A very cool exposition on "Inception." I
thought this film was another great Nolan film that didn't get enough credit (check
out “Memento”). When I was watching it I didn't fully understand it. But I
knew such a great story was hinting at something more than just a thriller that
takes place in dreams. I'm glad such a film was finally made. Watch this whole
lecture through.
Spoiler: The whole movie is a dream. Once you see
behind the red herring of whether the top actually fell or not, the movie
becomes straight-forward, it also becomes a better movie. Short answer, Cobb's
totem is backward and he's an extremely unreliable narrator. The whole film takes place in Cobb's head.
Hence all the "real world" characters being one-dimensional (they’re simply figments of his imagination or expressions of his personality, like the Freudian superego, id, and ego). The physically impossible feats that sometimes occur in Cobb's "real world" (i.e. the maze like world of Mombasa with the “mobs” (shorthand for “mobiles" in Minecraft and other games) or dream projections that seem to “spawn” from nowhere, just like in a videogame) are indications that there is no real world in Cobb's world.
Similar to "Shutter Island," Leonardo DiCaprio once again plays a psychologically compromised protagonist with an even more psychologically compromised wife. In both movies, DiCaprio's protagonist places both wives on a pedestal until both husband and wive's psychological traumas are revealed to be too much to ignore. As far as mythological references go, in "Shutter Island," the wife functions as a sympathetic Medea, to the protagonist's flawed Jason.
In "Inception," Cobb's wife Mia functions as Orpheus's wife, leading her husband into the underworld of the many levels of dreams. The imagery of Mia residing in the basement of the structure of the dream, at the last layer the "elevator" can reach, is telling. Eventually, like Orpheus, Cobb must flee her embraces in the "basement" of his dream and never look back.
Hence all the "real world" characters being one-dimensional (they’re simply figments of his imagination or expressions of his personality, like the Freudian superego, id, and ego). The physically impossible feats that sometimes occur in Cobb's "real world" (i.e. the maze like world of Mombasa with the “mobs” (shorthand for “mobiles" in Minecraft and other games) or dream projections that seem to “spawn” from nowhere, just like in a videogame) are indications that there is no real world in Cobb's world.
Similar to "Shutter Island," Leonardo DiCaprio once again plays a psychologically compromised protagonist with an even more psychologically compromised wife. In both movies, DiCaprio's protagonist places both wives on a pedestal until both husband and wive's psychological traumas are revealed to be too much to ignore. As far as mythological references go, in "Shutter Island," the wife functions as a sympathetic Medea, to the protagonist's flawed Jason.
In "Inception," Cobb's wife Mia functions as Orpheus's wife, leading her husband into the underworld of the many levels of dreams. The imagery of Mia residing in the basement of the structure of the dream, at the last layer the "elevator" can reach, is telling. Eventually, like Orpheus, Cobb must flee her embraces in the "basement" of his dream and never look back.
Better yet, the tension between whether Cobb, a
fictional character, is in a dream raises metaphorical and metaphysical
questions that we in the real world may be uncomfortable to answer or even consider. The
"real world" implications are immense and fun to ponder.
How much of the real world is actually real? Are reality and dreams more connected and more similar than we think? If the "real world" is just a level in a multi-layered dream, a "dream within a dream" so to speak, when
we die, do we, like the characters in the film, just go "one level
up?" Are we reincarnating our way through each level of the dream, much
like reincarnating as a different being in Buddhist and Hindu religious
frameworks?
Are we living in what Buddhists call
"samsara," an endless cycle of reincarnation, constantly moving
through the levels of our "dream" of reality? Maybe there is no final
layer, no "real world" and there is no way to wake up from this
"dream."
Do we take a “leap of faith” when we believe this world is real and not a dream? If the world is a dream, who dreams it? Are we in God's dream or even another mortal's? When we sleep and dream are we literally dreaming a dream within a dream within the dream of reality - i.e. "inception?
If the whole world is a dream did God dream us into being as opposed to just speaking us into being (like gods in pagan myths of old)? Are we his dream? Do we too dream worlds into being?
Can we somehow break out of God’s dream and dream our own world, our own particular reality and dream our own reality, thereby becoming gods according to this definition? Or is his dream our reality and impossible to break out of - through enlightenment or otherwise? A mortal reality or an immortal's dream?
Do we take a “leap of faith” when we believe this world is real and not a dream? If the world is a dream, who dreams it? Are we in God's dream or even another mortal's? When we sleep and dream are we literally dreaming a dream within a dream within the dream of reality - i.e. "inception?
If the whole world is a dream did God dream us into being as opposed to just speaking us into being (like gods in pagan myths of old)? Are we his dream? Do we too dream worlds into being?
Can we somehow break out of God’s dream and dream our own world, our own particular reality and dream our own reality, thereby becoming gods according to this definition? Or is his dream our reality and impossible to break out of - through enlightenment or otherwise? A mortal reality or an immortal's dream?
How do we prove we’re not dreaming, if we can never
know if we are dreaming? One could simply decide to not care whether one is
dreaming or not and accept the dream as reality, much like the cave-dwellers in
Plato’s “Republic”. Or one could be distracted from the fact that they are
living in a dream or living a lie and simply continue to believe their reality
is truly authentic.
One could also take a “leap of faith” either way and
decide regardless of evidence, to believe that one is dreaming or not dreaming.
Or one could embark on a quest to find proof and determine whether or not one
is or isn’t in a dream. Except that even if there is a way to find proof that the
world was a dream it would be difficult to bring this proof (some object or
token from the reality outside reality) back.
Obtaining proof would entail leaving the dream i.e. leaving reality and somehow returning. In addition obtaining proof would entail knowing some for part of another reality could even be brought back to our, precluding the rationale behind any such journey because if we knew an artifact of another reality could be brought back or even if that such an artifact existed we would know another reality existed outside our own.
Obtaining proof would entail leaving the dream i.e. leaving reality and somehow returning. In addition obtaining proof would entail knowing some for part of another reality could even be brought back to our, precluding the rationale behind any such journey because if we knew an artifact of another reality could be brought back or even if that such an artifact existed we would know another reality existed outside our own.
From this one could conclude from natural phenomenon
that if you leave the dream (of life) you cannot return and/or are lost. Therefore you would
be considered dead by those living in the dream world, hence proving to those
still living in the dream world that the dream world – your reality – is
reality and the only one at that.
To prove this world is a dream would entail someone
being resurrected, coming back from the dead - i.e. returning from outside
reality - and informing us that there is another reality outside of our existence. To date this has only happened in religious or supernatural accounts or
fiction.
Hence it once again comes down to what you believe –
“a leap of faith.” If you do believe it is possible to return from the dead or
from outside our reality – the mortal plane – than it is possible to believe
there are many other realities besides this one or that this reality is a fake one – i.e. “but a
dream.” If you do not, then this life is reality, the only reality.
"Inception" raises as many as or perhaps
even more philosophical interesting questions than "The Matrix." The film is a goldmine of abstract postulation; even if it is all theoretical, it makes for a good speculation.
- Ryu
Other articles from this lecturer on “Inception”
"One cannot be certain that one is not dreaming; in fact, it seems that one cannot even know. But I think the more interesting problem is this: how should we deal with this uncertainty? The fact that you can't know that you are not dreaming-that the world around you may not be real-creates a certain kind of angst. Perhaps you feel it right now. How should you deal with that angst?"
"What's my point? I don't think people actually believe that faith is a virtue. Belief in the teapot would require faith-belief without evidence-but no one would think it is virtuous. The virtue of faith is often touted in religious circles, but usually people don't think that it's virtuous to believe the tenets of other religions by faith-only one's own. What's virtuous is "believing the right thing."
So, when people say that faith is a virtue, they really don't think that it's the "belief without evidence" part that is virtuous. They just think that believing the right thing is virtuous. I would agree. Of course, the trouble is figuring out what the right thing is."
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