# M. Night fans, cross your fingers: "The Happening" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 21, 2007, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-night-fans-cross-your-fingers-the-happening/419963 "2007-09-21T05:11:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/51bf81/32.png) [@TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2008, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-night-fans-cross-your-fingers-the-happening/419963/41 "2008-02-06T00:03:05Z")
[QUOTE=ArchiveGuy] [Here’s the trailer](http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Trailer-For-Shyamalan-s-Happening-7697.html). booga-booga-booga! 😛 [/QUOTE] Oh man, it’s like he’s not even trying. ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2008, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-night-fans-cross-your-fingers-the-happening/419963/42 "2008-02-06T00:45:43Z")
I apologise for inserting a trivial question, but can anyone enlighten me as to how M Night _Shyamalan_ is pronounced? ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2008, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-night-fans-cross-your-fingers-the-happening/419963/43 "2008-02-06T00:49:35Z")
[QUOTE=ianzin] I apologise for inserting a trivial question, but can anyone enlighten me as to how M Night _Shyamalan_ is pronounced? [/QUOTE] As far as I know, Shaw/Ma/Lawn. I may be wrong though. (My cats name is M Night Shaymeowlan.) ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2008, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-night-fans-cross-your-fingers-the-happening/419963/44 "2008-02-06T01:29:14Z")
[QUOTE=Antinor01] As far as I know, Shaw/Ma/Lawn. I may be wrong though. (My cats name is M Night Shaymeowlan.) [/QUOTE] Wikipedia says “/'ʃæ.mæ.lɔːn/”, but I have no idea how that’s pronounced either beyond being able to tell that my guess, shy-uh-mah-lun, was wrong. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2008, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-night-fans-cross-your-fingers-the-happening/419963/45 "2008-02-06T01:34:29Z")
I can’t wait. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2008, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-night-fans-cross-your-fingers-the-happening/419963/46 "2008-02-06T01:47:48Z")
[QUOTE=TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW] Oh man, it’s like he’s not even trying. [/QUOTE] Neither are you. What do you mean? It looks very interesting to me from the trailer. Not saying it might not suck. It is afterall just a short teaser trailer. But nothing about the trailer says “not even trying” to me. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2008, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-night-fans-cross-your-fingers-the-happening/419963/47 "2008-02-06T07:01:33Z")
[QUOTE=Szlater] [What a twist!](http://www.youtube.com/v/C03Rn9EWobY) [/QUOTE] FYI, this link goes directly to a soundfile. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2008, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-night-fans-cross-your-fingers-the-happening/419963/48 "2008-02-06T07:06:38Z")
[QUOTE=TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW] Oh man, it’s like he’s not even trying. [/QUOTE] That was my thought. How much mileage are we gonna squeeze out of _28 Days Late_r? First we get _I Am Legend_, and then this third remake in, what, less than 5 years? Gets old people. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2008, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-night-fans-cross-your-fingers-the-happening/419963/49 "2008-02-06T12:46:21Z")
M. Night Shyamalan bothers me. He’s a talented director and writer who can set up scenes and draw you in. But he invariably does something – usually hanging the entire plot on assumptionsd so gut-stupid as to be absurd – that invariably send me away groaning, as if reacting to an extremely bad pun. It has gotten to the point where I didn’t even want to go see Lady in the Water. I didn’t even watch the whole thing when it showed up on my cable channel. This has nothing to do with being “highbrow”, or my expectations from earlier films, or my looking for a “twist”. I would’ve groaned at “Signs” and “The Village” even if The Sixth Sense had never existed. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2008, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-night-fans-cross-your-fingers-the-happening/419963/50 "2008-02-06T13:57:38Z")
What I think would serve him well would be to direct someone else’s script. This worked fantastically, for me at least, when Spike Lee directed _Inside Man_. Would ease expectations of the “twist”, let Shyamalan create the visuals, atmosphere and pacing which he does well, and leave the story, for the most part, alone, except for the way it is told. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2008, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-night-fans-cross-your-fingers-the-happening/419963/51 "2008-02-06T14:14:07Z")
[QUOTE=jackdavinci] And then the endless jabs at (and eventual murder of!) the movie critic! [/QUOTE] Who was _right all along_! ---
**Author:** ![Rachael\_Rage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71c47a/32.png) [@Rachael\_Rage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachael_Rage)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-night-fans-cross-your-fingers-the-happening/419963/52 "2008-06-04T14:43:48Z")
I’ve un-zombified due to the new red-band trailer they’ve been showing. My guess is that Marketing is upping the gore appeal to distract from what at first seems the most idiotic premise _evah_ (which was reported in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=9849204#post9849204) and supported by [this review of an earlier spec script which matches the trailer note for note](http://web.archive.org/web/20070808001852/http://www.latinoreview.com/scriptreview.php?id=49); WARNING: many, many spoilers!): Plants and trees emit a toxic gas which causes humans to commit suicide Now, OK, that sounds completely :rolleyes:, but I am starting to think that it is not necessarily a deal-breaker. Especially if you don’t think of it as a “twist” so much as the set-up for the end of Act I. I mean, the real story is how this group of people (specifically Wahlberg, estranged wife, and various redshirts) manage to deal with an un-fightable enemy. In other words, there is hope for a bloodier, potentially less silly **Signs**. Sure, I’m very :dubious:, but I have to say the trailers are…intriguing. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-night-fans-cross-your-fingers-the-happening/419963/53 "2008-06-04T14:55:03Z")
[QUOTE=Ellis Dee] I like both Wahlberg brothers, but I think it’s a stretch to call Mark a “young” actor considering he was [born in 1971](http://imdb.com/name/nm0000242/). [/QUOTE] _That’s still young, damnit!! 37 or 38 is still young!!_ ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-night-fans-cross-your-fingers-the-happening/419963/54 "2008-06-04T18:40:01Z")
I like M Night for two main reasons: 1. He crafts and builds suspense flawlessly. Even using the silly premise of mermaids pursued by invisible dogs in bland apartment complexes, he has me on the edge of my seat. He is a master of only showing enough details to scare and tantalize, while letting the audience’s imaginations scare itself with the unknowns. 2. He always gets wonderfully immersive performances out of his actors, his actors genuinely portray convincing characters, instead of becoming “Samuel L doing Samuel L again”. Clint Eastwood is the only other director I know of that gets such high results from his actors. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-night-fans-cross-your-fingers-the-happening/419963/55 "2008-06-04T18:42:11Z")
[QUOTE=Rachael Rage] Plants and trees emit a toxic gas which causes humans to commit suicide [/QUOTE] Ronald Reagan was right! ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-night-fans-cross-your-fingers-the-happening/419963/56 "2008-06-04T19:01:45Z")
[QUOTE=Rachael Rage] Plants and trees emit a toxic gas which causes humans to commit suicide [/QUOTE] As I said in this thread, many months ago: pretty good director, but his scripts have gotten shittier and shittier. Everybody who has seen the movie, in test screenings and such, says the premise you’ve spoilered is just incredibly, incredibly stupid. Basically, it’sthe revenge of the plant kingdomand nobody has been able to take it seriously. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-night-fans-cross-your-fingers-the-happening/419963/57 "2008-06-04T19:56:54Z")
[QUOTE=Elendil’s Heir] After it was mercilessly panned, here and by pro reviewers, I didn’t see _Lady in the Water_. But I generally like his stuff. _The Sixth Sense_ is and always will be a masterpiece. Great cast, script, plot, twist, etc. _Unbreakable_ and _The Village_ were both pretty good, I thought. \*\*_Signs_ was just silly (I know it’s a parable \*\* and all, but I still can’t get over an alien race capable of interstellar travel invading a world with so much, you know, water). I’m hopeful that M. Night can do something good with _The Happening_ (from the title, it sounds like it’s going to be about a hippy party, though). [/QUOTE] Question about the bolded part. Can someone please explain to me how or why or what the parable is to Signs? I thought it an ok movie good enough to entertain me for a couple of hours but I don’t see a parable thing going on. I guess I should add something about the topic. The Happening looks like it could be a good movie, yes I’ve read the spoilers which makes it more interesting to me, and I will definitely be seeing it. ---
**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-night-fans-cross-your-fingers-the-happening/419963/58 "2008-06-04T20:03:32Z")
> [@](#): > > Can someone please explain to me how or why or what the parable is to Signs? I thought it an ok movie good enough to entertain me for a couple of hours but I don’t see a parable thing going on. Here’s the theory as I understand it. The real story is a man’s path toward redemption. Confronting the turmoil inside him, learning life’s lesson, and coming out of it a better man. The aliens are essentially a McGuffin. It could have been a flood, tornado hit the farm, kid dies of Scarlet Fever, whatever. The movie is not \*about \* the aliens, they just serve to drive the main characters’ actions which lead toward the abovementioned redemption. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-night-fans-cross-your-fingers-the-happening/419963/59 "2008-06-04T20:13:52Z")
[QUOTE=divemaster] Here’s the theory as I understand it. The real story is a man’s path toward redemption. Confronting the turmoil inside him, learning life’s lesson, and coming out of it a better man. The aliens are essentially a McGuffin. It could have been a flood, tornado hit the farm, kid dies of Scarlet Fever, whatever. The movie is not \*about \* the aliens, they just serve to drive the main characters’ actions which lead toward the abovementioned redemption. [/QUOTE] Ok, that makes sense. Thanks for the quick reply. ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-night-fans-cross-your-fingers-the-happening/419963/60 "2008-06-04T20:19:20Z")
[QUOTE=Cervaise] As I said in this thread, many months ago: pretty good director, but his scripts have gotten shittier and shittier. Everybody who has seen the movie, in test screenings and such, says the premise you’ve spoilered is just incredibly, incredibly stupid. Basically, it’sthe revenge of the plant kingdomand nobody has been able to take it seriously. [/QUOTE] You’ve got to be kidding me. It’s really that lame? Great, and my SO is going to drag me to it. Ah well, at least I’ll get my revenge beforehand by making him go see Sex and the City. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-night-fans-cross-your-fingers-the-happening/419963.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-night-fans-cross-your-fingers-the-happening/419963.md?page=4)