After researching colour in more depth, I decided to research the idea of the colour in Sixth Sense, merely because I like the film and didn't really read into colour beforehand.
This time I watched the film alone, and tried to focus on the symbolic appearance of the colour red throughout. In regard to the film as a whole, the colour palette us quite muted, dull colours until the certain scenes where the bright red sticks and stands out from the rest of the features on the screen. I decided to research into the use of red further, and found that the colour symbolises 'anything in the real world that has been tainted by the other world' as well as used to connote the emotional situations and moments throughout the film. This is the most obvious theory behind the colour scheme.
The first two sections of red I noticed where these above, the red balloon and Cole's red jumper at the party. These two features of red both pre-empt the ghost sobbing in the wall. There is also a theory that the rising of the red balloon towards the light through the centre of a spiral staircase represents a religious approach - a spirit rising up to God, with the staircase used as representation of the journey of the spirit's life.
In regard to Cole's jumper, I feel that this could be a representation of the character's position/situation at this point of the film. He's uncertain and naive to everything going on around him, however still finds himself drawn to the voices he hears.
Red is the colour used to represent the spirit world, and so by wearing it himself, he is drawing the spirits to him. Throughout the rest of the film where we see Cole wearing duller colours are definitely a conscious choice. It almost represents his acceptance of his 'ability' and now doesn't want to draw any unnecessary attention to himself, meaning he's more in control towards the end of the piece.
Another feature of red I noticed was the character Anna. After the passing of Malcolm (her husband), the character constantly wears red. However she wears a variety of shades, which I believe to be changes within her psychological state throughout, and how strongly she feels the presence of her husband. There is a red book she gives to her 'date', the red is dull, almost brown, which signifies (narratively) that the character is letting go and moving on from the death of Malcolm. The colours used on the character are rarely aggressive, as I believe that Malcolm's presence doesn't want to harm Anna, the only exceptions being when she wears a very bright red to the anniversary dinner, and the red of her antidepressants.
During the dinner scene, we see Malcolm talk directly to her while she's awake, which he doesn't do - however this is more stressful and argumentative. 'He interprets her demeanour as bitter and dismissive, and so reacts to this with negativity'.
I believe the pills themselves are bright red as they embody the sadness she has left over from the death. Another point is that Malcolm talks to Anna when she sleeps and she has a red cardigan/shawl over her, however the colour is soft.
I definitely didn't realise how much red that imprinted itself into the importance of the film, there are so many different scenes are the colour can be interpreted to foreshadow the storyline. Another (shown above) is the scene with Kyra's cards on the fireplace, which are mostly written on a red card. At the funeral, her mother wore a bright red lipstick and suit, there is red roses, candles, and the coffin itself was wrapped in a red velvet ribbon. Seems almost an overdose of red colour, however it allows you to understand its concept on a simple level. The first time I watched this, the woman in red stood out immediately, which made me question the character straightaway. She suffers a different haunting than Anna. Since she played a part in her daughter's death, she's obtained a relationship with the 'other side', which is represented by the amount of red revolving around this one character.
Throughout the rest of the film, there are obvious instances of red, such as above, the door handle, as well as the red pen Cole uses to scribble down the voices of the ghosts. These uses of red are all rather straightforward nods towards how much influence the spirit world has on the realworld. All of the sections I've researched clearly show that the colour red is used to simply represent the colour of the spirit world - ghosts trapped in limbo, the anger culminating in a flash of bright colour to connote their desperation to be heard and understood.
Their voices are red, with bitterness and anguish, and when they wear red themselves, their desire to be seen is taken to a completely new level, thus revealing their selfishness.
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The red may represent the anger and desperation of the spirit world, however there are also obvious features that I feel link to sanctuary and religion. For example the statue Cole steals is wearing a red cloak and the stone of the sword he uses at the ending has a bright ruby colour at the end. Also, Cole's mother wears reds at one of their closest moments throughout the entire film, and this is obvious because she rarely wears the colour throughout the rest of the film. So maybe, the colour here is representing her and Cole's relationship, as well as his desperation for sanctuary.
There's also scenes where Cole runs away to places of safety, the church and the tent. The Church doors are bright red, as is the tent:
This is where it contradicts itself. The colour red is used both for the danger of the spirit world and the ghosts within it, as well as safety and refuge. This does link to the understanding of contradictions within the religion and it's promises. For example, Cole's understanding of religion is only simple, as he sees the church merely as an escape from the hauntings, and yet he enters one of the most spiritual places he could have gone to.
Similar to this, the tent he uses is his 'home-escape', and yet they used the colour that would most definitely attract the spirits to him. In a way he wants to hide behind the positivity of religion, and ignore all the darkness within it, therefore ignoring the problem he's currently facing in his life. It isn't until he accepts his gift that he learns to deal with it and control it, by helping ghosts pass on, that becomes less drawn to the 'red' spaces.
The last scene of him in the church sees him stood in front of a stained glass window, with colours such as yellow and pink, but no red at all. He has learnt a life of balance, and therefore the extremes of the colour palette seem to have died down and do not reappear. This isn't saying that the red is used to represent childishness, but more about being out-of-control.
Red is impressively powerful throughout this film, and I'm almost mad at myself for not allowing myself to understand the full extent of the palette the previous time I watched the film. However, this is a very clever and simple method of using the colour red throughout film.
