MovieChat Forums > The Sixth Sense (1999) Discussion > Question about the movie. MAJOR SPOILE...

Question about the movie. MAJOR SPOILERS

posted 8 years ago by GreenGoblinsOckVenom86
5 replies | jump to latest

So the way it shows it ghosts can touch/carry objects. But is it possible maybe Malcolm wearing different clothes and carrying a brief case/writing notes/using a tape recorder wasn't even really what was happening? Obviously we are meant to believe Malcolm is alive through out the movie til the end.

With the tape recorder thing, you'd think with it turned on so loud his wife would be able to hear it and come downstairs to investigate it. Maybe even hear it and call the police thinking someone broke into her house. I confess they do kind of hint he's a ghost early on. I just watched it earlier today and after his first Encounter with Cole, Malcolm walks by his wife who is sleeping and she shivers. I noticed the Window is shut indicating it's definetley Malcolm making her shiver.

1, 2 Freddy's coming for you. 3, 4 better lock your door.

[–] Sandy0095 8 years ago

Here's my take on it:

I think the lines "they see what they want to see" helps the movie out a lot. For example, in Malcolm's world, he thought he was changing clothes, eating meals, taking with people, etc. He was living life as if he was alive, when in reality he was only talking to Cole. He was seeing the world the way he wanted, and completely blocking out the rest. I also think when we see Malcolm moving papers and others objects, that's in his mind. None of that is really happening, so no noise is produced. Same with the tape recorder- apart of me thinks he's not actually playing it, but either reliving or recalling a time when he listened to it. But because he's now a ghost, he can hear the other voices.

We see a couple of ghosts in the movie reliving past experiences, making noise without anybody but Cole hearing them. For example the man trapped in the elevator (or whatever that was) was yelling for help. However, the movie also makes it clear that sometimes spirits move things in the natural world. Cole even mentions this regarding his grandmother. He says "sometimes when you lose things, it's because it got moved". We also see the cabinet doors open, windows smashed, doors unlocked etc. So it's also plausible, because Malcolm's office is in the basement, that he used the tape recorder without his wife hearing.

-Who is it?
-It's Grandpa. And it sounds like he's gotten into the horseradish again.

[–] GreenGoblinsOckVenom86 8 years ago

Here's my take on it:

I think the lines "they see what they want to see" helps the movie out a lot. For example, in Malcolm's world, he thought he was changing clothes, eating meals, taking with people, etc. He was living life as if he was alive, when in reality he was only talking to Cole. He was seeing the world the way he wanted, and completely blocking out the rest. I also think when we see Malcolm moving papers and others objects, that's in his mind. None of that is really happening, so no noise is produced. Same with the tape recorder- apart of me thinks he's not actually playing it, but either reliving or recalling a time when he listened to it. But because he's now a ghost, he can hear the other voices.

We see a couple of ghosts in the movie reliving past experiences, making noise without anybody but Cole hearing them. For example the man trapped in the elevator (or whatever that was) was yelling for help. However, the movie also makes it clear that sometimes spirits move things in the natural world. Cole even mentions this regarding his grandmother. He says "sometimes when you lose things, it's because it got moved". We also see the cabinet doors open, windows smashed, doors unlocked etc. So it's also plausible, because Malcolm's office is in the basement, that he used the tape recorder without his wife hearing.

I agree. He was maybe just as intense looking as the other ghosts with the wound on his side but somehow because of how he talked normal and wasn't yelling at him like some of the other ghosts, Cole wasn't as scared of him.

1, 2 Freddy's coming for you. 3, 4 better lock your door.

[–] Stratego 8 years ago

The clothes, the briefcase, the notes on his patients, I'm sure all those are imgagined. Only the tape recorder I'm not sure about. The notes he could remember or just imagine, but the problem with the tape recorder is that he couldn't suddenly remember the words of a ghost he didn't even hear the first time. And I don't think Malcolm would just imagine a ghost speaking Spanish. That's why I think that when he does hear the voice of the Spanish-speaking ghost, he actually IS playing the tape recorder, just like Cole's grandmother moved the pendant.

[–] Sandy0095 8 years ago

Perhaps. That's why I was saying I wasn't sure- he could've definitely been playing the tape recorder. And because his office is located in the basement & his wife works, it's totally plausible that he was actually playing it.

My second theory is that perhaps he played the entire conversation while he was alive, but didn't notice the voices. Only when he starts to believe Cole, can he hear them. Recalling the past and perceiving it as the present...? I think M. Night did a good job with these "rules", making them vague enough where they make sense but can be easily toyed with.

-Who is it?
-It's Grandpa. And it sounds like he's gotten into the horseradish again.

[–] smyngcos 8 years ago

He could interact with the real world on SOME ocassions. The door with the red knob always locked but later we find out it was intentionally blocked by his wife, because Malcolm's ghost would probably open it before, the scene when he breaks the window at his wife's workplace... The tape recorder scene could be a throwback, or could have happened when his wife wasn't at home, OR because his office was in the basement, maybe she woulnd't have heard it at all.