M. Night's Unbreakable: Symbolism In Film

Sebastian Giraldo
ENC 1102
Prof. Hyde
5 December 2014
Symbolism within Unbreakable
Symbolism is important in film because it is used as a physical representation of another idea or object. The definition of a symbol is something that represents something else by association, resemblance, or convention, especially a material object used to represent something invisible. For example, a lion symbol is used to represent courage and strength while the color red is used to represent love, violence, anger, and seduction. In M. Night Shyamalan’s film Unbreakable (2000) he uses three symbols to represent, weakness, good vs. evil, and fragility. M. night uses water as a sign of weakness for David just like Kryptonite is to Superman, color is also

used to distinguish the hero vs. the villain and glass breaking and mirrors are used to symbolize Elijah’s fragile bone structure.
One symbol M.

Night Shyamalan uses in this film is water. This is an incidental symbol which simply means a thing or action that would ordinarily have no deeper meaning but has one in a particular story. In this particular film, Shyamalan uses water as a sign of weakness for the main superhero character David who seems to be immune to getting sick or hurt except for when he is exposed to water. It is not that David is vulnerable to water, it is simply that he is subject to drowning like any normal person. If David were to drink water too fast he would choke on it and if he was to be submerged in water he would drown. When David was a child he had an incidental drowning which made him phobic to water. Davids dense bone structure makes him a poor swimmer. The director used water a symbol of weakness for David because every traditional superhero has a weakness so he wanted to emphasize that into his character to make it more realistic. In one scene David tells Elijah the story of him almost drowning showing him that he can get hurt. Elijah tells him that every super hero has a weakness (Shyamalan). Davids kryptonite is water. Like, water from the icy roads and water from the pool. Towards the end of the film, David fell into a pool and almost drowned after the man in the orange jumpsuit pushed him off a balcony only to be rescued by the two girls he had saved earlier

(Shyamalan).
In Unbreakable, the colors green and purple are used as homage to the comic book-like story, and also to clearly define the protagonist and antagonist from a film. Just like in comic books, the main characters have certain color schemes which pertain to each of them individually. Color is used in Unbreakable to represent good and evil. This is a traditional symbol, meaning it is something most people of a culture recognize as possessing a shared symbolic meaning. David who is the superhero of the film is closely connected to the color green throughout the movie much like other superheroes such as, Green Lantern, Green Arrow and The Hulk. Also when David senses that someone has done wrong or is planning on doing something bad they appear wearing bright colors to make them stand out. Elijah’s color is blue and purple which seems to represent his villainous characteristic. The colors show up in the characters clothing their houses walls and even their bed sheets also Elijah's note to David and many other personal items. M. Night Shyamalan is very much known for using color for symbolism. I believe people that watch his movies pay close attention to the reoccurring color schemes and try to depict the meaning behind it.
Glass breaking and mirrors were also referenced throughout the movie and were used to portray Elijah’s fragile bones and painful suffering, emotionally and physically. Elijah, played by Samuel L. Jackson is nicknamed Mr. Glass, and is shown during several stages of his life through reflections. For example, he is first shown through a mirror after he is born, then on a television screen when he is 10 years old, and on a framed picture when he is in adulthood (Scott). I believe this to be a private/traditional symbol because the director has his/her own personal meaning for this symbol but it can also be traditionally tied to tragedy for most people

Overall, symbolism can be found in many films and are used to express certain ideas or objects. The movie Unbreakable has various symbols within the film, but three symbols that are a big part of the film are the color schemes, water as a sign of weakness and glass/mirrors. Like many superheroes David’s color is green, such as Green Arrow and The Hulk, while Elijah’s color is purple like villains such as Magneto. Water was used in the film by the director as Davids sign for weakness. This is because traditionally every superhero has a weakness to something much like Kryptonite is to Superman. Also, the mirrors shown throughout the film and the glass breaking are a reference for Elijah’s aka “Mr.Glass” fragility since he was born with extremely fragile bones making them prone to breaking. It was also a symbol suggesting