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Review: "The Hunter""Inception" Interpretations. Film Blog Water Cooler 7/20/10
It's been a few days since "Inception" came out, and spoiler-friendly discussions are occurring all over the film blogosphere regarding interpretations of and theories about the movie's plot. We posted our own conversation prompt, including discussion questions, when it opened on Friday. At the time I had no definite answer or belief in any single explanation about the ending or much of what gets us there. Since then I've seen "Inception" a second time, and I'm still not certain which reading I accept as either the best analysis or even a favorite possibility, though I'm especially down with the idea that for the part of Ariadne (Ellen Page), Nolan was as much influenced by the anime film "Paprika" as the Greek myth from which she's named. She is quite inquisitive in a therapist sort of way.
Obviously this is a movie that we will be re-watching and contemplating for a long time to come. And the debate about the kids' casting, ages and clothing will likely continue until -- if ever -- Nolan clarifies.
So for now I open the floor to the other blogs as we navigate the maze of "Inception" interpretations. Share your own thoughts down below:
Peter Hall at Cinematical shares six interpretations (and five plot holes), though he admits to preferring the first, that all of "Inception" is a dream:
For me it all comes down to a simple question: What is our totem? We learn very early on that the one unimpeachable way to know whether or not you're in a dream world or the real world is to test your totem; an item whose behavior only a single individual can identify and predict. In the case of Cobb, it's his wife's spinning top. Arthur's is a single loaded dice. Ariadne's is a precisely weighted chess piece. But what is the audience's totem?
Hal Phillips, on eponymous blog, explores the idea that Ariadne is leading an inception on Cobb. Though I proposed this theory in my Spout About post, Phillips gives a good argument for it:
Ariadne presents her dream-self to Cobb as someone who will become his confidant. Because she is a neophyte, he can trust her. Because she relies on his guidance, he is not threatened by her. Because she is a prodigy, she can swiftly “learn” everything she needs to know without contradicting the above. And she is recommended to Cobb by Cobb’s mentor and father figure; we are told later that someone’s relationship with their father informs the path to their subconscious.
Adam Rosenberg at MTV Movies Blog takes the same route:
My initial response after a second viewing was yes, the whole thing was a dream. More than that, it was all an extended psychotherapy session for Cobb's benefit, to help him dispel his demons. Ariadne is either his therapist or a fabricated agent of the same. The strongest proof we have that the reality we're introduced to is in fact a dream state? Cobb's kids, who are apparently the same age in both his memories of them and his real life reunion.
Devin Faraci at CHUD also explores ideas I proposed in my Dreams and Movies post:
The film is a metaphor for the way that Nolan as a director works, and what he's ultimately saying is that the catharsis found in a dream is as real as the catharsis found in a movie is as real as the catharsis found in life. Inception is about making movies, and cinema is the shared dream that truly interests the director. [...] In a recent red carpet interview, Leonardo DiCaprio - who was important in helping Nolan get the script to the final stages - compares the movie not to The Matrix or some other mindfuck movie but Fellini's 8 1/2. This is probably the second most telling thing DiCaprio said during the publicity tour for the film, with the first being that he based Cobb on Nolan. 8 1/2 is totally autobiographical for Fellini, and it's all about an Italian director trying to overcome his block and make a movie (a science fiction movie, even). It's a film about filmmaking, and so is Inception.
Brad Brevet at Rope of Silicon has me a bit confused, which I guess is appropriate:
When Dom and Saito awake from limbo it is in fact reality, and Saito then makes a call clearing Dom's name. From here what we see is a dream. Dom can now dream again without the dream machine and he's dreaming of seeing his kids once again with the last memory of them he has. Perhaps it happens on the plane or is simply a dream his mind goes back to now and again, but it is a dream.
Rich Knight at Cinema Blend has Carl Jung in mind:
I think I definitely saw something of Jungian archetypes in all of the characters who interact with Leonardo DiCaprio's, Dom Cobb, in the movie. So much so, in fact, that I actually think ::Spoiler alert:: that the entire film might actually just be Dom Cobb's dream and that all of the main characters in it were just different segments of himself that had to concoct an elaborate mission just so he could reach some level of catharsis within himself.
Cole Abaius at Film School Rejects prefers the simple and literal interpretation, that the end is reality, aka the "waking world." But he also accepts the ambiguity:
Like dreams and their ephemeral meanings, Inception is not something that will fit neatly into any one box or any one interpretation. This may be Christopher Nolan’s vision, but he’s given the audience a lot of toys to play with and a lot of leeway to create what they thought the film was about. Was it about letting go? Was it about the nature of reality? Was it about returning home? Was it about the fulfillment of dreams? All of the above? None of the above?
Finally, "Lost" producer Damon Lindelof, via Twitter, got all Schrödinger-like:
There is a THIRD possibility -- It neither stopped... nor kept spinning. The story ended before either could happen. Discuss.
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47 Comments
Jim | June 16, 2012 8:45 AM
I started to lucid dream when I was on nightshift 20 years ago. Sleeeping during the day seems to increase either dream activity or the memory of dreams. During a lucid dream I can control many parameters but I need to know that I am dreaming for this to happen. If I forget the fact that I am dreaming then the dream runs it own course. I can't dream bigger gun to kill my enemy when the dream becomes too real because the dream is my reality and in reality you can't imagine a bigger gun into your hands at a moments notice. I loved the film because it questions reality and life. Maybe all of life is just a dream. Maybe we all wake up when we die.
John | March 28, 2012 3:38 AM
http://digestivepyrotechnics.blogspot.com/2012/03/inception.html
This has a few picures to help understand kicks and the dream levels.
Becca | February 10, 2012 5:40 PM
Check out this short film METAMORPHOSIS - reminds me of INCEPTION and MEMENTO. Would love to hear what you guys and girls think of it and what it all means...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbwDe8ogdbQ
Dan | January 27, 2012 1:25 AM
Around the time of "Inception", there were several commercials with inception-like special effects - crumbling buildings, fold ups, impossitble stairs etc. I have forgotten what these commercials were for. Can you help me identify them? I would like to find them on YouTube.
Thanks,
Dan Suttin
San Antonio, TX
uncledan@homespun4homeschoolers.com
greg | August 2, 2011 8:06 AM
Emperer haseth No clothes.
This is not a great movie. Yes, I get it. Unlike great sci fi -- there is not a slight hint of how this might be broadly possible based on something really known to be possible. In Matrix, AI generates neural impluses via the matrix...there is some discussion and hints of these events, etc etc. But how would a person control others dreams? Why is Di Caprio good at it? Can everyone do it? This is bad, but combined with this: a lot of what is said is Wrong (that is based on disproven babble). It is not great. People do not use a small fraction of their brain. Dream time is not slowed (google it). The subconscious stuff in the movie is mostly BS. It would be like Neo saying, "protons with their negative charge and lack of any mass run the program..." Worse, the time dilation is not even consistent within the movie. The rain in the restaurant with the earthquake stuff was not dialted for example. The movie feels slick and smart, but it isn't. It is a disappointing masturbation for special effects and fodder for intellectual wanna-be's, actually. If this movie seems like a masterpiece, you might need to try think deeply with more effort... try reading more actual philosophy and hard core physics. ... yawn.
derek | June 9, 2011 5:10 AM
@skiffleboom saito and cobb do not go through that process because saito died in the fortress so he was already in limbo before everyone was making there way back to reality and for cobb, cobb drownded when the van went over the edge in the 1st level so therefor went to limbo where u see he is then washed up on shores to only be led to older saito who cobb and saito begin to remember by help of eachother and kills themselves to go back to reality. after that scene u see them on the plane which was reality meaning hes back.
PaulCHARMING | May 31, 2011 7:03 AM
The film is an infinite staircase. First off, if u want to believe that the entire movie is a dream then u r bound to run into a few problems. The first and most significant being - u are ignoring the movie, its rules and structure and basicaly writing your own script. Then critiquing it yourself. Thats definitely not the movie by chris nolan. Second, it simply cant be. The movie actualy has alternating periods of dreams and reality or 'perceived reality' which is not the same as a dream. Third, the entire movie loses meaning. If you know a thing or two about script writing then you would know the three part structure of story telling. If inception is a dream from start to end - it is essentialy a one part affair. Cobb is simply dreaming dreaming dreaming. Doesnt make for a riveting movie i might add. That said, the assumption that must be made (and this is necessary in all sci-fi movies. Its a prerequisite of the genre) is the accurateness of cobb's totem which is also our totem as the audience. Because the entire movie is resting on it. The moment you assume the totem is wrong or indeed unnecessary then you have lost track of the plot, like many have and start recreating your own script. For you to enjoy star wars it is necessary to assume space travel is or will be possible. If you dont think so then you might as well not watch it. Because its goin to be immensely frustrating for you. Thats the same problem people had with avatar, they simply couldnt assume that the paraplegic protagonist morphed into a blue alien. Its science fiction for crying out loud. Some guy here made a comment about the scientific inaccuracy of reality vs dream time sequences and quoted research. What the hell for? We are discussing a sci-fi movie in which a lot of assumptions have to be made. Despite present day scientific inaccuracies. Nolan left a gaping hole in the films ending for us to fill with our imagination. Not with rubbish.
Andrew Panteli | April 21, 2011 8:41 AM
Inception Snowboarding Edit
Vote for me at http://whitelines.mpora.com/
Andrew Panteli
ghdsgjilsd | April 19, 2011 8:31 AM
inception had a third inception
or second
uhm skip to 2:15 and listen for the sound
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9R4t_Nwy5E
how dare hanz zimmer
Beanie10 | March 21, 2011 3:21 AM
check out this cool INCEPTION PIE!!
http://www.instructables.com/id/PI-CEPTION/
Skiffleboom | February 26, 2011 2:56 AM
You notice just how many questions Ellen Page/Ariadne asks? The video edit "88 Questions with Ariadne" shows all of them - it's like a distilled version of her character's function as audience surrogate:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kT5-tq2XBbg
davisstdude | January 23, 2011 6:11 AM
One or two things seem to be happening in this forum: over analyzing the movie based on facts you don't have, and strict analysis of the top's every move. Analyzing Inception requires one to look deeper into what we see, not what we're told.
How does one leave limbo? We're told it is incredibly dangerous, yet Cobb seems to have a grip on reality vs. limbo every time. Wrong. He and "Saito" never leave limbo. Rather, the entire movie is Cobb spinning a narrative to explain his washing up on the beach, thus it is shown at the beginning and the end.
We see both Fischer and Ariadne ride the kicks off the building, then in the snow fortress, then the hotel elevator, then into the van. Saito and Cobb never do this. Explain that, and one can consider the movie being reality by the rules we are told.
Drop off your email if you are interested in reading my full analysis.
gfa | December 20, 2010 8:38 AM
what if inception was acctually inception on the asian and it was really more dreams to get into america??????
kwchicka. | December 13, 2010 5:18 AM
Yes! Robert Smyth knows what I'm talking about!!
kwchicka. | December 13, 2010 5:09 AM
I realize that a lot of people on this site have probably already moved on from "Inception" but having just rented it, I am totally enthralled. My personal belief about plot, meaning, etc. is that Cobb is dreaming the whole movie and that the Mal is actually correct when she tells him to jump with her. I believe she is "awake" but Cobb is not. My main two reasons for believing this is because Cobb's totem is something he acquired during a dream state which means he shouldn't be able to bring it "back" with him when he wakes. Also, the fact that the children never even change clothes. But after reading some of the above interpretations, I see how my evidence could just as easily support any number of theories. I am now even more intrigued by the film.
My thoughts as far as theme were primarily that this movie was made to make people question their realities. Reality is what one perceives, so without knowing what another's perception and, therefore reality is, all decisions made for another are fundamentally flawed. For example, the vast majority of people living in the United States would probably say that it is a reality that one needs a jacket in cold weather for optimal health. However, some native cultures, like the Sami of Finland, physiologically adapt to cold weather. Their reality is vastly different from ours. This is much less concrete than some others themes I've read, but I really feel like a main aspiration of the film was to provoke thought.
Mat Polaschek | November 28, 2010 12:52 AM
"Our dreams, they feel real while we're in them right? Its only when we wake up then we realize that something was actually strange".
I have only seen this once, but I think this may indicate what the film was about. Basically, before Cobb wakes up on the plane, he is in a dream and after he wakes up he returns to reality. This can be discovered when the viewer realises that the something that was 'actually strange' about his dream was his ability to enter dreams, a feat only possible in a dream. Nolan just hides this by having these fantastical 'dream layers' where all sorts of crazy things happen. The viewer is tricked into thinking these more fantastical scenes are dream states and do not think about it being 'strange' that Cobb has the ability to incept in the first place. He is merely having a dream about the ability to incept. People and thoughts from his real life are then integrated into this dream and developed into characters as the dream story evolves.
It seems like, in a nutshell, the underlying idea is that Cobb is on a business trip in another city or Country (this is potentially validated by him being given plane tickets in a scene at home and further re-inforced when he wakes up on the plane at the end of the film wearing a suit and sitting in first or business class). He is on his way home after being away for a period. He is missing his kids like crazy and can't wait to see them again. He didn't look at their faces when he grabbed the plane tickets before he left for the airport so this plagues his thoughts (and is continually integrated into the dream). He left without saying goodbye, which probably shows that he knew he would be back soon and that the business trip was urgent. Furthermore, in the dream Cobb is not able to return to his kids because he is wanted for killing his wife. This is his dream taking thoughts from his real life where he is unable to return home until he has finished the requirements of his business trip. I believe limbo could be a metaphor for the feeling within Cobb of it being an 'eternity' until he sees his kids again as he misses them so much. Once he wakes on the plane towards the end of the film, none of the people on the plane talk to each other. This is because they are just passengers on the plane that Cobb has integrated into his dream. They don't actually know each other; at the airport there are only looks of recognition, the looks shared by fellow passengers not people who know each other. There is also no mention of inception after he wakes, and there is a knowing look by Cobb as he wakes up and realises that it was a dream.
Cobb finally makes it home and sees his kids. The spinning top is just another object Cobb has integrated into his dream and given a purpose within the dream.
Ultimately, after seeing the film, Nolan wants the viewer to feel like the quote at the top, that Cobbs life seems so 'real' that you don't realise it was all just a dream. However, if you figure out the something that was actually strange (being able to incept) then you will realise that it was just a dream.
The 'Damon Lindelof' answer is their typical non- | November 11, 2010 5:47 AM
The 'Damon Lindelof' answer makes sense coming from them for these 2 never like to answer any more questions then they absolutely have to.
Ever heard of a show called LOST? If you have watched it from start to finsih then you know why tehse 2 gave an answer to this question that is really not an answer.
Gandalf | September 24, 2010 5:45 AM
Does nobody agree with me??? ARE YOU AFRAID?!?!
Gandalf | September 17, 2010 2:21 AM
I'm saying that since no one on earth is smart enough to have their own totem, nobody knows if this is a dream or reality. Since I am a wizard, I know everything and i DO DECLARE that we are in a dream!!
Karl | September 17, 2010 2:19 AM
Wait. What are you saying?
Frodo | September 17, 2010 2:18 AM
I definitely agree with 'gandalf'. Can anyone really be sure of anything?
Gandalf | September 17, 2010 2:16 AM
I think that real life is actually a dream and the movie is in fact reality.
lisa sky | September 8, 2010 9:59 AM
why are the children not in the dream with cobb and mal - why would they continue to want to dream if the children can't be with them. i don't believe any mother would prefer to dream over the reality of being with her children?
Mark Lowney | September 6, 2010 6:15 AM
I agree 100% with Robert Smyth after seeing it a second time. He should have jumped when his wife jumped and he would have been brought back to reality, but no movie
liza | August 31, 2010 4:45 AM
i think the film ends in reality and thats because dicaprio had as his totem his children.he was just keeping mal's totem for sentimental reasons and thats why in the last scene he doesnt stay to see if it falls or still spins.he doesnt actually care to see because it was never his totem so it was never a proof of being in a dream or not.in this scene his kids show their faces for the first time and that means he returned in reality.in his dreams they never show their faces and that is a proof for him that he's dreaming.by not seeing their faces he is never confused about reality and always knows he's in a dream.
mo | August 19, 2010 10:33 AM
Did anyone realize, the customs officer is the same as the guy who brought dom the tickets to leave immediatly his children ?
if its like this.....
Marcus | August 11, 2010 10:04 AM
What is Catfish?
http://bit.ly/anE6RZ
Architect | August 10, 2010 6:01 AM
The Inception was made to Cobb. The inception of the film is the moment when the seed was left in his mind. He then believes he is dreaming since the beginning which then make he finally believes that when he woke up in the plane he is in the reality. The Architect (Ariadne) is the key. She is a lot more skilled than Cobb, she knows how to manage gravity (so the totem) and made Cobb and all spectator believe that the inception mission to Fischer was the reality. Observe also that Ariadne learned a lot about Cobb’s psychology and Limbo, she is the only one allowed or that had succeeded to enter his Limbo so whenever she got that she would be able to architect the “reality” Cobb was looking for.
Robert Smyth | August 9, 2010 5:35 AM
Cobb is caught in a dream that his wife was able to escape due to Cobb's own design. She escaped because of the Inception that Cobb created in her subconscious; that they are stuck in a dream and must kill themselves to escape to reality. Then he forgot it himself, like his character in Memento, ("Now, where was I?") because he lived in the dream long enough to forget, and from that point he continues to believe in his false reality and stays in the dream.
Proof of this is the fact that in his "reality" he remembers his children as being young and when he finally "goes home" they are still the same age. This is not possible. You can't have a memory of children and then meet them in the present and have them be identical to the memory. Children grow up.
So his wife escaped by jumping from the balcony and he chose to stay in his dream world.
His wife and children are in the real world trying to lure him out of his dream by tricking him into taking his own life, which he refuses to do by creating elaborate sub conscious constructs to perpetuate his own self delusion within the dream. Arthur and Ariadne are his children, grown up now in the real world and willing to enter into his dream to try to lure him back into their lives with the help of their mother. A woman who does nothing but try to get him to kill himself from the beginning of the movie till the end, even though it tears her apart to do so. She'll do anything to get him back, even if she has to deceive him the way that he deceived her, because she knows that he only did it to free her. She will make the same sacrifice and do the same. After all, who else could be as adept at dealing with a dream construct - and who else would have more motive to pull Cobb out of his "limbo" and back into their lives - aside from his own children and his wife? Who else but the offspring of the greatest extractor of all time? (And don't let the kiss fool you, Luke and Leia kissed too.)
We'll see in Part II.
Huib | August 8, 2010 8:05 AM
(I meant Saito)
Also: Do you give someone a kick outside the dreamworld to wake up from it, or inside your dreamworld to wake up from it.
Because:
1 Cobb´s kick, if this is a kick, with the chair next to the bath is to wake him up from a deeper dream. Arthur´s kicks, when the kick is explained to Ariadne seem to be also outside his dreams to wake him up.
2 But all the other kicks in the movie seem to be given in the dreams itself, for example Ariadne giving Fisher and also herself a kick, trowing them of the balcony, in the Limbo to wake up from this Limbo...
?
Huib | August 8, 2010 7:54 AM
Why isn´t Fisher as old, or even much older, as Satio, when found in the Limbo?
Or is he?
charles | August 4, 2010 10:32 AM
I had too many TECHNICAL problems with the movie to care. For one, years ago researchers DID do a study to gauge if people dream in real time, and the best they could find out is Yes, they do. Since sleep reserachers can tell easily when REM sleep begins and ends, they simply timed it, then woke up sleepers to describe the dream and found that the REM time and the perceived dream sequence time matched.
Another thing is, who says a spinning top can't fall over in a dream? The whole totem thing was way too silly and feeble to hinge an entire plot on.
A "brilliant" architectural student... The only people who really think professionals are at the top of their game right out of college are Human Resources officials who must be reminded it's OK to hire people over 40. But Juno is a PRETTY girl so that made sense.
Fred Astaire's spinning-room dance sequence was just as effective and had better music.
Too much use of blue screens to "wow" the viewer. All the main plot points work well without those things... gratuitous special effects ruin it for me. Like, Shakespeare is just as compelling, maybe more so, when discussed NOT riding a roller coaster.
Then there's the philosophical point of, if you can't tell the difference (for anything whatsoever), then it makes no difference. If there's a difference but it can't be detected - is the same as no difference at all. If you "believe" something is different but you can't really tell, then that's just another way of defining religion.
Dan | August 3, 2010 10:18 AM
I believe the audiences totem is Cobb's spinning top. We are compelled by the director to believe in it. It becomes our reference point for the entire film, until the final shot.
Is a lesson in what we use as a reference point in our own realities? Our reference points of people, places, things, religion.
Christopher Campbell | August 2, 2010 8:39 AM
Dave,
I'm with you on that idea, which I'd hinted at in another "Inception" discussion post:
http://blogs.indiewire.com/spout/archives/spout_about_inception/
Dave | August 2, 2010 8:17 AM
I think Greek mythology gives a clue. In Greek mythology, Ariadne is the woman who helped Theseus conquer the Minotaur and escape the labyrinth on Crete. Here, Cobb must be in his own labyrinth of dreams. I like the idea that Ariadne is performing an inception on Cobb to save him from this labyrinth.
Chelsea Manning | August 1, 2010 4:25 AM
Theory 1: The audience's totem is possibly the panoramas of the cities the main characters see. When Cobb and company are going to Paris, leaving Kyoto, and going to the Middle East to get the sedative, the audience is shown a panorama of the city they are leaving/ visiting. Ariadne draws attention to this by twisting a panorama of a city in the first dream she begins altering. In reality, this can't happen, so the audience is given the unaltered panorama several times to ground them in reality.
Theory 2: Ariadne is based in reality. She speaks with Cobb in the warehouse just after he has spun the top and it has toppled, placing Cobb in reality, not in the dream world. See below for my theory on whether or not they are in a dream the entire time or not. If they were, then yes, Ariadne could be a projection of Cobb's subconscious, or of someone else's subconscious. However, if you believe that there are moments of reality in the movie, Ariadne seems more of a real person because of when she interacts with Cobb. Furthermore, if you look at Cobb's relationship with Fischer versus Ariadne's relationship with Cobb, Cobb is trying to trick Fischer into revealing his secret by "revealing too much" to Fischer (telling Fischer he is in a dream, telling Fischer exactly how to break in to his godfather's mind, etc.) whereas Ariadne constantly tries to keep information from Cobb like the designs for the dreams. True, she pries into his life and ends up trying to get Cobb to let go of Mal because of what she sees of Mal and the memories Cobb has of her, but she does that mainly for reasons within the dream--to protect the rest of the main characters, to keep Mal from knowing the architecture within the dream and ruining their plans. If she was hired by someone outside Cobb to break into Cobb's mind and get him to get rid of Mal, that idea is not revealed in the movie and seems to be pure speculation. There is no possible motive given as to why Ariadne would be wanting to trick Cobb into thinking of Ariadne as a confidant.
Theory 3: I do not think that the entire movie is a dream. We see the top, Cobb's totem, topple twice in the movie. The totem does not topple in the dream world. Also, we have no way of knowing how long it has been since Mal has killed herself. It could have only been months ago.
Theory 4: Very possible. Cobb says to Ariadne at one point, "Don't take whole things from real life. Just a telephone booth or a doorknob. Otherwise you'll lose yourself and forget which one is your reality." (Something like that.) Nolan could have definitely taken life as a director and put the "emotion" and some of the details of what it's like to make/ watch a movie or tell a story into Inception.
Theory 5: I think the end of the movie is actually reality. Cobb has finally let his projection of Mal go, he has finally accepted that she is actually dead and that he can never really be with her again. If he goes back into a dream at the very end, he is a static character who has learned nothing from this experience. Why would Nolan have made Cobb go through the heartbreak of finally letting Mal go, of finally accepting reality, and then say, "just kidding, he's not really over her. He still wants to dream and just be in limbo"?
Theory 7: Once again, you see the top fall TWICE in the movie. That is Cobb's totem of reality. As Mal said to Cobb at the very end, "what you know and what you want are different." But Cobb KNOWS what reality is through the totem, whether or not he likes seeing the reality of the top fall.
Theory 8: I would agree with the leeway for various interpretations. The unresolved question of whether the top falls or not is telling that Nolan definitely wanted to give the audience different things to think about. I think the end is asking the audience a question. Do you choose to believe that nothing, not even reality, can overcome the powers of love? Does Cobb really get over the guilt of Mal or is he still stuck in the "being one half of a whole?" Or does Cobb have the strength to get over his guilt, does he have the strength to give up his love for Mal so he can be with and love his children? Is Cobb (or any man for that matter) able to accept reality, no matter how harsh it may be?
jonah | July 31, 2010 6:38 AM
Review of Inception Dream Phenomenon from an avid lucid dreamer....
http://jonahhaas.wordpress.com/2010/07/30/inceptionreview/
Nina | July 31, 2010 6:23 AM
The whole movie is the inception in Cobb's subconcious that he needs to let go of Mel. The idea is planted by Ariadne, who is Cobb's subconscious protector, and who is the architect of the inception. Through the 4th level, he realizes that the Mel that lives in his dream is a one dimensional projection of the whole complex person. The ending is probably the first layer of dream world -- and Cobb knows it -- but he ultimately does not care which is the real world and which is dreamworld, because he is able to let go of his guilt.
Matt S | July 28, 2010 7:45 AM
I'm sure others may have said my thoughts more gracefully in this brilliant blog of fruitful conversation, but the technical nature is not the focus, yet is the intricate fabric which holds this piece together. There are necessary assumptions that must be made for Inception to work and you'd be truly doing yourself a disservice by letting that hang you up. If you ask me, it's much more about the implications of what science doesn't currently allow. I think that deep down this film pecks at what is inherently human, in that our dreams are solely composed of past experiences, reworked and reformulated in new ways to regulate our guilt and pain, as well as happiness and satisfaction. That's what makes this movie so communicable. Not to mention the amazing emphasis on the brevity of perception; mainly how we experience so many complicated emotions in such a short manner of time. Only in a movie of this nature are we enabled to elongate and analyze (at depth) what only lasts a moment a split second.
This may sound silly, but I suffer from PTSD and, in some weird way, this movie gives me hope that I can overcome it. I've relived this event over and over again in microtime in much the same way Nolan temporally spaces out events. I realize this is just a film and it's not science but, for me, it doesn't need to be. The raw energy of dreams is undeniable. Chances are if you don't have very interesting dreams, you're probably not too interesting as a person (sorry!). But for those who dream more viscerally, these concoctions can really create pivotal shifts in our lives.
Scott | July 28, 2010 3:52 AM
I believe that the inception is being played on Dom by his wife who is masking as the young girl she can manipulate the world around her as good as Dom. I believe this allows him to put away the guilt he felt for believing he killed his wife. That is why she shoot her dream self in the last dream. She planted the inception on Dom first and now needs to reverse it.
Ivorytower | July 27, 2010 3:04 AM
NY Hip hop artist "Anthem" makes track to trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eaDcLSgxU4
Ivorytower | July 27, 2010 3:03 AM
NY hip hop artist does a take on Inception
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eaDcLSgxU4
Laurie | July 26, 2010 11:39 AM
It will be interesting to hear the various theories once people figure out the significance of Dom's wedding ring. In scenes that we are lead to believe are reality (including the ending with the children) he is NOT wearing a wedding ring. In scenes that we are lead to believe are dreams or memories, he IS wearing a wedding ring. This is consistent throughout the film. This had to be intentional by Nolan. Please, if you have thoughts on how this impacts your thinking, I would very much like to hear them.
Shannon | July 26, 2010 4:40 AM
My comments aren't necessarily what the movie is about, although at the end, by the rules that the film puts forth, it is a dream. If it begins in one I don't know, although I tend to think it does. The three levels being id, ego and superego, the parts of ourself that create our reality. The movie then becomes ones journey of finding peace in uncertainty, guilt, shame, self hatred and all the other arisings in our lives. Having said that, which of course is only a thumbnail, my problem is all that got in the way. The constant barage of gunfire was a boring way of showing how we protect our subconcious. Some, sure, but how about more creativity. There could have been more complexity in the "sentinels" characters or types of weapons. I know it was a tight fight, a squeeze, however it never delivers what the films sets up as the "way" one experiences time. Yes, I know all the "rules" may be part of the conceit of the film, but once we sarted the inception there was never any spaciousness to dwell in the ephemeral qualities that exist in dreams, the parts that feel like years may have passed. So, in short I think some of the film was predictable hollywood shoot em up, where so many other possibilities exist.
Thomas | July 24, 2010 2:10 AM
Having studied the eastern teachings that this world is but a dream, I wonder if the director has done the same and was sending us the message of the great eastern teachers, namely that the real world is actually a dream. Some quotes:
"The cycle of births and deaths is from time immemorial caused by ignorance which displays itself as pleasure and pain and yet is only a dream and unreal."—Tripura Rahasya XVII 24-26
"The life of a sentient being is a long dream. Existence only appears to be real." —Ch'an Master, Sheng-yen
"There is no difference between the dream and the waking states except that the dream is short and the waking long. Both are the result of the mind."—Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi
"...the yogin learns by actual experience [with lucid dreaming]...that the character of any dream can be changed or transformed by willing that it shall be. A step further and he learns that form, in the dream-state, and all the multitudinous content of dreams, are merely playthings of mind... A further step leads him to the knowledge that the essential nature of form and of all things perceived by the sense in the waking-state are equally as unreal as their reflexes in the dream-state...The final step leads to the Great Realization...."—W.Y. Evens-Wentz, "Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines"
Tom2 | July 24, 2010 2:01 AM
I'm sitting there watching this movie and can't believe why no one in the movie fly away or use laser beam eyes to kill because when I dream I'm always flying around doing all kinds of super natural things and I know I"m dreaming, to me the whole dream idea of this movie is one big flaw but it is a great movie, just that I can't believe anyone dreams like that because I sure haven't, hahaha
joe | July 22, 2010 5:25 AM
The movie is simple when you think about it. "Inception" was made like a penrose staircase like the one shown in the movie. No matter what conclusion one comes to the film always has a flaw and feeds another storeyline.