MovieChat Forums > The Sixth Sense (1999) Discussion > I know the whole idea is that the dead s...

I know the whole idea is that the dead see what they want to see, but...

posted 9 years ago by electricrat66
8 replies | jump to latest

In the scene where Cole comes home from school and Crowe is sitting in a chair in the living room opposite Cole's mother, wouldn't Crowe have found it odd that there was no conversation or acknowledgement of his presence by the mother? It's not often one visits a stranger's home and there is no interaction whatsoever between guest and homeowner.

I almost felt that this was a slight flaw in the story..Crowe never even says anything to the effect of "Why doesn't your mom talk to me? Does she dislike me or something?" As a psychologist who understands normal human behavior, I would think he at least would find that situation at least questionable. I know it was done to throw the audience off, but it doesn't make much sense. It would almost certainly be an obvious clue to Crowe that something was not right.

"Now, tart face, take your Clark bars and get outta my house!!!"

[–] Stratego 9 years ago

What about his wife NEVER talking to him? He would certainly notice that, but ghosts only see what they want to see and don't experience the passage of time normally, it's more like being in a dream-state when you just go along with strange things that happen. This explains some ghosts wandering around for centuries and thinking Cole was a husband or friend. Malcolm just showed up at Cole's house thinking the mother let him in, he probably thought it was too painful for her to talk to him about her son.

[–] electricrat66 9 years ago

I just think it would be easier for him to accept or assume his wife not talking to him because she is angry with him (which we are led to believe) than a client.

"Now, tart face, take your Clark bars and get outta my house!!!"

[–] Stratego 9 years ago

I just think it would be easier for him to accept or assume his wife not talking to him because she is angry with him

For many months, maybe even a year, exchanging no words at all? Cole was his client, not his mother, it seems less strange that she doesn't want to talk to him, it may be too painful. Malcolm just sees what he wants to see, maybe he thought Cole's mother greeted him when she opened the door. I don't think it's something he really thought about since he doesn't experience time like a living person.

[–] keyvenx 9 years ago

I just think it would be easier for him to accept or assume his wife not talking to him because she is angry with him (which we are led to believe) than a client.

The problem with your premise is that while it might work for a few specific scenarios, it couldn't apply to the many ghosts and spirits that Cole deals with.

The most plausible line of reasoning would still be that ghosts "only see what they want to see".

Think of it as a vivid dream where you have no idea it's a dream when you're there, but upon waking, you realize just how absurd it was. Malcolm was trapped in an endless "dream state" cycle where everything makes sense to HIM only.

[–] fiatlux-1 9 years ago

The whole point is that Malcolm's reality is his own. It is not the reality of the living.

When Cole says "They [the ghosts] only see what they want to see." actually meant they create their own reality.
An example: Like how the suicidal wife thought Cole was her abusive husband, when of course he was not. She was caught up in a never-ending cycle of her own creation, therefore reality was only how SHE SAW IT.

The boy with the blown-apart head thought Cole was the friend that accidentally shot him, when of course Cole was not.

Malcolm had had a prickly relationship with his wife before his death, as well as the trauma of what he viewed as failing to help his patient.

So this was his *death trauma* that he lived over & over: trying to solve both but being unable to.
He does not realize he is dead, so when Anna seems to 'ignore him' or speaks to him at the restaurant (a brilliant scene) he only thinks she is angry as always.

Since Malcolm always greets parents of patients & doctors in hospitals when he was alive, he still honestly thinks he has already spoken with them, been in their world.

Its his reality, not the reality of the living.

I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus.
Didn't he discover America?
Penfold, shush.

[–] There_Is_No_Sayid 9 years ago

The ghosts aren't fully aware. They only see parts of the world. Crowe, for example, never saw that his wife had moved a table to block the door to his office.

[–] sage2112 9 years ago

Well you answered your own question in the thread title.

[–] Hecate-3 8 years ago

I agree with the other posters that Malcolm is only going to see what he wants or needs to see or what fits with his own misperceptions of reality. It's the same way he never notices that he has a gaping bullet wound in his back or that his wedding ring is missing from his finger, etc.

But no trained psychiatrist who was treating a child would ask that child "Why isn't your mother talking to me? Doesn't she like me?" The last thing a psychiatrist should be doing is setting himself up in the perceptions of the child who is his patient to be seen in an almost adversarial role to a loving parent. That would further stress the child, make relations with the parent more difficult, and sabotage any chance of healing therapy.

_____
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