Posted by Jan den Breejen on December 20, 1999 at 13:18:40:
The Sixth Sense (1999) – (extreme) E4 time: spooky!
When travelling back from York and on the ferry boat on the North Sea I watched this ‘different’ new Bruce Willis movie. I wonder if E4-ish themes are so succesful commercially because E4-ishness is still a kind of taboo in our E3-7 society. York illustrates this E3-E4 contrast very well Gothic York Minster versus the over-commercialized inner city.
The plot
Bruce Willis plays ‘himself’ in the role of edgy ‘looking whats behind visible reality’- E6 psychiatrist Malcolm Crowe. When he is shot dead by an extreme E4 patient blaming him for having failed at the treatment, his spirit is still alive and visits his E7-ish wife (who can’t notice him) and an psychic E4-5 character boy called Cole Sears (who can) with an E4 mother called Lynn. He wants to help Cole; his boyscout feelings of guilt at having failed need to be compensated (he got a complimentary certificate from the local community because of his professionalism as psychiatry practition; a short time before the fatal burglary.)
He stimulates Cole to use his psychic powers to do justice in the case of a woman who committed suicide (another E4) because of mistreatment by her husband. Her husband is confronted with a videotape the spirit of this woman ‘gave’ to the boy.
There is a build in test of you level of intuition/’psychic powers’; try to answer the question the E1 teacher asks the class regarding the history of the school. I got it right before the boy gave the answer. Can you too?
I have noticed that extreme E4’s zoom out tiny (negative/dark) clues others don’t notice because of their extreme sensitivity. Combined with the famous E4 powers of association this could explain the ‘psychic’ powers of some extreme E4’s. Recent scientific research showed that when we experience others suffering (like laughing on someones weakness) actually makes us feel better. So when E4’s zoom in on your weak spots and make hateful comments easily; it could point to an unconscious self-preservation mechanism?
What about the tendency of extreme E4’s to hurt themselves with things; like pouring acid on their arms and be exhibitionistic about the wounds? A way to visualize and get the pity enticing attention they crave for but don’t get because their illness is mental and as such non visible and not recognized by the public? Lee Harvey Oswald must have been in this category of E4’s too; instead of committing suicide he turned his negative emotions outward to president Kennedy in order to get public attention. E4, I guess is the most complex character there is. I also think the talent/ability to see the (abstract) dark side of reality healthy E4’s have is undervalued in todays ’cheerful’ society; and the talent of seeing the positive side is over-valued (E7’s). ‘Sixth Sense’ seems to confirm this ‘freaky’ prejudice on E4-ishness by the general public opinion. But that’s what we can expect when watching Hollywood movies.
Jan