Bad reviews of Shyamlan's 'The Happening' due to racism?

Can it be a kind of racism that the Indian-born, Philadelphia-raised auteur is hammered for his apparent character (or funny name) rather more than, say, Quentin Tarantino or Spike Lee, asks horror scholar Kim Newman in an article for British daily The Guardian Monday, June 16.

Within a couple of hours after publishing the article Newman received bulk mail on the Guardian's site denouncing his theory of racism. So, is there any substance in Newman's allegation? India-EU Film Initiative investigates.

Happening is a Box Office success

Manoj Night Shyamalan's The Happening grossed an estimated three-day worldwide gross of $62 million- quite impressive if you look at the nasty reviews he received in the US.

'The Happening' 2008 by Manoj Night ShyamalanThe film, produced by India's UTV Motion Pictures and Fox Searchlight, beat the $150 million 'The Incredible Hulk', the number one film in North America, in foreign markets. But to put things in perspective, Hulk opened in 39 territories while Happening was showing in 88 markets, writes Arthur J Pais in New York for The Rediff.
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With the $30 million weekend gross in North America, Happening far outweighed the dismal opening of Shyamalan's previous film 'Lady In The Water', which made just about $36 million in its entire run and sank in foreign markets too.

In North America, Hulk grossed about $53 million; Happening was number three on the North American box office charts. It followed the comedy hit, Kung Fu Panda, which in its second weekend collected $32 million. By all comparisons 'Happening' is doing very well at the box office.

So what's wrong with most of the American film critics?

Do the critics have a problem with Shyamalan? According to Hollywood observers, Shyamalan has annoyed the big bosses in Hollywood. Even the film establishment, including some top film critics, are angry with him for his 'arrogance'. He has been called 'an egomaniacal spoilt brat who truly believes he is the next Spielberg'.

'Shyamalan bit the hand that fed him'

Observers say 'Shyamalan bit the hand that fed him'. The hate campaign against him started with a tell-all book, The Man Who Heard Voices: Or, How M. Night Shyamalan Risked His Career on a Fairy Tale, which he endorsed with his film, Lady in the Water.

Written by Sports Illustrated journalist Michael Bamberger, the book shocked top bosses of Hollywood. It detailed an account of the acrimonious break-up between Shyamalan and Walt Disney, the movie studio that was his partner. The book quoted Shyamalan on some of the subjects that are considered a taboo in the American film circles and made many people unhappy.

Happening is not bad

But there are many who believe the critics have been too harsh on Shyamlan's 'Happening'. Newman writes in the Guardian: The premise of M Night Shyamalan's latest paranormal thriller is no more bizarre than any other apocalypse fiction (Arthur Machen's The Terror is about butterflies for goodness' sake). If the film isn't viewed with hostility from the fade-in, it's an effective, mid-ranking genre picture. Mark Wahlberg isn't the strongest leading man, but the rest of the cast are fine, and its puzzled, panicky characters act in a more or less credible manner.

Shyamalan stages set-pieces, such as a chain of suicides, perfectly. Compared with, say, The Invasion (the Nicole Kidman remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers) or Michael Haneke's annoying Time of the Wolf, it's solid, acceptable work.

Yet it opened last week to near-universal derision in America and Britain, earning scornful reviews and (if one pays attention to such things) jeering, contemptuous internet postings (the critics, at least, had seen the film; many bloggers clearly had not), writes Newman.

One studio executive Jegeus told Variety: "There's a real disconnect between critics and audiences, who are responding well to a very watchable film.

He does not play by studio rules

Allison Hope Weiner writing for the New York Times says: He also has not been able to undo his reputation in Hollywood as a talented filmmaker who will not play by studio rules. After the success of The Sixth Sense, he criticised Disney executives, dared to compare his talent to Steven Spielberg's and Alfred Hitchcock's and has steadfastly asserted his reputation as an outsider by refusing to move from Philadelphia to Hollywood.

His outsider persona continued to work for him, so long as the films The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable and Signs continued to make money. But when his films started to falter at the box-office — his last movie, Lady in the Water, was drubbed by critics and ignored by moviegoers — the Hollywood establishment's support began to wane.