The Sixth Sense is a supernatural thriller, but it's also—deep down inside—really just about a single mom struggling to raise a little boy who's a little different from the others, and a hard-working doctor who may have neglected his wife in his zest for helping other families.
A lot of families can relate to those situations, and it adds to our interest that the film weaves in more familiar dramas with the whole scare-the-pants-off-you stuff. The film suggests that being part of a family can be terrifying and full of challenges (even without the ghost angle), but is totally worth the trouble if you put in the effort and are brave enough to communicate. Family reconciliations—in this life or the next—are the tearjerkers in this one.
Questions about Family
- Why do you think Shyamalan gives Cole a one-parent household? How does that choice shape the whole movie?
- Is the fact that Anna and Malcolm never had children significant?
- How do the story's main families (Cole/Lynn and Anna/Malcolm) differ from each other and from other families? How are they similar?
Chew on This
By pairing up family drama with the supernatural scary stuff, Shyamalan draws an analogy between the two. He suggests that struggling to protect your family can be just as difficult, scary, and hopeless-seeming as fighting ghosts.
Since there's just Cole and Mom, it concentrates the drama between the two of them, just like it would in any single-parent home.