course of the film, Malcolm builds a relationship with Cole
until Cole at last, halfway through the film confesses
that he’s afraid because he can see dead people.
Walking around like regular people.
They don’t see each other.
They only see what they want to see.
Malcolm comes to believe Cole and in the end teaches him to
see this ability not as a curse but a gift.
What do you think they want?
Just help.
That’s right. That’s what I think too.
They just want help even the scary ones.
I think I might know where to make them go away.
How?
Listen to them.
It’s for you.
She wanted to tell you something.
[Ring drops]
The real bombshell, however, occurs in the closing scene of the film
when Malcolm, along with the audience, realizes that he’s one of the dead
who sought his patients help.
I see dead people.
Cole wasn’t just speaking TO Malcolm, he’s talking ABOUT Malcolm.
They don’t know they are dead.
And in this eye-opening moment, the film quickly recaps
a number of scenes in which we now see how each was wrongly perceived.
Although it appeared Malcolm had spoken to others in the film, in reality
no one has spoken to him since his shooting except the young boy.
M. Night has left scenes ambiguous, allowing us to mistakenly
grasp their significance until the films end.
That’s why blindness and sight, darkness and light linked with death and life
are the Sixth Sense main motifs.
For instance, we remember how the film ends but forget how it begins…
with this slow turning on of a light bulb…
a metaphor of the revelation to come.
And it’s only when Malcolm sees and or realizes he’s dead
that he’s ushered into the light - the afterlife.
But it’s Cole who has the gift of sight and the film turns on what he can see.
A sight which is in part symbolized by the large glasses he wears
when Malcolm first meets him.
I noticed your eyeglasses, they don’t have any lenses in them.
But his name Cole Sear is just as symbolic.
Sear may be spelled s.e.a.r. but it’s also pronounced Seer.
And it’s no coincidence that’s it’s Malcolm he sees.
Col is in the middle of Malcolm’s name.
And pronouncing Col with a soft C, we can see that it too is a play on the words.
Cole Sear is a Soul Seer. He sees Malcolm’s Soul,
his hidden inward being.
The Sixth Sense is about seeing beyond outward appearances to the
hidden reality that lies beneath.
Which leads us to the twist most people still miss.
Who else doesn’t see that Malcolm is dead. I see people.
We, the audience.
They don’t know they are dead.
How often do you see them?
All the time.
We only see what we want to see. And in our blindness, we’re just
as dead as Malcolm. They're everywhere.
Before Christopher Nolan was known for making meta-cinematic movies,
like inception, where the movie is about the movies and the hidden
messages filmmakers speak through them.
M night gave us this movie, the Sixth Sense,
in which he showed the disparity that often exists between
the surface of a film and its true significance.
Here the peeling back of a facade opens a father’s eyes to his
own heartbreaking reality…
It’s time for lunch Kiera.
and at the same time graciously raises his other daughter
from that same death.
I am feeling much better now. That’s so great, honey.
I see people,
they don’t know they're dead.
The question is, what else have we missed?
Hey, thanks for watching! If you want to see more eye opening videos like this,
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If you want to hear more on symbolism, go ahead and check out my recent
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That and all links are in the description below.
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I will see you next time.