Sub-genre analysis - Taken and The Sixth Sense

A psychological thriller is a specific sub-genre of a thriller with heavy focus on the unstable emotional states of characters, in combination with mystery and thriller. On the other hand, an action thriller is where one or more heroes is thrust into a series of challenges that require physical feats, extended fights and frenetic chases. Action films tend to feature a resourceful character struggling against incredible odds, which may involve life-threatening situations, an evil villain, or being pursued, with victory achieved at the end after difficult physical efforts and violence.

I have chosen to analyse the psychological thriller "The Sixth Sense" in contrast with the action thriller "Taken".

Taken is a 2008 French action thriller film co-written and produced by Luc Besson, starring Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace and Famke Janssen. The screenplay was written by Besson and Robert Mark Kamen, and directed by Pierre Morel. The protagonist Neeson plays a former U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operative who has just ninety six hours to set about tracking down his daughter after she is kidnapped by the antagonist human traffickers while travelling in France.

On the other hand, The Sixth Sense is a 1999 American psychological thriller film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. The film tells the story of Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment), a troubled, isolated boy who is able to see and talk to the dead, and an equally troubled child psychologist (Malcolm Crowe) who tries to help him. The film established Shyamalan as a writer and director, and introduced the cinema public to his traits, most notably his affinity for surprise endings. The film was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

Both thrillers contain completely different narratives that distinguish them from one another. For example, action films create a sense of urgency by featuring a race against the clock. This is shown in the action film Taken when the father has just 96 hours to rescue his daughter. However, audience reactions to action films containing significant amount of time boundaries can be negative as this makes the film seem unrealistic and impractical. Alternatively, psychological thriller The Sixth Sense has the narrative of a boy who communicates with spirits and seeks the help of a disheartened child psychologist (Crowe). Crowe's wife and himself then discover that they are not alone at home; a young man appears brandishing a gun. He says that he does not want to be afraid anymore and accuses Crowe of failing him. Crowe recognizes him as Vincent Gray, a former patient whom he treated as a child for hallucinations. Gray shoots Crowe in the abdomen. However, several months later, Crowe comes across another ill patient called Cole who can see dead people. Both thrillers clearly have different plots that relate to their sub-genre. The stereotypical psychological thriller elements tend to be related to the mind or processes of the mind; they are mental rather than physical in nature. Usually, this conflict is an effort to understand something that has happened to them. For example, in The Sixth Sense, Once Crowe earns the isolated boy's (Cole) trust, Cole eventually confides in him that he "sees dead people... walking around like regular people". One that tries to hurt Cole is only heard as a voice who pleads with Cole to let him out of a dark cupboard, then yells that he didn't steal "the Master's horse" and threatens to attack Cole. These conflicts are made more vivid with physical expressions of the conflict in the means of either physical manifestations, or physical torsions of the characters at play.

The title of the action film "Taken" corresponds with the main story line in the film, considering the daughter is kidnapped and "taken" from her home. The title is not very creative and quite predictable with the main plot of the story line. On the other hand, the psychological film The Sixth Sense is obscure and ambiguous for the audience. The "Sixth Sense" could relate to many different plots, which creates suspense and mystery for the public. One clue of the plot is that, humans have five senses; taste, smell, site, sound and feel. The sixth sense could relate to the characters being able to interact with ghosts. The way the story behind the title unravels in psychological films is far more interesting and appealing to the viewers as compared to those in the action films that are quite apparent and clear. 

The protagonist in Taken is Former U.S.Central Intelligence Agency operative Bryan Mills who plays the role of a detached father and a security operative. He has been absent for most of his daughters life but is keen to protect her when she wants to go on holiday to Paris with her friend Amanda. Little does he know, the daughter is lying as she is going to follow U2 during their European tour. Bryan plays the stereotypical innocent father that would do anything to make his daughter happy.

Similarly, the protagonist in the Sixth Sense is DR. Malcolm Crowe, a child psychologist who is married. Both protagonists in Taken and The Sixth Sense are job orientated and live relatively normal day-to-day life. The role of the protagonist in the Sixth Sense is to help young children who have an illness. However, at the end of the film, the audience acknowledge when Crowe returns to his home, where he finds his wife asleep on the couch with the couple's wedding video playing, not for the first time, as she sleeps, Anna's hand releases Malcolm's wedding ring (which he suddenly discovers he has not been wearing), revealing to Crowe that he was actually killed by Vincent and was unknowingly dead the entire time he was working with Cole. 

The sixth sense opening scene used four micro areas of camera work, sound, editing and mise-en-scene to express the genre of pyschological thriller. The music that fades in at 20 seconds, gives an eery and spooky taste to the film. The music is parallel to the antique and frightening castles and houses. The music continues throughout the whole opening sequence which portrays a negative and terrifying atmosphere. Each setting is edited to have transitions of fade out to black and then fade in from black to the surroundings. This gives enigmas to the audience in determining why the main focus is about castles and a house. The frame has a peep-whole illusion with a black background, this gives the effect that the audience are stalking the house. The long shot duration of the large white house gives the feel that the house is sentimental and a main object in the plot. Colour is used for mise-en-scene. Colour such as black and white scenes are used to give an eery and past-time period.