The True Protagonist of "Inception"
September 11, 2010 8:54 PM Subscribe
You've seen "Inception"? You may not have seen what you thought you saw.
This post was deleted for the following reason: Some guy's shortish blog post about the movie is kind thin for a post. -- cortex
I kind of liked inception, but I don't think it was good enough to put this much thought into. Now if you want to talk about The Fall...
posted by Huck500 at 9:04 PM on September 11, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Huck500 at 9:04 PM on September 11, 2010 [1 favorite]
I like to believe that Inception is a Shutter Island sequel.
posted by Laen at 9:04 PM on September 11, 2010
posted by Laen at 9:04 PM on September 11, 2010
A mystery wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a dream wrapped in a movie wrapped in bacon...
(Whoa... one level too deep there.)
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 9:05 PM on September 11, 2010
(Whoa... one level too deep there.)
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 9:05 PM on September 11, 2010
Yeah, the thought occurred to me to. Ultimately, there is (intentionally) not enough information to swing any direction. Ultimately, theories like this aren't the point. In the end, DiCaprio's character made a choice.
posted by muddgirl at 9:07 PM on September 11, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by muddgirl at 9:07 PM on September 11, 2010 [1 favorite]
This post will probably get flagged and deleted shortly, but before it does...
At the very least you should put a spoiler warning. Apparently YOU just saw it for the first time, though it has been out for quite a while, and so recognizing that you might be spoiling things for others (to some extent) would be a good start.
Secondly, most people realize immediately after seeing it that they may not have the same interpretation of what they just saw as the person sitting next to them.
posted by spock at 9:07 PM on September 11, 2010
At the very least you should put a spoiler warning. Apparently YOU just saw it for the first time, though it has been out for quite a while, and so recognizing that you might be spoiling things for others (to some extent) would be a good start.
Secondly, most people realize immediately after seeing it that they may not have the same interpretation of what they just saw as the person sitting next to them.
posted by spock at 9:07 PM on September 11, 2010
I like to believe that Inception is a Shutter Island sequel.
it's actually set in the afterlife, and everybody is actually a ghost.
posted by Artw at 9:07 PM on September 11, 2010
it's actually set in the afterlife, and everybody is actually a ghost.
posted by Artw at 9:07 PM on September 11, 2010
You've seen "Inception"?
...was a pretty good Spoiler warning for me. Unless there are people who have both seen the movie and want to avoid spoilers?
posted by muddgirl at 9:08 PM on September 11, 2010
...was a pretty good Spoiler warning for me. Unless there are people who have both seen the movie and want to avoid spoilers?
posted by muddgirl at 9:08 PM on September 11, 2010
Nope. We know Cobb went all the way to Limbo in search of Saito and returned; and we know from Cobb's flashbacks that dying in Limbo is the only way out and wakes one up in real life. The linked theory postulates that flashbacks are true. If that were the case, Cobb dying in Limbo would have woken him up in the asylum, not on the plane.
spock, dude, he leads with "You've seen Inception?" That's an implicit spoiler warning right there.
posted by infinitewindow at 9:09 PM on September 11, 2010 [1 favorite]
spock, dude, he leads with "You've seen Inception?" That's an implicit spoiler warning right there.
posted by infinitewindow at 9:09 PM on September 11, 2010 [1 favorite]
Far and away the best thing I've read about Inception.
posted by muckster at 9:10 PM on September 11, 2010 [9 favorites]
posted by muckster at 9:10 PM on September 11, 2010 [9 favorites]
As far as Inception theories go, I didn't think this was particularly convincing or even interesting. But this does reinforce my theory that Shutter Island is basically Inception for morons, so it's not a total loss.
My favorite take on the film is Seventeen Ways of Criticizing Inception. I enjoyed the film, but generally found it to be pretty empty, for many of the reasons discussed in the article.
posted by dhammond at 9:12 PM on September 11, 2010 [1 favorite]
My favorite take on the film is Seventeen Ways of Criticizing Inception. I enjoyed the film, but generally found it to be pretty empty, for many of the reasons discussed in the article.
posted by dhammond at 9:12 PM on September 11, 2010 [1 favorite]
Laen: "I like to believe that Inception is a Shutter Island sequel."
Isn't that what the linked post is arguing, give or take?
posted by mwhybark at 9:17 PM on September 11, 2010
Isn't that what the linked post is arguing, give or take?
posted by mwhybark at 9:17 PM on September 11, 2010
For all my nerd friends squeeing about this movie, no one has told me yet why I need to see it. So, meh. This still looks just like a cheep Matrix rip off.
posted by strixus at 9:17 PM on September 11, 2010
posted by strixus at 9:17 PM on September 11, 2010
What the hell is a dream within a dream supposed to be, anyway? Has anybody ever actually had a dream within a dream, and had to go back through layers to wake up? In a dream, if you dream that you fall asleep in a van, and then next you dream that you're in a hotel, that's not a dream within a dream. You just started dreaming about something else.
posted by koeselitz at 9:20 PM on September 11, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by koeselitz at 9:20 PM on September 11, 2010 [1 favorite]
I was having this way cool dream but I got abducted to another dream by nightgaunts and had to be rescued by cats.
posted by Artw at 9:22 PM on September 11, 2010
posted by Artw at 9:22 PM on September 11, 2010
This still looks just like a cheep Matrix rip off.
Well if you change your mind and do go to see it, bring a good book.
posted by dobbs at 9:23 PM on September 11, 2010
Well if you change your mind and do go to see it, bring a good book.
posted by dobbs at 9:23 PM on September 11, 2010
I still say that Ghost Writer had the stupidest twist of the years dissapointing twist ending movies.
posted by Artw at 9:24 PM on September 11, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Artw at 9:24 PM on September 11, 2010 [1 favorite]
What the hell is a dream within a dream supposed to be, anyway?
Mawwiage?
posted by Cookiebastard at 9:26 PM on September 11, 2010 [13 favorites]
Mawwiage?
posted by Cookiebastard at 9:26 PM on September 11, 2010 [13 favorites]
Anyone got a link to an Inception script?
I still say that Ghost Writer had the stupidest twist of the years dissapointing twist ending movies.
At least it was set up.
posted by dobbs at 9:27 PM on September 11, 2010
I still say that Ghost Writer had the stupidest twist of the years dissapointing twist ending movies.
At least it was set up.
posted by dobbs at 9:27 PM on September 11, 2010
I'll just wait for the porn version to come out.
You mean Insertion?
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 9:27 PM on September 11, 2010 [3 favorites]
You mean Insertion?
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 9:27 PM on September 11, 2010 [3 favorites]
The thing about Inception is that you can choose any point in the movie to say "From here on, it's not reality" -- every point they go into the dream mode is a potential starting point of non-reality. For instance, when Cobb tries the heavy sedative. So really, all of these theories are useless because it's entirely arbitrary.
posted by spiderskull at 9:34 PM on September 11, 2010
posted by spiderskull at 9:34 PM on September 11, 2010
(SPOILER) Huh, I didn't know there was even a debate. I thought it was obvious that it ends in a dream because when he 'wakes up' after the dream den he doesn't have a chance to spin the top, and that's the only time he's ever 'woken up' and not confirmed he was 'back' by spinning it. From there on, he never sees the result of the spin again.
posted by jardinier at 9:37 PM on September 11, 2010
posted by jardinier at 9:37 PM on September 11, 2010
You really can't discuss the layers of Inception clearly without including a decent chart or technical illustration.
posted by mecran01 at 9:39 PM on September 11, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by mecran01 at 9:39 PM on September 11, 2010 [1 favorite]
Seriously? Are we still talking about Inception? Was it not just Dallas made fancy? That's my "theory" anyway. I'm just waiting to someone to wake up and realize Leonardo is in the shower.
posted by grapesaresour at 9:40 PM on September 11, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by grapesaresour at 9:40 PM on September 11, 2010 [1 favorite]
Yeah, but the even bigger twist to "Inception" was that you never actually saw it. The story you remember was your dream. In reality, it's just another Jennifer Aniston romantic "comedy" your girlfriend hauled you off to.
posted by chasing at 9:40 PM on September 11, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by chasing at 9:40 PM on September 11, 2010 [1 favorite]
koeselitz: "Has anybody ever actually had a dream within a dream, and had to go back through layers to wake up?"
I once had a nightmare that I was rushing at terminal velocity through some kind of underground subway tunnel. Something was chasing me, a dark, vast, monstrous something. I knew that if it caught me, I would be destroyed utterly. I could feel the wind rushing past my ears, I could hear it as a deafening roar, white noise filling my head till I thought it would explode. And suddenly - directly ahead, a stone wall. I hit it, and woke instantly.
The house was dark. I was sweating and shaking with adrenaline and the clinging residue of pure dream-fear. I staggered out of my sweat-clinging sheets and made for the kitchen for a drink. It was summer. Hot and humid, the house was silent, the wooden floorboards creaking.
As I approached the refrigerator through the pitch, I ran my fingertips along the old crumbling plaster walls of the house I lived in, feeling my way more than seeing. Something felt...odd. Something not quite right.
I opened the door of the refrigerator, and the electric bulb inside clicked on, momentarily blinding me with a flood of light. As my pupils constricted, contrast returned, and I could see. And sitting in the refrigerator was vast shadowy something. It launched rushing me. I screamed, and woke instantly.
The house was dark. I was sweating and shaking with adrenaline and fear...
/truestory
posted by jet_manifesto at 9:41 PM on September 11, 2010 [1 favorite]
I once had a nightmare that I was rushing at terminal velocity through some kind of underground subway tunnel. Something was chasing me, a dark, vast, monstrous something. I knew that if it caught me, I would be destroyed utterly. I could feel the wind rushing past my ears, I could hear it as a deafening roar, white noise filling my head till I thought it would explode. And suddenly - directly ahead, a stone wall. I hit it, and woke instantly.
The house was dark. I was sweating and shaking with adrenaline and the clinging residue of pure dream-fear. I staggered out of my sweat-clinging sheets and made for the kitchen for a drink. It was summer. Hot and humid, the house was silent, the wooden floorboards creaking.
As I approached the refrigerator through the pitch, I ran my fingertips along the old crumbling plaster walls of the house I lived in, feeling my way more than seeing. Something felt...odd. Something not quite right.
I opened the door of the refrigerator, and the electric bulb inside clicked on, momentarily blinding me with a flood of light. As my pupils constricted, contrast returned, and I could see. And sitting in the refrigerator was vast shadowy something. It launched rushing me. I screamed, and woke instantly.
The house was dark. I was sweating and shaking with adrenaline and fear...
/truestory
posted by jet_manifesto at 9:41 PM on September 11, 2010 [1 favorite]
My favorite take on the film is Seventeen Ways of Criticizing Inception.
ugh. that was obnoxious and petty. even when he raises the rare good point, it's with such a shabby and ugly tone of voice that you can hear the jealousy in everything he says.
posted by shmegegge at 9:43 PM on September 11, 2010 [2 favorites]
ugh. that was obnoxious and petty. even when he raises the rare good point, it's with such a shabby and ugly tone of voice that you can hear the jealousy in everything he says.
posted by shmegegge at 9:43 PM on September 11, 2010 [2 favorites]
I thought that this - whether or not Cobb was dreaming - was purposefully ambiguous, especially with the last scene, and everyone in the audience (at least where I was) waiting for the top to wobble over before the final cut. Reminded me of Tarkovsky's Stalker.
It's not a great movie and for me was way below the hype, but it's summer, it's Hollywood, and the cinemas have AC. Plus some friends wanted to see it.
posted by carter at 9:45 PM on September 11, 2010
It's not a great movie and for me was way below the hype, but it's summer, it's Hollywood, and the cinemas have AC. Plus some friends wanted to see it.
posted by carter at 9:45 PM on September 11, 2010
hurf durf cats.
posted by Jeff_Larson at 9:48 PM on September 11, 2010
posted by Jeff_Larson at 9:48 PM on September 11, 2010
What the hell is a dream within a dream supposed to be, anyway? Has anybody ever actually had a dream within a dream, and had to go back through layers to wake up?
Yes, I have. More than a few times, actually. I have notoriously vivid, engaging dreams and sometimes I'll go through various states of sleep where I'll wake up a little bit, register my dream on a more awake level, go back to sleep, dream another dream, then proceed back through the "plot" of my first dream, and eventually wake up. Or some combination. In my head, they all connect in a natural narrative and it certainly feels like dreams within dreams sometimes. Usually one dream is far more banal than another and I'm trying to get back to the more interesting one, but sometimes it's an escape from a nightmare, or the insistence that the first dream is what's really happening and I have to get back to it.
Honestly, the dream layer conceit was the best and most believable part of Inception for me, which dhammond's link so excellently, and deservedly, eviscerates.
Truly, if we're going to have a good time over-analyzing the plot of a movie, I wish people would do it with something a little bit less straight-forward and god forbid, maybe a little more mysterious, than Inception was.
posted by Mizu at 9:50 PM on September 11, 2010
Yes, I have. More than a few times, actually. I have notoriously vivid, engaging dreams and sometimes I'll go through various states of sleep where I'll wake up a little bit, register my dream on a more awake level, go back to sleep, dream another dream, then proceed back through the "plot" of my first dream, and eventually wake up. Or some combination. In my head, they all connect in a natural narrative and it certainly feels like dreams within dreams sometimes. Usually one dream is far more banal than another and I'm trying to get back to the more interesting one, but sometimes it's an escape from a nightmare, or the insistence that the first dream is what's really happening and I have to get back to it.
Honestly, the dream layer conceit was the best and most believable part of Inception for me, which dhammond's link so excellently, and deservedly, eviscerates.
Truly, if we're going to have a good time over-analyzing the plot of a movie, I wish people would do it with something a little bit less straight-forward and god forbid, maybe a little more mysterious, than Inception was.
posted by Mizu at 9:50 PM on September 11, 2010
Honestly? I had no trouble whatsoever following Inception, and figuring out what was going on. It was a good movie, an engaging movie, and a compelling movie -- but it wasn't a confusing movie. Is it really so unusual that I can say these things?
posted by davejay at 9:54 PM on September 11, 2010
posted by davejay at 9:54 PM on September 11, 2010
This is about the 100th time I've read the 'it's a dream' idea, and this one is far thinner than most.
I enjoyed inception. I'll have to watch it again to make a final verdict, but the whole second tier of reviews criticizing the move after the great first reviews is predictable.
posted by justgary at 9:57 PM on September 11, 2010
I enjoyed inception. I'll have to watch it again to make a final verdict, but the whole second tier of reviews criticizing the move after the great first reviews is predictable.
posted by justgary at 9:57 PM on September 11, 2010
Item 8 in "Seventeen Ways of Criticizing Inception" reads like it was criticizing Memento.
posted by Green With You at 9:57 PM on September 11, 2010
posted by Green With You at 9:57 PM on September 11, 2010
even when he raises the rare good point, it's with such a shabby and ugly tone of voice that you can hear the jealousy in everything he says.
Wha? What's he jealous of? Something he doesn't like?
I appreciated the link and agree with most of the points (I made many of them in the first Inception thread and got a beat-down from pretty much everyone else that participated). I thought the tone of voice was pretty funny. Laughed out loud a few times, actually.
posted by dobbs at 9:59 PM on September 11, 2010
Wha? What's he jealous of? Something he doesn't like?
I appreciated the link and agree with most of the points (I made many of them in the first Inception thread and got a beat-down from pretty much everyone else that participated). I thought the tone of voice was pretty funny. Laughed out loud a few times, actually.
posted by dobbs at 9:59 PM on September 11, 2010
I loved Inception, but I couldn't help but thinking that the whole dream within a dream thing was done much more effectively in Waking Life; the scene where he gets up and tries to turn off the light creeps me out to this day when I just remember it.
posted by signal at 10:10 PM on September 11, 2010
posted by signal at 10:10 PM on September 11, 2010
My favorite take on the film is Seventeen Ways of Criticizing Inception.
Ugh. Even though he had a few points buried in there, it's as if he wants all film to be dense, inaccessible, and incomprehensible to anybody without a BA in English.
Yes, there are cheap plot devices that are used by playwrights and screenwriters to save time, and keep the audience "in the loop" regarding backstory and any potentially confusing plot elements. I actually thought Inception made a particularly good use of these devices, and don't think it would have been possible to effectively tell the story in less than 8 hours without them.
If you want to criticize Inception, that's fine -- I enjoyed it a lot, but didn't think it was spot-on perfect. However, baselessly comparing Christopher Nolan to Michael Bay ruins the credibility of such a comparison. Maybe you just don't like film.
posted by schmod at 10:10 PM on September 11, 2010 [3 favorites]
Ugh. Even though he had a few points buried in there, it's as if he wants all film to be dense, inaccessible, and incomprehensible to anybody without a BA in English.
Yes, there are cheap plot devices that are used by playwrights and screenwriters to save time, and keep the audience "in the loop" regarding backstory and any potentially confusing plot elements. I actually thought Inception made a particularly good use of these devices, and don't think it would have been possible to effectively tell the story in less than 8 hours without them.
If you want to criticize Inception, that's fine -- I enjoyed it a lot, but didn't think it was spot-on perfect. However, baselessly comparing Christopher Nolan to Michael Bay ruins the credibility of such a comparison. Maybe you just don't like film.
posted by schmod at 10:10 PM on September 11, 2010 [3 favorites]
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