Shocking Revelations

Pssst . . . Watch out.  Ghosts live with us . . . in fiction.  M. Night Shyamalon's The Sixth Sense explores the supernatural present in the world, co-existing with the living on earth.  Shyamalon shakes up his take on a story of ghosts, haunting one human being:  a young boy. 

 

Now I have seen movies with ghosts as a child in South Korea —female ghosts that have long ebon tresses are drenched in water in a long white gown which hangs on their bodies and comes back to haunt, to avenge their male chauvinist masters who has done one of many things—drowned, wronged and mistreated them.  Western or American audiences may also be familiar with another haunting ghost from the American remake of Japanese film, The Ring, where the original Japanese thriller has been recreated for a western audience.  Then you can find a romanticized version; and audiences buy into our culture filled with love, with romance.  Love is a reoccurring theme which drives sales and attracts readership and viewership.  The most watched ghost movie that has been romanticized especially for audiences is the 1990 mega-hit Ghost, rated PG-13 but controversial at first in original screening from the passionate lovemaking scene.  Demi Moore crafts her pottery to a musical tune of Righteous Brothers as Patrick Swayze comes close behind her, embracing, making art out of clay, in the middle of the night. 

Shyamalon's story builds suspense throughout the movie.  Young audiences are not ready for what he has in store.  The plot twist of the story is saved . . .  til the end.  Shyamalon wrote the story, and as a writer, the plot twist, the shocking revelation is reserved until the end.  The writing style is reminiscent of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude where the last lineage of the family line finds his fate at the story’s conclusion.  A script written by his descendant, he reads its conclusion right when the hurricane hovers to his house.  The irony of it all.  Plot twists, reversals, shocking revelations are used by the writer for one sole purpose:  to engage the attention of the reader.  Shyamalon does a good job of using his shocking revelation by saving, disclosing it at the end.  And the young audiences respond.  I watched the movie on rental by a word-of-mouth that stems down to a friendly male acquaintance and re-watching it now, I have a different perspective as a writer.  Shyamalon mentions not many roles are available for Indian actors (come to think of it) not many are there for Asian actors and filmmakers.  What can you think of?  Asian society often does not encourage a profession to pursue creative endeavors, as it has often been discouraged.  Few actors which comes to my mind:  Zhang Ziyi, Lucy Liu, Kelly Hu.  Hu is in the movie, The Scorpion King, starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.  Also, what may be marketable for Asian audiences may be unmarketable for Western audiences.  Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon may be loved by many Asian audiences and the movie made it to mainstream movie audience in U.S., but American audiences may have a hard time getting the underlying connotations in Asian culture.  For example, some young male American viewers cannot comprehend the ending.  But Asian viewers get the movie’s ending.  What am I referencing exactly?  Watch Crouching Tiger and you will soon find that Ziyi's character willingly, voluntarily lets herself fall at the zenith of the mountain.  After achieving, winning against all her tough opponents, even developing arrogance about her, she lets herself fall freely down from the pinnacle of a mountain, at the height of all her achievements.  As gusts of winds brush alongside her, she finally lets go of her one main trait that has led her to the top—her egotism.  The finale is certainly contrary to the American values of winning, winning and winning.

Here is a poem of grievances, loss of loved ones, inspired by the movie, the story, the suffering Bruce Willis's character's wife undergoes in the movie.  Willis's character haunts his wife as a ghost.  Shyamalon has said in an interview that he was going through a dark period in his life when he wrote the story, so I wrote the poem with an underlying, dark tone.  And as always, plan for always and protect your loved ones.  Prepare your family. Teach them about coping with grievances.  Visit my business page on Facebook for more tips:  https://www.facebook.com/pg/EllenLimNLG    

 

 Hailstones

 

Hailstones weighing a ton fell incessantly from the blackened sky,

Behind the halting day you were lost before my eyes,

Stormy days followed, skies shrilled with hail hard,

For months, pounding on, a harrowing waft,

Searing pain, your act pierced and stabbed like knives,

 

 

Weighing a ton, a shrapnel of tin metal on my brow, jowl hie,

Boggler quashed crystal heirloom to the bottom of mine,

In the hinterland, the crystal smashed so profound,

Hailstones weighing a ton fell incessantly from the blackened sky,

 

 

Last dash of the echoing in the deep like the brine,

And you and all, every part, effaced in the white light,

Once and for all, I shut the lid on the head of the dark cloud,

And left behind the storm which has gone on the load,

To beatific Palestine with no cries, more to my likes,

Hailstones weighing a ton fell incessantly from the blackened sky.