Failure Saved His Career

After the smashing success of The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, and Signs, as we all know, Shyamalan tripped up a bit. I still liked The Village and The Visit myself, but I was in the minority. The Happening, Lady in the Water, and The Last Airbender were all failures however. At first, this failure made me expect his career to fall apart and disappear into obscurity.

Failure actually boosted his career if you ask me. Yes, it was torture to see the mastermind behind those first three fantastic movies become a laughingstock. But failure may have been exactly what Shyamalan would have wanted: destiny and fate to intervene and change his entire career. Destiny, fate, coincidence, and faith are all common undercurrents of Shyamalan's films.

Let's pretend that The Village and Lady in the Water were just as loved and successful as the Sixth Sense or Unbreakable. Shyamalan would have become the new Spielberg. That's not a bad thing at all, but it's not what Shyamalan is meant for. Small, ambitious projects boosted Shyamalan to his highest peak. The mainstream would have put him down a path of total rebirth. Not a bad thing, again, but not his strength. Ambition would have had to be replaced with crowd-pleasing popcorn movies in which the studio would control his unique talent like a puppet.

Now think of what really happened. Failure led to his own rebirth, on his own terms. He lost his footing. Every massive loss can lead to an even greater comeback. Shyamalan was an underdog and he made his own revenge to counter the doubters of all these years: Split.

Split was a personal project. An ambitious, unique, nuanced movie which required full audience respect and attention. Not to mention that the end and all that it implied would've never happened if he didn't get a taste of failure. He now has no fear. He has ventured into each side of the Hollywood success spectrum. Personal projects and new, fascinating stories are sure to be told for a while now from Shyamalan.

Even if Split is Shyamalan's last great movie, it's time he is respected for his accomplishments. There are few talented directors working right now that are willing to take a leap of faith as monstrous as Shyamalan.