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PaperclipPerfector  1yr ago (text post)   3090 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for September 3, 2023

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

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A little pointless thing: I found a fairly benign, non-political, scissor statement. I was watching the Sixth Sense and wondered whether Cole knew Malcom was a ghost all along. My wife thought differently than me, fairly matter of factly. I took to the internet to see what others think. Everyone seems to have their own answer, with their own strong convictions, and they think everyone else is a moron for not seeing it their way. I personally could see it either way. I guess I always wanted to believe that Cole knew Malcom was dead, but also didn't think there was enough supporting evidence from the film to justify it. So I'm strangely more on the "he didn't know," side , even though I would rather the movie had convinced me that he did know. What do you think?

Cole knew, Malcolm himself did not. Thus the whole narrative structure upon which the film is based, the "gotcha" moment at the end, etc. For Cole to have announced it to him (and thus revealed to us all his prescience) would have ended the film before it started. Even at the end he tells Malcolm ghosts only see what they want to see and sometimes don't know they're dead. Cole is and has always been aware of all this. I agree with Raiders in that I cannot fathom anyone not thinking this.

The movie still works if both Malcom and Cole don't know he's dead. I don't see why the movie should hinge on Cole knowing anything about Malcom being dead or not.

Well there's obviously nuance or we wouldn't disagree. I'd argue the following support Cole knowing all along: The title itself; the repeated interactions where Cole is never once confused or unaware that he is interacting with a spirit; his repeated glances at his mother to see how/if she sees Malcolm (which I believe is why many viewed the film more than once, to check if Malcolm ever interacted with the mother as they had assumed); and finally their last interaction ("I'm not going to see you anymore, am I?") which suggests that now that Malcolm has made his peace, he will "move on" in a way that Cole has always expected him to do, but now knows is upon them.

Reading arguments for both sides, I kinda see the merit of both, and yet I can't see either of them winning and I am fine not knowing which of them is true - in fact, I prefer it as an open question. In general, I am completely fine with literature leaving questions open and undecidable - you are not nearly omniscient in the real world, nobody promised you'd be in the imaginary one either.

Sometimes I wonder how it would feel to have the same attitude about the political scissor questions. Hadn't managed to achieve this yet though.

This is a good scissor because I can't possibly see how someone could think that Cole didn't know.

Cole has been around dead people his whole life. Same way people have "gaydar", or like I can pick out members of my church (LDS) very easily, my guess is Cole is extremely attuned to the "vibes" of a dead person. Additionally, wouldn't he notice that nobody ever interacted with malcolm? Maybe he even noticed the blood. I guess yeah, maybe the film never literally states it but I can't even see in HJOs acting that there's ever a sudden realization! He basically explains all the rules to malcolm at the beginning!

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