Movie - Making. Inception, as a film, is all a dream (it's been speculated), but it's also an extended metaphor for filmmaker Christopher Nolan. Like a dream, the movie is a shared dream for the audience and has its own rules and functions along those lines. Some characters and scenes happen like dreams in which there seems to be no rhyme or reason: Mal comes out of a crowd and stabs Ariadne; the train in the first dream that blasts through downtown where there's no tracks; the elder Fischer's hospital bed in a huge vault inside of a mountain fortress; Cobb squeezing between an amazingly small gap of two buildings. Mal even makes the case to Cobb at the end that he is in fact still stuck in a dream, with feelings of persecution (the authorities or Cobol's security forces), creeping doubts, and little remembrance of how he got there. On another thought, the way the dream team works is similar to how a movie is made - they plan the scenes and sets down to the smallest details, always conscious of the audience (the dreamer's projections) and its reaction. And, the way the movie ends with the cut scene of Cobb's totem and then kicking into the music (Edith Piaf's haunting melody) as the credits roll is kind of like a dream because sometimes we are ripped out of a dream before its ending and we want to know how it ends. Yet we can't go back.
-- all of this is controlled by the master manipulator, the director, Christopher Nolan. Everything in this movie is done for a reason. In the movie, Cobb is the director, Arthur is the producer who does the research, Ariadne the screenwriter when she acts as the architect, Eames is the actor and Yusuf is the technical guy that makes it all happen. Saito is the money guy (also a producer) who finances the whole operation and Fischer is the audience who is taken for an exciting adventure by the director, Cobb. Yet we are also the audience too, since this is a movie/ dream. Arthur mentions continuously that they cannot mess with the dream too much, otherwise the dreamer knows something is wrong. The same can be said for movies - when there's too much fakery or interference from the director, we as the audience snap out of the trance that the movie is weaving for us and see the movie for what it is. We lose ourselves in well-made movies b/c we're not paying attention to the poor acting or screenwriting or plotholes or ridiculous scenes. We care about the characters and want to see a satisfying resolution. And so Cobb, as the director, makes an amazing movie / dream, but also brings part of himself into the movie (Mal) which can influence the audience (she shoots Fischer in the 3rd dream). Most of the jarring scenes in Inception include Mal. And it's Mal who questions Cobb and raises doubt as to his true purpose.
- And since the movie is like a dream, it has planted the idea of itself in the mind of the movie audience as well - is this a movie or was the whole thing a dream? This is where the movie becomes almost a meta-movie, a movie that is more than just a movie; it is Christopher Nolan dreaming about Cobb.
http://www.chud.com/24477/never-wake-up-the-meaning-and-secret-of-inception/
Also, an article here from 2015 shows that Christopher Nolan won't reveal his thoughts about the ending of the movie: http://www.businessinsider.com/why-christopher-nolan-doesnt-explain-movie-endings-2015-4
Director Christopher Nolan and Leonardo DiCaprio.
Your job: Do you think that Inception was just a movie about dreams, or was Christopher Nolan, the director, trying to say something more with it? If so, what was he trying to say with the film? Feel free to watch philosopher Kyle Johnson's take on Inception and its various philosophical meanings - check Google Classroom for that video.
Your job: Do you think that Inception was just a movie about dreams, or was Christopher Nolan, the director, trying to say something more with it? If so, what was he trying to say with the film? Feel free to watch philosopher Kyle Johnson's take on Inception and its various philosophical meanings - check Google Classroom for that video.
Due Friday, January 26 by class. 250 words minimum.
Clearly Inception is not a clear cut movie with only one meaning or purpose. Inception is a movie crammed pack with many meanings, explanations and philosophies, sometimes they are so complex they are hidden within each other;inception. The movie questions reality consistently asking the questions: what is real? Are we dreaming right now? These are the questions Christopher Nolan wanted the audience to ask themselves during or after the film, he brought this to life by making a long complex analogy between viewing the movie and dreaming. The similarities between the making of the movies and the constructing and working within dreams is uncanny, leaving the viewer with the simple idea they could be dreaming this movie. Even this idea is covered in the film using the word extraction. It seems as though Christopher Nolan has used every resource and every opportunity possible to make the audience feel as though they are within a shared dream space. This creates an illusion that everyone in the audience is sharing a dream together and the movie is simply made up of the people who legitimately create movies. This is tied up perfectly at the very end of the movie when Cobb's totem begins t wobble but does not ultimately fall within the scene. This could mean 2 things in my opinion, either Cobb is still dreaming and has excepted a false reality as his own or it is a sign that we are dreaming and the entire movie was the result of a shared dream space. In conclusion Christopher Nolan puts many viewers through a loop and makes many question their reality and their dreams with his film, Inception.
ReplyDeleteAlexis Kruntovski Blog #80:
ReplyDeleteI think that Christopher Nolan was trying to say something more with the film. The concept of dreams and levels of consciousness are largely a mystery to us, but in Inception’s reality, the subconscious can be explored which is what makes the idea of inception possible. I think that Christopher Nolan was trying to tell us, especially with the ending of the movie, that we never truly know if we are in reality. The fact that throughout the movie Mal was able to interrupt dreams even if she’s one of Cobb’s projections helps proves this because even though the were in a dream in someone else’s subconscious and its own projections, Cobb’s sense of consciousness and what he perceived was brought in Mal. I think the mystery of reality is highlighted strongly in the film by the reassurance of the totem also. The fact that dreams can seem so close to what you think is real life that you need a totem to show you it isn’t is scary to me. How do you know what you think is reality is actually the most true form of consciousness? How do you know if you’re experiences are real? This reminds me of Berkeley because he pushed Descartes and Spinoza’s questioning to a much higher level to say that we are just perceiving everything. Berkeley thought that you can’t just perceive a primary quality without the accompanying secondary quality (which is more personal definitions) , so how do you know if there’s something concrete in front of you? I think Christopher Nolan was trying to show us that we don’t really ever know if anything is truly happening or is real because consciousness is such a complex subject that no one has truly figured out.
Gio R|
ReplyDeleteI think that Christopher Nolan is one, if not the best, director/filmmaker of all time. He takes concepts that have been done before and gives a completely different spin to them. There are obvious ties between Inception and The Matrix, but Inception is still its own concept. This is why there is no way you can argue that he didn't add anything to it as a deeper meaning. I think that there is a definite analogy to film-making as an art, the filmmaker has to do many of the things that the team had to in the film. They had to implant an idea into Fischer's head, and it had to be so simple that it was easy to digest in his mind. This directly relates to Nolan's career, making a film too ambitious or too complicated can have the audience not believe the concept or loose interest. The "Dream Team" had to do this so that Fischer wouldn't see right through the seed, Nolan has to do this so his audience doesn't feel separated from the movie. Another way the film connects itself to film-making is through the characters. There is the definite connection between the roles the character takes and the various crew members on a movie set. There is Eames: the actor, Fischer: the audience, Saito: the financier, etc. This comes as very obvious once you know that the movie is an analogy to film-making. This is why there is an alternate meaning to the movie, and if you watch any other Christopher Nolan movie ever again look for one too. There’s probably going to be one.
I feel as if the movie itself was a dream. The movie Inception was a way to describe the movie making process with a creative twist in the end. Let me explain: The way Nolan sets everything up from him being the leader (director) to us being the target (audience) displays that movies are exactly like sharing a dream. We were all connected to the same dream for a brief moment in time and can experience what the director or screenwriter is thinking, or dreaming, about. By him doing this, I feel as if him and his team, whoever they may be, displayed to us what their agenda was by “planting” this idea while in our dream-like states. Unfortunately, the seed was too strong for some people and they never understood what was going on. The ones who do understand it, started noticing movies, or dreams, in a way to peer inside the creator and team’s mind and see what seed of imagination or message they want to show us. Personally, it may not be as deep as Inception displayed with the multiple dreams, unless you actually dream about the movie, but people must admit that if it’s a movie that involves you to think, you will be influenced to think further, beyond the dream, about what the dream or movie was about. Not everyone can remember a literal dream as well as a movie but in a longer moment of your life you can remember a shared one. When you see a movie and find someone who has also seen it, you discuss what both sides think of it, how you interpret it, if possible, and continue on and this continues until the movie fades until it’s brought up again at a later date. It’s simply a way to have a shared dream.
ReplyDelete-Marcus Powell
I think that the Inception movie originally started out as just a movie about dreams, however, as it developed, I think the director saw a chance to make a movie that forces the audience to think. While I’m sure that Christopher Nolan has his own interpretation of the movie, I think it is more about how each individual interprets it. Personally, I do not like the analogy of Inception representing movie making. To me this somehow makes it less impactful and about a seemingly less important topic than if it were taken at face value, about what life really is. I think that this movie is made to have you start questioning your own reality and think about what you truly believe. It gives you the grounds to doubt everything as Descartes did and from there try to put it all back together. When Cobb and Mal get stuck in Limbo they have to constantly remind themselves that where they are is not real life, but like what happened to Mal, why not just forget and pretend it’s real? I feel like this is a lot of people’s feelings about life; Who cares where we actually are, I’m still living my life. I can easily fall into this thought because if life really is all a dream, it is still my life so why does it matter. Even so, human curiosity often gets the best of us, we constantly want to know what's real. Even just day to day interactions people act differently and aren’t always their real selves, so is that real life? Basically, Inception is made to be bizarre enough to make you think, not necessarily anything specific, but to just think.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I can’t really see a hidden message in Inception, I feel that the director Christopher Nolan not only made a movie about dreams within dreams but also wanted to create a story about a man trying to forget the past and get back home. The main character, Cobb, struggles with the death of his wife and him leaving his kids as we see this throughout the film through the many dreams we see and limbo itself. As Cobb goes into different dreams his subconscious always interferes, showing that he is still troubled from all the events that happened before he left such as when Mal killed Fischer and took him to limbo as well as when the train comes in from out of nowhere in the first dream stage, indicating the train that Mal and Cobb used when trying to escape limbo themselves. Cobb obviously struggles with his guilt, and it only worsens when he refuses to tell the rest of the team until Ariadne forces him to admit what happened. Cobb’s struggle is one of the most vital factors in the story as it gives purpose to the story. We see this when Cobb finally faces Mal’s image in Limbo and kills her, symbolizing him letting go of his past. Well written characters are a vital part of making a movie, and Cobb fits that well with how Christopher Nolan portrays his regret through his shared dreams, providing plenty of symbolism and story progression. The director is able to show Cobb’s motivations and weaknesses well, and I feel that with well defined characters a good movie is made.
ReplyDeleteI do think Inception was a movie just about dreams. I also think that inception was a mode of reality isn’t as fun or as neat as our dream reality. Our dreams, in a sense, are subsets of reality. This comparison shows audiences that Cobb was in his own subjective reality. He didn’t really care anymore, and that makes a statement: perhaps, all levels of reality are valid. Once he was with his children, he was finished. I think Christopher Nolan did a great job of expanding on the idea of reality. Especially Mal, who had lost her sense of reality, which had cause her to commit suicide. Inception really captures the idea that reality is basically what your mind perceives. This movie really shows that reality is just the energy we put into having conscious thought. I think the plot of dreams was really just a way to decide your self into a reality that you preferred. Although Cobb felt guilty for Mal’s death, he desired a world that she was still apart of. His dream reality became the reality he favored, because he got to be with his wife. I think the underlying message behind inception, is that if you spend all of your life trying to live in your ultimate reality, you lose track of what’s important. Or in Mal’s case, you lose your sense of actual reality. I think that while the movie does deal with the action of dreaming, I think it’s really centered on self control and the ability to know your own limits and when to take a step back and stop.
ReplyDeleteI think that for the most part, Christopher Nolan was just directing an entertaining movie about dreams. However, I thought that the movie raised a good question, "How do we really know if we're dreaming or not?". In the movie, the characters had little objects that only they knew exactly how that object moved or acted. But, without these objects, how would we really know if we were dreaming or not? For example, how do I know right now that I am not dreaming? I could just wake up and have a completely different family, a different set of friends, and live in a completely different world. I think that Nolan wanted to get this point across when directing this film. Just like in the last scene of the movie where Cobb spins the top but we never see it fall or not, so we're not one hundred percent sure if he's in reality again, if he's still dreaming, or if he was dreaming for the whole movie. I think that Inception really makes us question our own realities, trying to figure out what's real and what's not. At least for me, watching this movie made me question my own reality, how do I really know that I'm in reality right now? What if I'm in some simulation type of reality like The Matrix where my body is stored in some lab? Overall, I really liked how much the film made me think about my own reality and the way that Nolan related this movie to philosophical and psychological concepts.
ReplyDeleteHunter Vainik
ReplyDeleteI think Christopher Nolan was obviously trying to make more than a movie about dreaming. One example is with the different character roles where each character takes on a different person in the movie making process. In fact, it could be argued that the whole movie was about movie making. Or maybe the movie was trying to incept the idea that our reality isn't real as a kick to get the viewer out of limbo, which if true would be pretty insane. Another good theory is that it's one giant shared dream for the audience. At the start of the movie, Dom washes up on a beach, the audience doesn't know how he got here just like in a dream. Then a bunch of strange things are revealed to us, like dream sharing machines and the time dilation rules. The audience assumes it's all real like in a dream where strange rules seem real. I think that the main purpose of the film, however, was to question reality and make the viewer realise that we eventually just have to accept reality as real. This is seen at the end of the movie when Dom walks away from his totem before he sees the result because he doesn't care anymore. He's with his kids and is happy so it doesn't matter if he's dreaming or not, it's his reality. Christopher Nolan even said in an interview about the movie: "perhaps all levels of reality our valid".
I think the movie Inception is about both dreams and something else. It certainly can be viewed as a parallel to the movie making world, with Cobb as the director, Arthur as the producer who does the research, Ariadne as the screenwriter when she acts as the architect, Eames as the actor, Yusuf as the technical guy, Saito as the producer who finances everything, and Fischer being the audience, as well as us. The thing about Christopher Nolan is that he won't say what he was trying to say in the film. He wants to leave the interpretation to each of us, which is a large part of the reason he left the ending of the movie so wide open. I don't think it's fair to ask if the movie is “just” a movie about dreams, because I think that it is, but also so much more. There are very few movies that make you think so much, where you question everything about the movie and its entire premise. There are many different points that people debate were actually the start of the dream, with many people believing it started before the dream. There's also the highly talked about final scene, where the top wobbles but the movie is cut before we see if it falls or not. I believe that Cobb came to true reality, because that's what I want to believe. I want him to be happy, to have a good life and be with his kids. I'm choosing which reality I want to be real. I think the movie is about people choosing what they want to believe in. Mall chose to believe that limbo was her true reality and rejected everything else. Even faced with all of the facts, people will still believe what they want to believe.
ReplyDeleteInception was a perfect form of art in such that it leaves many spaces to be interpreted. I prefer this type of art over other forms because viewers can come to their own exclusive conclusions about philosophies, theories, and plot holes. After reading the perspectives from different articles, I think Nolan was trying to send the audience a mix of different messages. As an artist, I know as a fact that all productions work as a sort of therapy. They portray the artist's thought and feelings through a lens. Nolan has issues with his own reality. He takes on the role of Cobb, essentially battling his subconscious as he tries to convince himself that his perception of reality is real...when it isn't. This could be because of the fame he has garnished from his previous works. Celebrity musicians usually mention "flashing lights" in songs to reference how their true life or reality is covered by the light of paparazzi. They also use "flash" as a metaphor for the glamorous life that is used to cover up reality. In Lil Wayne's "6 foot 7 foot" he says "I speak the truth, but I guess that's a foreign language to y'all
ReplyDeleteAnd I call it like I see it, and my glasses on
But most of y'all don't get the picture 'less the flash is on". Here, he explains that while he gets the real picture, most people (most likely celebrities), do not understand anything that is not in their un-real reality. Nolan is surrounded by flashing lights constantly. Mel's suicide represents him attempting to leave his old life and true reality. The fact that Mel continues to break into Cobbs life is an example of how Nolan can never completely forget the "real-world" and is constantly reminded of it.
Derrick
Inception was a movie you watch, and think for a second why does this seem so familiar. I think it’s because the way inception was made, represents real life. In kyles video, he explained how each of the characters represent someone in the movie making process. Movies in a way are shared dreams. We’re all in one room, watching the same thing play out. Sometimes it’s real, sometimes it’s fiction, but all the time it’s what someone wanted you to see.
ReplyDeleteI think Nolan didn’t do this on purpose at first, but I could see him as he and his team were writing the movie, it all coming together. And maybe that made him want to change some things in it to help the plot resemble a movie production. For example, at the end of the movie, the top not falling but we see it wiggle, is kind like when you’re dreaming and someone wakes you up, before you finish your dream.
Also, during the movie, as we go deeper and deeper in the dreams, it’s almost like how the person watching the film gets more entranced into the movie. You have to go to the bathroom, but you can’t because you want to know what happens next.
Robbie