A Nerd Analyzes #Inception
Social media is STILL a flutter with what did, and what didn't happen in the latest and greatest from Christopher Nolan, Inception. TNTML's very own Aaron Fitzgerald gets down and dirty and gives us the real deal.
Please note this post contains spoilers!
I don’t think I’m as intelligent as Christopher Nolan nor do I think that I understand all of the ideas and concepts that this film tackles. This review is my perception of the story developed out of how I understand my own mind and what I got out of the movie. In all honesty, the first time I watched the movie I didn’t think I’d ever be able to construct a review that would do it justice and I’m not sure I have. But to be frank, I absolutely loved this movie and wish to share my thoughts on it with you in hopes that you and even I can learn something more about our minds and who we are. So without delay, let’s delve into the fascinating world of, “Inception.”
The meaning of the word Inception.
The definition of the word inception is the beginning or start of something. In the context of the film we are dealing with the idea of implanting an idea in someone’s mind and making them believe that the idea started with them. Thus, inception. Arthur explains how hard it is to convince the mind that it was truly inspired with an idea by quickly implanting an idea by saying, “Don’t think about elephants.” Even though the idea is there the mind still knows that the idea was not its own. So, in reality, do we really know consciously if our idea was our own or if it came from somewhere else? When you write a story do you truly come up with an original idea or is it a collage of ideas that you got from books you read and movies that you saw? How does true inspiration happen? Are we truly our own identity or are we merely a creation of all the experiences we’ve had in our lives? When a baby is born is he or she’s mind at the beginning of an idea or is it empty waiting to be filled by the world around it?
What is an idea? The definition of an idea is a thought or suggestion that prompts a probable course of action. In the film Cobb refers to an idea as being like a virus. He also says that a complete idea that is fully realized can change everything about someone. How do original ideas occur then and how do they grow like a “virus?” Does an idea absolutely have to be inspired for it to change who you are or can an idea that you got from somewhere else grow as well? In the film we are led to believe that an idea which isn’t truly our own will be rejected by the mind. I don’t know if this is really true or not but it makes for a compelling story.
Another interesting concept in the film is that Cobb’s team is trying to implant an idea in a man’s mind which in its raw form is a business decision. In order for it to work the idea also must be the result of an emotional response. Intellectually and analytically we understand things but in real life we make most of our decisions based on emotion. Cobb’s team decides to use the strained and complicated relationship the mark has with his father to initiate a positive emotional response that will give him the idea to break up his company. Inception is the beginning of change in one’s life. It is a truly inspired idea which we believe was our own that will grow like a virus and completely redefine us.
The world of the mind.
As we go deeper into the story of Inception we also delve deeper into the mind of the main character, Cobb. Cobb has a complex past filled with guilt and secrets that he must confront and let go in order for the Inception to be successful and give him the opportunity to go home to his kids. We learn that Cobb’s wife is dead, that he was accused of murdering her and that that’s why he can’t go back to America to be with his children. When the architect discovers that he’s wanted for her death he merely says, “Thanks for not asking me if I did it or not.”
In Cobb’s grief and despair over losing his wife he has created an entire world of memories of her so he can still dream. The woman in his memories isn’t really his wife. She is actually just a projection he’s created in his subconscious so he can still be with her. And because of his grief and despair over her death her projection haunts him like an enemy. She invades his dreams and ruins his plans in order to lure him down to the depths of his mind so he will be in a dream with her forever. Cobb tells the architect never to create dreamscapes out of memories because if you do you will lose yourself in the dream state. For me this brings up some interesting questions. Do we create our reality based on how we perceive our memories? Are we the culmination of how we think our past happened? And do we really remember what happened to us the way it happened or is it twisted by our desire to see it the way we really wish it was?
As the story develops we learn that when Cobb’s wife was alive they built an entire dream world together and lived there for years. Cobb was dissatisfied with the dream world and convinced her that they should wake up and go back to the real world. After they awoke she still believed that they were in a dream and formulated a plan to wake them both up. In the film the rule is that the only way to wake up from a dream is to die. So Cobb’s wife throws herself off a building after making it look like Cobb threatened to kill her so he will follow her and wake up. But even this is a fabrication of Cobb’s mind as later we find out the truth. The truth is that Cobb knows Inception is possible because he did it to his wife while they were in the dream world by implanting an idea in her mind that their world wasn’t real. This is how he convinced her to wake up but even after they entered the real world the idea he implanted grew like a virus and she came to believe that the only real escape is death and that is why she committed suicide. So, Cobb didn’t actually throw his wife off the building but he is responsible for the idea which ultimately led to her death. It isn’t until Cobb can let this go and forgive himself that he can escape from limbo and ultimately achieve his goal with Inception.
Everybody has secrets. Sometimes we bury them so far inside our minds that we forget what they are, but the guilt or grief still affects our lives and controls us without us even knowing it. It isn’t until we can dig deep enough inside ourselves and let the secret go that we will find freedom in our consciousness and reality. A secret we are afraid of will cause us to create lies and fabrications around it in order to protect our minds from seeing it and effectively releasing it from our lives. The world we create in our minds can control the world we create in real life
How we perceive our dreams.
In a story that depicts abstract concepts like thought, dreams and the mind Christopher Nolan does an interesting job laying down the rules that govern the subconscious. One of my favorite descriptions in the film is when Cobb explains to the architect how the mind simultaneously creates and perceives the dream. I agree that the mind is a powerful thing and in this movie as well as in real life, perception is everything. We may not completely control our lives in the real world but how we perceive what happens to us can have a profound effect on how we deal with things. Even in dreams we don’t necessarily control what happens but like Cobb says our minds are so powerful that we create the world and live in it without even knowing that it’s a dream.
I’m not going to go overboard and claim that life is a dream. There are realities in real life. I know with certainty that if I take a knife and cut my hand I’ll bleed and have to go to the hospital. I’m not going to wake up suddenly and be in my bedroom. I think it would be dangerous to live life like you are in a dream and I wouldn’t consider perceiving the real world the way I perceive the dream world. However, if you could consciously create your dream world and make it the way you want it would you want to wake up and go to work? Unfortunately, in real life we can’t control our dreams. Our minds have more power over us when we’re asleep than we have over it. There’s even a line in the movie where Cobb says, “Remember, it’s my subconscious. I can’t control it.” Good thing to remember.
The layers of the dream world.
And here is the real exciting part of the film. The third act where Cobb and his team bring the mark into the dream to implant the idea in his mind. This is by far the most complex aspect of the screenplay as Christopher Nolan takes us on a journey into three levels of dreams in order to perform Inception. On the first level we’re in a busy downtown setting where Cobb and his partners in crime steal a taxi and kidnap the mark. They think they have everything under control when suddenly they are ambushed by military trained projections. A terrific gun fight scene ensues and our hero’s escape to a safe house. We learn that if they kill themselves to wake up they’ll go even further into a dream state and end up in a world of pure raw consciousness known as “limbo” where they will never wake up. After deciding to continue on with the plan to implant the idea they take the mark into the van and while being chased fall asleep in their dream and enter the second dream level.
In the second dream level they are in a hotel and Cobb tricks the mark into believing that the first level of dreaming where he’s in the back of a van is real and now he’s in dream where extractors are trying to steal something from his subconscious. Through manipulation and lies they get the mark to trust them and drop down into the third level of the dream to break into a stronghold where there is a safe that holds the information the mark must find so he knows what the “extractors” are trying to steal.
The third level of the dream is a mountainous snowy terrain with a stronghold surrounded by an army of subconscious projections. After an exciting battle scene that cuts back and forth between the upper levels of the dream as the van is being chased and the physics of the dreams begin to affect each other the mark is finally killed by Cobb’s wife’s projection. She takes the mark down to limbo with her forcing Cobb to follow her there to retrieve him and face her. So it isn’t just three levels of dreams, it’s four. Have you ever had a dream where everything was abstract and weird? Images and meanings morph in and out of time. I think that’s the closest you could get to pure raw consciousness and I believe the depths of our minds hold the truths about us.
Limbo.
Cobb enters limbo, the world he created with his wife. It’s a vast, decaying world filled with memories from childhood to adulthood. It’s a sad place where two lovers attempted to build something with each other only to have their dream destroyed by reality. Can you imagine a world filled with the echo’s of your whole life? The house you grew up in. Your first apartment. The hotel where you spent your anniversary. Every detail, emotion and thought you ever had about the person you loved who is dead now because of what you did to her mind. The landscape of this world is breathtaking in every facet and it’s staggering to behold. Cobb makes his way through the world searching for his wife while snippet images of his children haunt him at every turn.
Cobb finally finds his wife and the kidnapped mark. He confronts her about the truth of what he did to her and also tells her that even though he tried to create a projection of her that would be just as good, she isn’t real and he has to finally let her go. I think almost everyone has had an experience with someone who they had to let go to finally grow and morph themselves into a higher level of understanding of who they are. When you hold onto guilt and regret it eats away at you and ultimately can destroy you. Catharsis is a powerful remedy for the mind and soul and can literally change our lives for the better. But, you have to be able to face your fear and pass through it in order to take yourself to the other side.
I’ll say just a few words about the end because I think people will debate about it forever. There are some that think when Cobb wakes up at the end and finally goes home to his children, he’s still in limbo and will never wake up. Other’s would argue that he did wake up and he is in the real world at the end. I don’t believe there is any easy answers to the puzzle and even if you looked at all of the details and clues throughout the film you could still take it either way. But I do hope that you find the answer for yourself and that your answer satisfies you to a peaceful resolution the way it does for Cobb.
Infinite reality, could we ever really understand it?
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