Re-Analysis of The Sixth Sense

analysis
#41

Sorry about that, you were making such good arguments for Evidence I thought that was what you were pushing for. I like Evidence too, but I like the Quad of Elements under Truth better. Then if you consider the Influence Character Issue I like Fate and Destiny over Prediction and Interdiction.

Great examples for Perception/Actuality too. I would probably take your Falsehood example and use it as Truth – because he’s getting mad at what he thinks is really going on, his own personal truth. A Falsehood issue would be more like a character who believes lies, or makes up stuff, or is deceived, or someone is lying to them. I like it as a Counterpoint though for sure.

Just have to convince Barker that he’s a Be-er! I want to use the whole “Chip on his Shoulder” “Hole in his Heart” argument for Stop/Start but I can see a good argument made for Malcom having a huge chip on his shoulder (Vincent).

#42

I can see him as a be-er - Mike made a good point of his observing as doing being in the OS.

#43

I don’t really care that you thought I was going for Aware/Self-Aware. What else could you think if I’m pushing for evidence?

All four issues in the quad are going to get explored… AFAIK there is nothing in the program that tells us when or how, though, right? The thing that’s great about the quad is that Malcolm has no reason to suspect he’s dead, because he doesn’t (issue) remember that he’s dead. When he finally does realize it (driver: action – the ring falls), he suddenly remembers all the wonky moments of his past year (the door being constantly locked) and sees them for what they are (casting aside evidence – seeing only what he wants to – and replacing it with the truth that he’s dead). His whole perception of what has been going on has been shown to be in error (falsehood).

I’m bummed to lose interdiction for Cole, but the reality is that this really only kicks in towards the end, when he frees them from wandering the earth. Interestingly, if you swap Cole in for the MC, he gets a Unique Ability of Interdiction… Also, he has a huge chip on his shoulder: (“don’t look at me that way.”)

I think Malcolm has a hole in his heart: he has let his wife down.

What I have trouble seeing is Speculation for Cole.

#44

Just a small random thought: I’m wondering if the door is really locked, or if that’s just want Malcolm wants to believe so we interpret it as being such via him. When those pieces come back as revelations, the door is clearly barricaded, something that’s not privy to the audience until that moment. It’s just an interesting observation because its being locked would/could be interpreted as Malcolm being forgetful - whereas its being barricaded is obviously - after everything is known - an attempt by his wife to suppress HER memories of him (it happens to be in the basement, after all). That would further fit nicely into perception/actuality.

#45

I just meant if you were thinking Evidence for Malcom then it would make sense to think of his Problem and Solution being Self-Aware, Aware since those are under Senses in the OS.

So at least now we have a consensus for Be-er. Do we want to go back to Driver or Problem Solving Style? Or if we agree on the Perception problem we could just print out the four different storyforms and see which one feels best. I’m open to anything.

#46

Can you clarify Speculation for me for Cole?

While we’re at it, is there anything that sticks out that makes Malcolm the MC and not the IC? When I watched it, I really couldn’t tell. However, my take is this (as obvious as this may seem):
• We open and close with Malcolm
• We get more of a finality with Malcolm, even though we also have a pretty clear solution for Cole.

My vote is to focus on the Driver. I see it as Action:
• It can’t happen unless he’s been killed
• The ring falling is the thing that makes him see that he is dead
• Cole’s reveal in the middle could go either way, but Cole telling Malcolm he sees dead people leads to Malcolm’s decision to decide to deliberate (with himself): “I’m not helping, he may need to be hospitalized” and ultimately to recommend another doctor, even though he doesn’t go through with it.
• Hearing the ghost on the old Vincent Grey tape leads to the decision to return to Cole.

@JBarker: I like that the barricaded basement door is a way to bring her memories into the story.

#47

For Malcom as MC – we don’t know we’re dead (Cole does)

For Speculation – Cole is a disturbed kid and wherever he goes people whisper hushed rumors about him, kids guess he’s weird, mom conjectures that its because of her, this therapist guesses its something to do with his dad…which leads to all sorts of symptoms of Self-Aware (You just don’t know what’s really going on with you Cole…) to which he answers with a little bit of Awareness (They don’t know they’re dead)

The Action examples sound good, but about the Willing/Unwilling issue? How do the Act orders line up between the two?

#48

I’m sans internet/phone/cable - apparently a construction vehicle went down the street with something tall and ripped the wiring out of the side of the house - and of course my iPhone battery needs changing. Should be fixed tomorrow!

#49

What goes into Willing/Unwilling again?

Thanks for clearing up Cole for me.

#50

Tendency – the degree to which the Main Character feels compelled to accept the quest. Mixes Approach with Driver, Be-er in Action is a fish out of water, Unwilling character. Be-er in Decision is Willing.

See I would say as far as the OS goes…“Understanding What is Going on with this Kid”, that Malcom sounds much more Willing which would suggest a Decision driven story. But I like your Action examples. Getting locked away in the dungeon upstairs feels like an Action driver as well (forcing the Decision what should we do with this guy).

#51

Right. I thought it was the interaction of three things for some reason. If anything Malcolm seems to really feel bad for Cole, but not so far as to make him seem unwilling. That is confusing. Then again, he doesn’t seem very enthusiastic either.

If anything, he seems unwilling (reluctant) to hand him off to another doctor, though he decides to. Hmmm…

And, to go back a topic, why does Cole’s knowledge that Malcolm is dead make Cole the IC and Malcolm the MC? Because it puts Malcolm in the most subjective place (the biggest blind spot)? And I’m just noticing that the inequity in the OS is that nobody knows what is going on with Cole, but only Cole can right that – Malcolm telling him how to help ghosts starts to feel like a prerequisite or requirement…. Grrrr

#52

What is Malcom’s Unique Ability? That will be more important than the Actuality element. Cole does have that. but I’m guessing something about Malcom’s UA inspires him to go through with it and tell his mom at the end (wrapping up the OS).

Cole is privy to information we don’t know, so we can’t be him the way a Main Character should be. The same reason Red is the Main Character in Shawshank instead of Andy. Cole’s knowledge about Malcom is the same thing as Andy digging a hole we didn’t know about.

As an Audience member we should be aware of everything the Main Character is (per Dramatica’s definition)

#53

Couldn’t it be argued Malcolm is unwilling to accept any other approach than his clinical diagnosis? This holds true for 2/3 of the movie. Because he’s so ingrained with that approach, he ends up being out of his element (dead) - which in turn is a new experience he doesn’t recognize.

#54

That is a crazy good way to think about it that I have never considered. It works in Unbreakable (Bruce Willis doesn’t know that he is invincible, but the villain does). In The Prestige we don’t know, lie Angier doesn’t know, Borden’s secret – but Borden does.

Malcolm’s Unique Ability is Truth, btw.

#55

And that’s the same regardless of Problem-Solving Style?

#56

I thought it was; it forces Linear.
The other option is Suspicion – Malcolm suspects helping the ghosts will set them free?

I guess I need to figure out why Linear is the way to go….

#57

I’ve uploaded the four possible: Linear/Action, Linear/Decision, Holistic/Action and Holistic/Decision.

Right off the bat I love the Holistic Decision:

  • MC Unique Ability of Suspicion, Malcom suspects there’s some connection between Cole and Vincent from the very beginning
  • MC Critical Flaw of Prediction: door locked, missed anniversary, can’t predict what’s next!
  • IC Critical Flaw of Evidence: all the arguments made for him as Issue of Evidence, this is where it is. The evidence clearly shows that this kid is just nuts…
  • OS Catalyst of Interpretation – interpreting Cole’s marks as child abuse (from the mother)
  • OS Inhibitor of Situation – in a tent with a ghost!
  • OS Signposts Hairpin Sequence – Doing, Obtaining to Learning, Understanding. There’s a huge bump when Cole tells Malcom what is up. Always felt like a two-parter to me. I like Learning in 3rd (the audio tape) and Understanding at the end works super-nice.
  • Had the Symptom/Response flipped in earlier dialogue here, but I like this better. Symptom of Aware (things stolen, drawers open, disturbed writing, “They don’t know they’re dead”) to Self-Aware (therapeutic techniques)
  • Holistic Problem-Solving, Malcom’s therapy sessions are an attempt to shift the balance of power in favor of Cole (walking towards him, the penny) so that Cole will feel empowered to tell him the truth
  • Willing Tendency (Be-er in a Decision story), as Protagonist the therapist seems willing to participate in the efforts to resolve the situation

Of course this means @chuntley is right about the opening being Backstory (argh), and that the opening Decision would be “deciding to take the case” or some kind of deliberation thing like that.

What do you think?

sixth-sense-linear-action.pdf (41.8 KB)
sixth-sense-linear-decision.pdf (41.9 KB)
sixth-sense-holistic-action.pdf (41.9 KB)
sixth-sense-holistic-decision.pdf (41.9 KB)

#58

Boy, this is tough. I have the screenplay open before me and started reading it - hoping there might be some words in there that point to a clearer picture, if only in terms of intent. Unfortunately there’s some discrepancies between the draft I have and what made it to screen, but I think it’s interesting to read nevertheless. By the time I got to the shooting in the first scene, I had myself convinced “yeah, I can see this as all backstory”. But then the scene immediately following, in this draft, seems to clearly point to the decision being made because of the action. In other words, Malcolm has a file on Vincent Grey and is looking at it, certain words hi lighted, then makes a direct comparison to Cole’s file. In the finished version, there’s really no overt comparison made other than the similarities in backgrounds.

I know it’s (somewhat) pointless to analysis a draft of a script with scenes that didn’t make it to production, but it makes it more difficult to shake the fact that Malcolm is basing his decision to take the case on Vincent’s action. I like holistic/decision, but I’m kind of stuck on this bit at the moment and need to look a bit more at either of the action offerings. Maybe it’d help to come up with other examples of decision drivers throughout the story? It just seems like there’s more actions proceeding decisions (Malcolm listens to the tape before deciding to believe Cole; Malcolm arrives late to the anniversary dinner before he decides to, as Mike said, take his punishment (which to me is a decision, much in like deciding to do nothing is still a decision).

Actually, there is a place in this draft where Malcolm says specifically Cole is his attempt to right a wrong - right when he shows up late to the anniversary dinner, he explains “I know I’ve been kind of out of it for a long while and you resent it. You do. I know you’re mad. I know it’s put some distance between us. But I’m getting a chance here. To help again. To figure out what I missed. To right a wrong. I can’t let it slip away.” And then he’s the one who says “Happy anniversary” after she leaves. If nothing else, it’s interesting to see the genesis of the story.

#59

Honestly, I feel like I’m going to have to watch it again.

Persnickety question about Malcolm being holistic: I agree with the Q&A technique and the penny trick being good examples, but these are not in the MC Throughline. Isn’t there an infrequently-mentioned facet of Dramatica that the MC is of one mental sex in his throughline, and then a different mental sex in one of either the OS or RS?

#60

No that’s not a part of the theory. Maybe you’re thinking that the IC is frequently the opposite.

Problem-Solving Style sets up the problem-solving process of the story mind, i.e. the order of signposts (among other things). The MC will problem solve as MC and also in their objective role. I think it’s ok to draw examples from whatever context as we’ve done it on past analyses, but I think even if you limit it to his Throughline he’s still balancing (in other words he’s more concerned with balancing the relationship with his wife, rather than figuring out “wait a second, if I hadn’t reached for the bill would she have done that? Let me follow the clues here…”