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Still baffled about one thing: How is Anna supposed to hear Crowe at the end?

posted 3 years ago by Kodakjones (238)
16 replies | jump to latest

By now we already know how The Sixth Sense ends whether you're a grown adult or a sixth grader: Dr. Malcolm Crowe has been dead the whole time; he died after getting shot during the movie's opening: but Anna didn't get shot, meaning that while Malcolm Crowe died that night, Anna was still alive from beginning to end but she doesn't have a sixth sense unlike Cole who tells Malcolm to talk to Anna only while Anna sleeps. Okay, unless Cole knew that Anna would be dreaming about Malcolm that very night; how was she supposed to hear Malcolm talk to her when he was already dead but she was alive?

[–] samoanjoes (56640) 2 years ago

Cole didn't know that Malcolm was dead. When Cole told Malcolm to talk to Anna while she was asleep, it wasn't a real suggestion thinking it was actually going to work. He only said it thinking that Anna was ignoring Malcolm, so by doing it while she was asleep, it would have been a way for Malcolm to talk her because she wouldn't have been fully awake to ignore her. I believe Malcolm even gently laughs at the suggestion to do it while she's asleep.

[–] Kodakjones (238) 2 years ago

No, Cole knew all along that Malcolm was dead; that's why he was running away towards the church at the start of the movie when Malcolm tries to approach him and why he doesn't ask his mom why there's a man just randomly sitting in their family room and when his mom goes to the kitchen leaving them alone more or less, he's reluctant to play Malcolm's psychic game.......since it risks him having to tell Malcolm that he's dead and Cole would have to fear and deal with how Malcolm would react........the closest that Cole comes to telling Malcolm that Malcolm already passed away was when he was in ICU and Malcolm was wearing the Crew Club sweater and Cole fixes his gaze on him saying, "I see dead people. They don't see each other, they only see what they want to see, they don't know they're dead......." Indirectly but directly he is talking to Malcolm and even if he didn't know; there's still no physical way for Anna to hear what her husband has to say at the end because Anna is alive and her husband isn't. The living and the dead aren't meant to interact.

[–] samoanjoes (56640) 2 years ago

Interesting, but I question why Cole thinks a ghost would be able to help him.

[–] GreenGoblinsOck8 (7699) 2 years ago

Because talking to a ghost, especially one like Malcolm who is a psychiatrist, and isn't trying to hurt him like some of the other ghosts, is easier than talking to an actual real life person who might report what he said to authorities. Who then would want to put him in a mental institution and insist he doesn't actually see ghosts. That's why. I mean, sure Malcolm thought he was mentally ill at first but then came to see it differently after he used his tape recorder to listen to his sessions with Vincent Grey. But the fact is Malcolm can't actually commit him to a mental institution because he is a ghost. Hence why he'd want to talk to him.

[–] samoanjoes (56640) 2 years ago

But if Malcolm doesn't know he's a ghost, what kind of first-hand information could he give Cole?

[–] GreenGoblinsOck8 (7699) 2 years ago

With you asking this, it's like you didn't even pay attention to the movie. Malcolm ends up convincing him to try and help the ghosts which resolves the entire conflict of the movie. I didn't even have to tell you this. It's in the movie! Go watch it again!

[–] samoanjoes (56640) 2 years ago

I'm aware, but we know that in hindsight knowing the end of the film.But before that, what could Cole have gotten out of Malcolm? By the end of it, Malcolm could have easily said, "I got nothing. You're on your own, kid." In fact, at one point Malcolm even tells him he can't be Cole's therapist anymore and Cole convinces him. So again, if Cole knew Malcolm was a ghost the whole time, how could Cole have known he would have resolved the issue if Malcolm didn't know he was a ghost?

[–] GreenGoblinsOck8 (7699) 2 years ago

Except Malcolm had to help Cole cause it was his unfinished business to help him.

[–] Stratego (30494) 2 years ago

Cole doesn't know Malcolm will be able to help him, initially he even tells Malcolm he can't. But as the film progresses, he comes to trust Malcolm and feels like he's the only he can talk to about his problems.

[–] ATG6 (3000) 2 years ago

Dead or not, he was an expert in child psychiatry, and wanted to help. Why not give him a chance?

[–] samoanjoes (56640) 2 years ago

I guess.

[–] Kodakjones (238) 2 years ago

The midway point of the movie is; Cole was beginning to get more and more used to talking to the dead by that point.

[–] Wint3rFir3 (7146) 2 years ago

Cole doesn't initially think a ghost will be able to help him. That's just an unintentional positive side effect of their relationship. He's going along with Malcolm's fiction about their relationshop because ghosts can be volatile and he's trying to protect himself, and he can't actually come out and say, "Leave me alone, you're dead" without potentially triggering rage in Malcolm. And this not even knowing that Malcolm has lost his temper seeing his wife with another man.

[–] Lord Rake (4454) 2 years ago

" Dr. Malcolm Crowe has been dead the whole time; he died after getting shot during the movie's opening"

WHAT?

[–] Stratego (30494) 2 years ago

I think it's just that Cole has found out that there can be interaction between the dead and the living when the latter are asleep. Like maybe their subconscious is more open to it.

[–] Wint3rFir3 (7146) 2 years ago

Cole has probably seen ghosts trying to interact with people he knows, like his mother or school mates, while they're asleep and has figured out that, in that state, they were much more receptive to the interactions. He might even be speaking from his own personal experience, hence why he doesn't seem to enjoy sleeping that much.