Theme of M. Night Shyamalan

To further illustrate M. Night Shyamalan as an author, we will be looking firstly, at the themes present in three films of which he directed, namely, Signs (2002), The Village (2004) and The Happening (2008). There are of course many themes present in the works of M. Night Shyamalan, such as the supernatural, family, faith and believe, and many more. We will however, be focusing at only three of these common themes which are death, fear and love.

One theme present in M. Night Shyamalan’s films is death. This can be seen not only from the amount of deaths that are increasingly present in subsequent films, but also at how it is delivered in the movies to the audience. Looking at Signs (2002), death firstly appears as a curse causing Graham Hess to question and then renounce his faith and religion. Death is depicted with a simple cause and effect portrayal where it drives Graham to first abandon his belief and in later parts –where his son managed to escape death from the alien’s poison because of an asthma attack blocking his windpipe, rekindles his faith in God again.

As for The Village (2004), instead of only being fire that merely ignites an action, death also serves as the catalyst that drives the action. M. Night Shyamalan does this by linking death to fear towards “those we don’t speak of”. At the beginning of the film, Lucius Hunt requests to venture through the woods to go to a nearby village in order to gather more medicinal supplies after a child has passed away. To serve as a warning, animal carcasses were placed around town. In this case, death was used in the form of dead animals to further curb and discourage Lucius from travelling out of the village.

In The Happening (2008), death is not only featured in a wider more epidemic scale but also a more conscious level. As compared to Signs (2002) and The Village (2004) at which the main characters fight to win against death –with Graham fighting to the last moment by administering his son’s medication and Ivy’s mission out of the village to save Lucius’s life, the characters in The Happening (2008) instead does not fight against death at the last minute, choosing instead to go out into the open and risk dying in order to be together, symbolising that death is inevitable and that to find peace, is to accept it.

Another one theme that M. Night Shyamalan infuses into his films is fear. In Signs (2002), fear is portrayed in a more direct manner. He plays on the fear that is already existing within society –in this case, the fear factor is the aliens. The whole story revolves around the way the Hess family discovers and reacts to an alien invasion that started out with crop circles.

Moving on to The Village (2004), the use of fear is then shown with a higher degree of sophistication. The movie starts off in a typical horror setting, enticing fear and anticipation, making full use of the fear towards the unknown. For instance, the use of the “forbidden colour”, the colour red. Shortly after the beginning of the film, we can see a two village girls sweeping the veranda while playfully turning in circles. Their fun was cut short when one of the two notices a bright red flower. Hurriedly, they plucked the flower and buried it into the ground before continuing their business. The use of the colour red appears throughout the whole movie and serves as a warning that ties to the fear the villagers have towards the creatures that live in the woods. Everything about the creatures was introduced in a hushed up manner, forcing villagers to believe and fear in these creatures without question. It was later in the film were it was revealed to the main female character, Ivy Walker, that the very creatures they feared was none other than the village elders themselves in costume and that the whole village is just a gimmick the elders developed on order to keep their families save from the hazards of the cruel modern world. This portrayed sophistication when compared to the direct portrayal of fear in Signs (2002) as it showed in a more complex manner whereby fear is superficial and man-made.

Fear is then represented with more depth in The Happening (2008). In this case, fear is not portrayed as direct as the first two movies, instead, it lingers within the back of the minds of the audiences even after the movie has ended. This is so as the element that entices fear in this film is not physical, but rather, an unexplainable occurrence by nature. Besides that, the movie also depicts to audiences fear not only from the main characters, but the less prominent ones as well. One of such scenes is where Elliot, Alma, Jess and two young boys stumbles across a boarded up house and discovers that there are people still living inside. The boys then desperately asks for food and shelter. The people inside refused to open their doors for fear of “poison gas” leaking into their home. In the end, instead of mercy, the two boys were threatened by the people inside the house and shortly after shot dead with a shotgun. This scene clearly shows the ugly and selfish aspects caused by fear, bringing a more truthful interpretation of fear towards his audiences.

            

Another theme featured by M. Night Shyamalan is love. We start yet again with Signs (2002) similar fear, love is portrayed in a more direct and innocent way, involving only the Hess family. Love between a husband and wife is also shown with Graham falling into heartbreak when he witnesses his wife, Colleen’s last moments as she was involved in a freak accident, causing him to resign his position as reverend.

On the other hand, The Village (2004) shows love in a broader sense. Love for family can is clearly represented in the village, the whole foundation of the village started from the elders of which has lost someone dear to them because of violence. In order to keep their future generations save from the taint and suffering of the modern world, the elders, led by Edwards Walker set up the small isolated village in the middle of a wildlife preserve. This is an act of love as its intent is to save and protect. In this sense, love in The Village (2004) has been expended to not only love towards family but towards a community as well. In addition, this film also shows a higher degree of maturity with love as a theme as it shows that love requires sacrifice. For example, Edward Walker and Alice Hunt acknowledges their feelings for each other but sacrifices it for the happiness of Ivy and Lucius. This is seen after the scene where Ivy left for the woods where Edwards explains to Alice that Ivy going into the woods to save Lucius is “all that he can give her”.

The use of the theme love further matures in The Happening (2008) where M. Night Shyamalan displays that love can be rekindled. Elliot and Alma’s marriage were in a shaky situation. This is portrayed in the film in various scenes, for example, one with Alma constantly receiving calls from a guy named Joey. She later confesses to Elliot that both she and Joey only went out for Tiramisu, while Elliot rebuts about a hot girl working in a pharmacy where he just goes to buy cough medicine even though he doesn’t have a cough. Although he later admits that he was lying, this shows the couple’s shaky relationship. This was then gradually rekindled toward the end of the film where they talk about their first dates and good memories before deciding that they would rather die together than alone. Love is also handled in a more mature manner as we see that love is then extended to another that is not of family or couple but rather love towards the child of another person. This is seen with the character Jess at which Elliot and Alma go through great lengths to ensure her safety. From the moment Jess is separated from her father, Julian, she appears to always be at close proximity to Alma. In the end, she is adopted by Julian and Alma.

It is however, unfair to leave out the fact that these emotions oftentimes are used together to create an enhanced experience towards the audiences. As such, they are not single entities but relates to one another in the film. For example, in Signs (2002) the death and love –of his wife, is used to create fear in Graham of losing his more of his family. As for The Village (2004) fear is man-made because of love that is brought about from the deaths of the relatives of the elders. The whole village is built for the happiness and safety of future generations. Moving on to The Happening (2008) death is used to entice fear that then rekindles the love of a couple.