The "Alfred" Of My Generation
The “Alfred” of My Generation
M. Night Shyamalan has given us a collection of suspenseful films that have changed the movie-going experience. In his films, he has displayed his own style and uniqueness (that has been compared to Alfred Hitchcock) and is on the verge of gaining an auteur status.
Shyamalan has a unique style when it comes to writing and directing films. In his Unbreakable, he uses color to point out people who have committed crimes or have done some injustice in their lives. He also uses color as an indicator in The Sixth Sense. In that film, red is used to show the audience something that has been tainted or touched by something from the “ghost world.” His inclusion of the color indicator helps tell the story. It makes the audience look for the color and try to come to some conclusion as to why it’s there, but his plot twists keep the audience guessing never allowing them to come to a sure answer. I feel that by using the color indicator he is telling me that I am stupid and that he needs to show me what is going on. The technique is unique and creative, but I see it as an insult to the average movie buff.
His style also includes things such as all his films have been based in or around Philadelphia, which happens to be where he grew up. Also his films tend to include a fact or occurrence in his mother country, India. Signs was based about ten miles out from Philadelphia and the mysterious crop circles were appearing in India. His inclusion of India and Philadelphia serve little purpose to the story telling but I believe that he includes them because they define who he is as a man. He is influenced by each of their cultures and he holds that dear to him.
His films also tend to include some sort of plot twist, or he doesn’t reveal, to the audience, the entire story until the end. The plot twists fool the audience, they believe that they know what is happening and then BAM, they are thrown off their feet second guessing everything...
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