Ghosts and Demons

¶ … supernatural elements of film and story can be both different and similar. Movies and novels that portray elements of horror and paranormal like ghosts and demons do so in a way that evokes suspense, fear, and a sense of surreal. The movie, The Sixth Sense, directed by M. Night Shyamalan and the novel, The Demonologist written by Andrew Pyper shows ghosts and the supernatural as a means of communication from the afterlife or "other side" and the waking life.

Although The Sixth Sense focuses on ghosts and The Demonologist focuses on demons, the way in which the writer/director forms the story share similar concepts. Pyper creates a protagonist in David who is a skeptic of the existence of the supernatural. As explained on page 7: "A demon expert who believes evil to be a manmade invention." (Pyper 7) His skepticism is born of that of never having truly witnessed an occurrence of the supernatural and believing the "demons" of the world are merely just the evil behavior of people.

Throughout the story his skepticism dwindles as he begins to see more and more of these "rare" occurrences and questions his initial beliefs. A book reviewer states Satan who knew of David in the story as a skeptic, wished to prove to the world of the existence of demons and convince them, much like he did David to believe in them.

"Also implied is that the big daddy of demons, Satan, wants to use David as an emissary to prove his existence to a doubting globe, with the recorded video of the possessed man as proof" (Maloney). The review does a good of illustrating the growing belief David gains as he moves deeper into the chasm, and slowly but surely gains evidence that challenges his initial skepticism much like the skepticism originally felt by Dr. Malcolm Crowe in The Sixth Sense is a common link between both works.

Many people attest to the belief of demons and ghosts, however many more believe them to be fake. These two works try to prove at least to the characters within their respective stories that the supernatural is real. One of the few times Pyper mentions ghosts in the book is when the character stretches. "I get up to stretch my legs. The jet humming and whistling, soothing as a mechanical womb.

This, and the sleeping passengers on either side of me, give the odd impression that I am a transatlantic ghost, hurtling through space…" (Pyper 39) Ghosts unlike the demons explained in the novel, are given very little time with just a feeling or movement describing a ghost. The Sixth Sense makes it feel as though ghosts are a part of everyday life unbeknownst to the waking world whereas here in The Demonologist, it is only a small sliver of the waking world.

On page 157 of Pyper's novel, he explains the origins of demonic power. "Clearly my demon wished to demonstrate his power in this way. To prove its intellect as much as its ability to possess, to steal" (Pyper 157) He states they do not come from evil, but rather, from "knowing things." In fact demons were considered earth wardens who tested man's faith and were devoted servants of God. Demons in this sense much like ghosts in the film are given new identities.

Instead of demons being portrayed as simply evil, they are shown in a varied light. Ghosts also were shown differently in The Sixth Sense as Malcolm was a ghost all along when speaking with Cole. He in essence seemed like a regular person who did not believe in ghosts, when in actuality, he himself was the ghost, the things that was supposed to seem jarring. Many scenes in both stories see jarring. One scene in the novel in particular explains how to communicate with a demon.

"Our demon- it doesn't say who it is because it's not able to. But if you are able to determine its name and say it aloud, it opens a channel for it somehow. Through." (Pyper 202) This, yet another difference between the movie and the book, is communication of the supernatural. People in respects to demons can summon them, communicate with them. In the movie, ghosts are not summoned. They exist because they have unfinished business and talk to anyone who can listen.

Another important monologue from the film where Cole discusses what a ghost told him cements the point that communication between ghosts and people, at least in the film's world is limited: Cole: She wanted me to tell you she saw you dance. She said, when you were little, you and she.