MovieChat Forums > The Sixth Sense (1999) Discussion > The scratches

The scratches

posted 9 years ago by Lester_Burnham_Risen
6 replies | jump to latest

Anyone got a clear idea of how the scratches fitted into the plot?

We saw Malcolm reading about self abuse and why doc should not alarm the mother suggesting she caused it [ie overreaction as for MBP, once it was uncovered] and we see him say OMG when Night as the doc does just that.

So does that all mean it was Cole doing it to himself?

eg

The Food and Drug Administration has for years required antidepressants to carry warnings that they may increase the risk of suicidal thinking and behavior in children and adults under age 25. The study, published online Monday by the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, finds the risk for deliberate self harm doubles when depressed young people start treatment with higher-than-usual doses.

We saw the ultimate example up front with Vincent doing a murder-suicide

http://www.kindleflippages.com/ablog/

[–] liquoricelakrits 9 years ago

I always thought that the scratches came from the ghosts.

When Coles mother sees the scratches on his back she thinks it from his classmates. The doctor think it might be the mother who abuses him, and Malcolm think it is self-inflicted. All this, I thought, was just speculations to get us (the audience) to wonder what was going on with Cole, until he says "I see dead people", and that's the moment when we start to get some answer about Cole and his "problem".

And also, Cole says to his mother "they're the ones that use to hurt me".

[–] Lester_Burnham_Risen 9 years ago

and that's the moment when we start to get some answer about Cole and his "problem"

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But what WAS his "problem" and why was it the same as for Vincent?

Surely "mood swings" and "not coping with parent's divorce" don't need a shrink to intervene in a child's life?

After all Vincent screams at him "you were wrong"

http://www.kindleflippages.com/ablog/

[–] liquoricelakrits 9 years ago

Did you not get the movie? Cole AND Vincent were both people who could see ghost/dead people.

Cole's problem was that he could see dead people. That made him a little different personality-wise because he was frightened all the time (I mean wouldn't you be?). He got bullied in school for being "special" but no one knew what made him special, shy and sad. But when he says to Malcolm "I see dead people", it's clear for us that the ghost was the problem (even if Malcolm first thought it was hallucinations) which made Cole different and it explained why he acted like he did.

I guess Vincent yelled "you were wrong" to Malcolm, because Malcolm had treated him as a boy with issues like self abuse and hallucinations a.k.a mental ill (just as he first thought Cole was) when in fact, Vincent could see ghost too and was probably depressed and haunted by this his whole life without no one to help him deal with it.
When Malcolm died and stayed among the living, it was because he had to help Cole with this issue before he could move on, and that's because Malcolm wasn't able to help VIncent during when he was alive, cause he didn't believe him.

[–] Lester_Burnham_Risen 9 years ago

Did you not get the movie? Cole AND Vincent were both people who could see ghost/dead people.

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I am talking to the REAL issues that Night brings up in the movie and not the simplistic "ghost story" to get bums on seats.

The ghost gig worked wonders at box office with J Doe fixated on ghosts etc but as in all his movies Night raises an issue that SHOULD be of great concern to society [American as the main offender] and here it was the hallucinations [and worse] caused by using young male victims of Family Law as guinea pigs for Big Pharma, via the parasitic shrink industry.

Maybe you too are such a victim?

http://www.kindleflippages.com/ablog/

[–] parkerzielinski 9 years ago

Stop pushing your agenda in every single thread, literally even one.

[–] Lester_Burnham_Risen 9 years ago

Not MY agendas but simply explaining those of Night.

One in particular has come to light in 2016 which is the contamination of groundwater by the Limerick [see in The Happening] etc nuclear power stations in Signs, all dressed up as a Birds style yippee with Kubrick style aliens and crop circles.

NOW the nuclear contamination is being joined by FRACKING contamination in Night's beloved Pennsylvania as seen in recent docos.

I suspect Night will remain as did Kubrick as NOT an "I told you so" type but he sure DID tell us.

http://www.kindleflippages.com/ablog/