My first impression of 'The sixth sense': I was blown away. I had to see it for the second time after the big revelation. Why start with the light bulb? I think it's an omen for what to come and to address the subjects / theme in the film. Light stands for prana, universal life energy, it's more than breathing, it's the kind of energy that every living thing (plants, humans, animals) need in order to live. The light bulb dying predicts someone's life is going to be ended (physical dead). It also addresses the relationship between Malcolm and Anna, it's kind of dead, lifeless, needs more than water to survive (social death) It also sheds a light on Malcolm's ambition. He might be thriving in his career but inside him something else is less happy, dying. He as a person has set himself away (emotional death). That's my take.

Shari, we are coming from a similar place re the light bulb and our respective reactions to the movie. Re the light bulb: Whether Shymalan intended that opening image to have multiple layers of symbolic meaning or even any, the fact is it is open to interpretation, such as yours and mind. And I can't help but be drawn to the idea of it somehow tied to the revelation to Crowe, at the end of the story, that he is dead, the 'illumination' of that moment. I didn't mean to be ironic by starting this series with The Sixth Sense on the very weekend that After Earth debuts in the U.S., apparently a disastrous opening in yet another in a line of underachieving movies helmed by Shyamalan. But one can't help but wonder if and when he will regain some of the magical touch so evident in The Sixth Sense. Thanks for your analysis!

Wow. Totally blown away, and I don't remember the movie having this much impact. Still reeling from the reading, so this will probably be a ramble. The light bulb "sparks" to life. We don't know it's a dark basement, it's just the light and there's life there. Both Vincent and Cole have a light spot in their hair. Both have been torn and ripped by something. There's the mist of cold that runs through the movie, then a temperature drop before an unjust, violent death is "seen." Cole's last name is Sear...seer. He doesn't see all dead people, only those with something left unsaid when they die in the dripping darkness of what is wrong/evil/unjust (like the bodies hanging in the gym). When Malcolm is talking with Cole he says, "Everybody wants to be heard." He failed Vincent in his "freak" (friedkin) capacity as a seer. He's unimpressed with his award because he knows there's more to what he's done and could have done, despite putting his wife second. He's a torn man, divided by his failures in his work and the loss of keeping his wife first while he was so busy doing work that can never be done (nobody's got the complete answer to the human riddle). This darkness drips and spreads. Shyamalan leaves nothing to chance, so I got curious about the dog's name and looked up St. Sebastian. He was twice martyred and seen by the church as the patron Saint of soldiers. Are Vincent and Cole those soldiers? That's what Cole is playing with in the church. Soldiers of the voice of the dead taken in violence with something left to be said? The soul of the seer is almost twice martyred, but Malcolm finally figures out how to help this kid with the white streak of hair. St. Sebastian is with the child this time. Color plays a huge role in this. The beginning is classic noir - slants of light, a single light in the dark, slivers of light playing all through the script. Shyamalan also seems to be entranced with the Arthurian Legend (as I've been, obsessively at times). He did The Lady In The Water, which was one of the favorite themes of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and their fascination with the legend. It isn't until Malcolm has his second chance of helping the seer that the child acts as the once and future king, holding the sword with confidence in a bold ray of light without fear. After that point he's able to connect with his mother and his gift is no longer a dark curse. Mother and child come together in acceptance of each other (her with her second job, which mirrors Malcolm's necessity to work) when they're stuck behind a line of red lights in a traffic jamb. Cole is able to tell her that a woman has been killed in the accident, she's able to accept her child as he is, he accepts her working so hard, and they're both saved. That wasn't the case when he was eating a red Popsicle when the pregnant woman was killed in traffic. No cold breezes there, like the breath of the dead trying to speak their last words, just the cold, such bitter cold. When Cole and Malcolm are together in Cole's apartment, they always sit with a multi-color table between them. The map is multi-color. There's a bridge, a destination of variety and travel and a multitude of experiences that include the gift of the seer they have to cross before all is well. The Kipling reference...There was a boy who lived in the jungle who could talk to the animals and see them. The Dr. Seuss speak when Malcolm is with the one who has always been first. There's no need for any of this to be centered around children, other than injecting that element of innocence and sweetness of childhood into a very terrifying story and calming it down to something mystic and welcome. Oy. This got me really excited as such a fine bit of writing. There's so much to this and is nearly endless. Now it's off to watch the movie and try to understand why I remember it as being clever and not this rich.

Cyd, great analysis. Pressed for time just now, would like to respond at more length, but let me pick up on one point: color. Just track the use of the color red in the end sequence where Malcolm flashes back [memories] and realizes he's dead: * Anna wearing a red shawl * The table setting with napkin is red * The handle to the basement door is red * All setting up the red blood flowing from Malcolm's gunshot wound It's tiny grace notes like that speak volumes about how deeply a writer has immersed him/herself in their story universe. Thanks, Cyd, for your observations. 29 more scripts over the course of 29 days!

What interesting timing, Scott considering Shyamalan is all over the news lately. This was the first screenplay I EVER read and absolutely loved it - pacing wise, though, I did find there were some places that were a little slow and dull but I think that was meant. If anyone watched the making-of too, there were a lot of tidbits that emerged about the symbolism in the movie. Thinking back to this movie, it's amazing how much Shyamalan's films have deteriorated - because the screenplay was SO strong and his writing here was amazing. It doesn't make sense...

Nothing irks me more than descending into hyperbole to discuss the mechanics of screenwriting. So I will certainly avoid that in discussing The Sixth... Oh the hell with it. THIS IS THE GOLD STANDARD. I don't care how many airbenders M. Night botched or how many mermaids in the pool he goofed around with after, I will always hold his talent in high regard on the strength of this piece alone. One sequence that really struck me this time around - the bit when Malcolm is trying to find some way in to Cole's world early on. Instead of writing some drab, obvious doctor/patient interview, he proposes a 'game' where Cole either takes a step towards a chair or a step backward to freedom. It's so brilliant. The stakes of the scene are raised exponentially, there's more going on, and dammit, it's ACTIVE. Not two stationary talking heads but BLOCKED OUT MOVEMENT as a way to turn what could have been droning exposition into a nail-biting round of poker. I made a large note to myself - "do that more in my own work." Something else - a lot of screenplays, both professional and amateur (and certainly in my own work), seem very 'written' if you get my drift...characters like pawns put in places and situations that resemble MOVIE MOMENTS. And that's fine. But what's great about The Sixth Sense is that the scenes feel more like LIFE MOMENTS even though there is an abundance of the supernatural. No small amount of ink has been spilled regarding Shyamalan and the fall of the great wunderkind. This is a shame and strikes me as petty. I hear a lot of reviewers openly wondering 'how does he get funding? why is he still working in the biz with disaster after disaster on his resume?' I'm no fan of his last few outings but holding an artist up to such derisive scrutiny is counter productive. But if one were to try and get to the bottom of why Night chugs on? i think the answer is right in the pages of The Sixth Sense. (sort of a lovely extension of one of Scott's mantras...WRITE A GREAT SCRIPT! Not just to 'break in' but to 'STAY in!')

Jeff, that was so nicely put. We were finally able to see the movie after all these years and many of the things you mention did pop out, especially the game he plays with the little boy. It's something now burned in my mind to chase away the talking heads. Huge difference between the script and the film. Nothing noir about it, and the dog was barely mentioned. The color red is there right from the beginning, but it's doesn't seem necessary for understanding the story. A lot of changes in the way he uses light as language. I liked it, and I think it's because of what Jeff said about this being a series of real life moments, not beat sheets where characters are thrown into their little boxes and say what should be said in that particular beat/box/unit/act/block/whatever. This is one of those rare scripts that both intimidates (can I ever write something even close?) and motivates (don't know but I'd sure like to try!). As a piece of writing and storytelling, it's going to stick in my mind as a terrific reading experience.

The thing I like about the twist is that the film works just fine without it. The key to a good twist of story is that he isn't working toward the twist, he works towards resolution and then turns the film around where we realize that the film was really about the boy trying to help him. It's a great reversal. The subsequent quality of the filmmakers work may become a discussion of rewriting. M Night said that he wrote something like ten drafts of the film and it changed wildly from it's initial conception.

Opening scene when Anna enters the basement also has a potent hint at establishing her as a carrier of light as she is the one who turns on the light bulb in an "unsettling place", and when she leaves the basement and kills the light, she rises up the stairs and enters the "burst of light". So she is the one who can be recognized as an angelic figure, she is the one who recognizes Malcolm's flaw and with that tiny cold cloud in the air she anticipates the death... I am amazed how much stuff is to learn and interpret on each page!!! After the incident she is on the opposite side of Malcolm as she/they are slowly being unable to communicate... Hints, hints in front of our eyes. I didn't realize the twist upon first viewing of course. PS English is not my native language so sorry for potential errors here :)

Thanks for that, suminator. Your English is swell!

"The Sixth Sense" no doubt Shyamalan has tried to visualize all his senses, and it has blown us away. Here for me The Bulb light is actually an energy as Shari said, Universal Life energy. I believe Shyamalan started with the light bulb as he was not only trying to convey the genre of the cinema also he was trying to mark some questions to the audience, and as an audience I can only say, that light bulb for me was a symbol of sth unusual is taking place next.