M Night Shyamalan Unbreakable Stereotypes

The film Unbreakable, Directed and written by M. Night Shyamalan, is an origin story following the lives of two main characters who lead opposite lives. As it is an origin story, of villains and heroes, it follows many tropes and ideas commonly used to portray this genre. This film takes quite a traditional approach to Hero’s and Villains, using comic books as inspiration for techniques and stereotypes.

The types of characters found within this film can each be attributed to a stereotyped character from traditional comics. As with most Superhero/ Villain based stories, the line-up of characters include; a villain, a hero, a sidekick and a love interest. The main protagonist of this story is David Dun, an everyday hero, working as a security

Naming is also a feature used to identify the villain within this type of story. In ‘Unbreakable’, Elijah Price fills the stock character role of the villain. From the introduction of his character he mentions about ‘the kids’ calling him ‘Mr Glass’. Through his actions throughout the film, this childhood nickname becomes his ‘villain name’. When people are addressed using titles such as ‘Mr’ it identifies them as someone who is of a higher rank or to show respect. This is fitting to villain type characters as they often see themselves as being superior in some way and is commonly used e.g. Dr. Doom and Mr. Freeze. Elijah also follows this villain character trope, as he was a fragile character he was always waited on so expects to be treated better than most people are generally treated. As in most films in this genre the villain provides direct contrast to the hero, the characters are after as different as good vs. evil, which is shown in this film through the contrast between David and Elijah. David lives with a wife and kids whereas Elijah lives alone, with his only real

The journey that David takes to realise his situation is paved with tropes often found in Superhero films. The fact that his realisation comes from a major incident which somewhat forces him into the realisation of his ‘powers’. The major event experienced by David was the devastation train crash, which left him as the sole survivor showing no damage from impact. As is the case with many Hero films the main catalyst whish caused the hero to realise their powers (or in some cases causes the hero’s to develop powers) has a direct link to the Villain. An example of this from mainstream Superhero films would be Spiderman, who received his powers as a result of being bitten by a radioactive spider at the OsCorp building, the owner of which is not only his best friend’s father, Norman Osbourne, but he will also go one to be one of Spiderman’s main protagonists, The Green