Lit. Crit. Essay Test

When using terms and concepts of Structuralism to criticize a piece of work, one looks at the underlying structure of a story and only the archetypal text is considered significant. If one story is based off another then the second story will said to be worth nothing; as only the original will be important. The film Unbreakable (2000), is about David, a man who is in a fatal train crash and miraculously survives it. With the aid of a man diagnosed with Osteogenesis Imperfecta, David slowly begins to discover why he lived through the accident, and how he can become a hero for people who need one. Though one could say that Unbreakable is very original in its storyline, it does in fact have many similarities to the 1999 film, The 6^th Sense.

In both The 6^th Sense and Unbreakable the main characters, Malcolm and David, have a condition which they do not believe exists. By choosing not to accept what they are, the people around them are affected, often by negative aspects. Ghosts in The 6th Sense are unaware they are dead and that they dwell as ghosts. Cole explains this to Malcolm during the movie, and as a ghost, Malcolm is rather unaware. But, being dead affects Cole, at first who is terrified of him. As the movie goes on, Cole begins to look forward to meeting with Malcolm and slowly problems begin to resolve. Malcolm’s wife is shown as being tormented, and having depression. Malcolm views this as part of the problems in their relationship, while in truth it is his death that has distressed her.

Following a similar line in Unbreakable is David, who cannot die, get sick or hurt. He is exceptionally close to having invincibility. This is shown after he was in two bad crashes; one that should have proved fatal and the other very close. Because of his love for his wife, David acted as if he had been injured in the accident, and fooled himself into thinking he was. Though in reality, David came out of both disasters with nothing as small as a scratch. The only way that David is able to be hurt is through water. David’s son, Joseph is in awe of his father, who he thoroughly believes is invincible. Yet he is also disappointed by the fact that David refuses to take any action towards finding out if he does indeed have some sort of superhuman powers. David’s relationship with his wife, Aubrey is as well falling apart. The beginning of the film shows them as distanced, and Aubrey admits later on that she desires to leave her husband.

Throughout the movie the main characters have a relationship with their significant other which is unstable, and a relationship with a young child, where the main character seems to tread very carefully when around them. The 6^th Sense has Malcolm trying to help Cole deal with what her believes are hallucinations. Not being able to see them, or identify that he himself is one, Malcolm does not believe that Cole actually sees, speaks to, and is sometimes harmed by ghosts. Malcolm also is in what he sees as an unstable relationship with his wife. He sees her doing what he considers cheating, and while he tries to fix the relationship, he cannot achieve anything. There exists what feels like a silent gap between the two.

Likewise, David’s young son truly accepts that his father has heightened strength and that he cannot die. Joseph tries many times to prove this to his father, almost shooting him with a gun at one point. This makes for a tense relation between them, as David tries to find a balance for his son’s expectations. David does little in his marriage to keep it together, admitting that he does keep his wife at a distance, and he’s not sure why. Aubrey can tell that he does, and admits to wanted to leave him. David does, however, love his life and after he talks with her, they decide that they need to work out problems to fix their relationship.

In both films there are many clues, some which are in plain sight, that lead up to a surprise ending. Many of the hints are linked by colours in The 6^Th Sense and Unbreakable. Both twists similarly result in an important character turning out to be something that they didn’t first appear to be. When the main characters discover these unexpected truths, they realize that it had a large impact on their lives in ways that had not thought of. The finale of The 6^th Sense shows Malcolm as he comes to the awareness that he had been dead during his time spent helping Cole. Throughout the whole film, the watcher is deceived into thinking that Malcolm is living so that the shock is shared with said character at the end.

At the end of Unbreakable, David meets one last time with the man who persuaded him to look into his potential hero characteristics. As they stand talking together, David shakes hands with him, and is shown that he was in fact the one who set up the train crash. Everything had been done simply so that he could find David. When watching the film, initially one sees David’s friend as someone who just feels strongly that they are connected in many ways. At the climax, it is shown that instead, all he wants it to become David’s arch nemesis—like something out of a comic book.

While Unbreakable has much to do with comic books, and The 6^th Sense has no relation to them, these two movies do have similar aspects to them from their character’s journeys to the problems and characters that Malcolm and David must face. As well, the unexpected twists that their lives take and the conclusions that they arrive at. So from using Structuralism to study Unbreakable, it is not an archetype, but rather a very well produced film based off The 6^th Sense.