Earlier today I watched this video: Kyle Johnson ‘Inception and Philosophy’, which inspired me to go all Time Cube on you guys. I thought about resurrecting a previous thread, but ultimately decided that I would try for something worthy of a new thread.
Feel free to watch the video – you may well enjoy the points raised. I was a bit disappointed myself, however, because I was hoping for something more in depth, and most of what Mr. Johnson discusses was familiar from previous SDMB threads. His main points were that 1) *Inception *should have won Best Picture, and 2) that Cobb was most likely dreaming throughout the whole movie (regardless of whether the top falls at the end or not). I’m in agreement with both of these points, for many of the reasons mentioned in the video and in previous SDMB threads, but also largely because it makes for a much more interesting movie to me.
Mr. Johnson also raises the idea that the movie itself was an inception. He refers to the line in the movie where the question of whether inception itself is possible is raised, and goes on to say that the idea that the movie is imparting to the audience is that this movie, like any movie, is capable of instilling ideas in the minds of the audience.
I thought that this video (and much of the other analysis I’ve seen of the movie) missed a few key points of discussion, therefore being a level or two more shallow than a more complete analysis should be. Mr. Johnson almost hits upon one of these points when he states that the movie itself is an inception upon the audience, but I think that he misses the mark when he fails to realize what the idea Nolan is trying to instill in the audience really is. I’ll get back to that.
First, assuming that Cobb is dreaming throughout the entirety of the film, then we’re left to wonder why the movie is set up that way. I don’t recall seeing much discussion of this except to say that Nolan was just playing with levels of reality and leaving an ambiguous puzzle for viewers to ponder. I think Nolan had another, narrative purpose behind telling the story of a dream.
For one thing, if indeed Cobb is dreaming throughout all levels of the movie, and all of the dream levels of the movie involve inception, then isn’t it likely that, at the top level of the movie, Cobb himself is the subject of an inception? If so, then by whom, and for what purpose?
Going by the clues in the movie, the likely culprits who may be incepting Cobb include Saito, Ariadne, the father-in-law, and Mal. Any of the first three could also simply be forged identities (like whathisname did by posing as the attractive blonde and the business partner). I don’t believe we are given enough information to be sure which, or if any, or all, of those characters are involved in performing an inception on Cobb. These characters all make statements in the movie that could serve as clues to the fact that Cobb is, at the highest levels of the movie, the subject of an inception. However, there are two more reasons for me to believe that this is the case. One is that it fits thematically, once you accept that Cobb is dreaming throughout the movie (i.e. it’s a movie about inception, after all). The other reason is the journey that Cobb takes in the movie.
On the plot level of the story, we have Cobb who must overcome various challenges and obstacles to implant an idea into the mind of a rich heir. He succeeds by suggesting that the heir should choose to forge his own destiny rather than following his father’s footsteps. That’s nice. On the emotional level, however, Cobb’s journey is one of grief and redemption, learning to overcome his guilt over his wife’s suicide. In doing so, he is able to choose to move forward and live his life with his children. Indeed, he is only able to succeed in his quest to perform an inception after having his cathartic experience involving his wife, and his reward is to have his guilt literally removed, thereby removing the obstacle preventing him from living his life with his children.
This is quite a therapeutic breakthrough for Cobb, and leads me to believe that the inception that is being performed on Cobb is precisely to achieve that breakthrough. It is less mercenary, certainly, than the overt inception of the movie, but certainly worthwhile for anyone who cares about Cobb and/or his family.
Finally, we have the question of what Nolan hopes to instill in the viewer through the movie (aside from an enjoyable ride that we are willing to pay for). This is something that struck me while watching the movie for the first time in the theater, and I have wondered about since. There was something I saw in the movie, that I don’t remember now, that reminded me of a scene in Abre los Ojos. I was struck by the resonance between that movie and Inception.
In Abres los Ojos, The Matrix, and various other movies, we have explorations of the allegory of Plato’s cave. In each of these movies, the solution to the allegory is to escape the cave, to wake up. In some interpretations of movies like this, and certainly so in Abres los Ojos, the way to wake up is by suicide.
If we accept the premise of Inception, and accept the idea that movies can be a kind of inception upon the audience, then it seems likely that Nolan would say that these previous movies have implanted the very same idea that Cobb implanted in his wife which led to her suicide. It therefore follows that the novel idea which Nolan wishes to instill with *Inception *is that which was given to Cobb, leading to his breakthrough.
We may never be certain, and I have strong doubts, that Cobb is awake at the end of the movie, just as we may never be certain that we have left Plato’s cave and are truly seeing the forms where once we saw shadows. With Inception, Nolan seems to be saying that it doesn’t matter. What matters is to find a way to free ourselves from the shackles of obsession and guilt, and to move forward to live our lives for ourselves and our children.
Whoa.
tl;dr: Hey, Man, didja ever, like, *really *look at your hand?