Inception

1. Group: Elijah CArter, Julio Rosales, Kevin Wang, stephenhuang, victor hsiao Inception

2. meaning • Emotional: • Puzzlement and confusion, yet clarity at the end for those that pay attention • References: • Dreamscape: movie about a man who can project himself into dreams • Matrix: dream world that everyone lives in and thinks is real

3. meaning • Explicit: • Dreams vs Reality • Totems - an object that you can use to see if you are in a dream • Implicit • Anything can happen in a dream • Ariadne and Arthur create various paradoxes • Van in slow motion while rain in normal speed • Instantaneous production of an object • Gravity relation to each sublevel. • Law of Physics broken constantly

4. Is it a good story • Unified story • Revolves around Cobb’s internal conflict and want to get home to children • Credible/Plausible: Yes and No • Shared Dreaming • “Kick” aka Hypnic Jerk • Externally Observable Truths • “Kick”

5. Is it a good story • Human Nature • Obsession: • Mal’s belief of fake reality • Guilt/Sorrow: • Cobb’s guilt and sorrow for Mal’s death • Love: • Cobb’s internal conflict with Mal and want to be with children • Fischer’s internal love of Fischer Sr. • Handles Emotional Material w/ Restraint • Yes

6. Themes/tropes • It’s difficult to distinguish between what’s real and what’s not. • Obsession • Love • Guilt and Sorrow

7. Intent/message • Belief • “Take a leap of faith” • Human nature • Some things that can’t be controlled • Consequences of Miscommunication • Cobb’s subconscious

8. Metaphor • The film is a metaphor for the way Nolan works as a director, and he’s ultimately saying is that the catharsis found in a dream is as real as the catharsis found in a movie is as real as the catharsis found in life. Inception is about the making of movies, and cinema is the shared dream that truly interests the director

9. Symbolism • Mazes & Labyrinths • Cobb lost in maze of guilt • Ariadne • Guide; based on Greek story of leading Theseus through a maze to kill the Minotaur

10. Symbolism continued • Pinwheel - Fischer & His Father • changes Fischer’s perspective of his relationship with his father • Water (passing between worlds) • Intro, ‘the Kick’, Rain, Drinks, The bridge, Limbo • Freight train - (Mal) • Burdens and troubles

11. Subplots • Cobb & Mal • Cobb & His Children • Fischer, Browning, & Fischer’s Father • Saito & Fischer’s father

12. Title/opening credits • Inception • Incept – means commence from latinincipere • Opening Credits: • Warner Bros., Legendary Pictures, Syncopy • Syncopy logo in a maze like format

13. Story • Cobb and Mal experimented with dreaming and ended up in limbo, killed themselves to get out, used inception on Mal to convince her that their world wasn’t real, leading to her suicide and Cobb’s departure from America and his children • Still feels guilty, hence Mal’s projection, tries to get back home, by doing illegal jobs. • Does job for Saito to get back home and reconciles his guilt with Mal.

14. plot • Cobb wakes up on a beach and is taken to a house of an old man, who reveals that they have met before. • *Flashback* • At some other time, Cobb and Arthur try to perform corporate espionage on Mr. Saito, but are thwarted by Mal. • They try to interrogate Saito again, but is revealed that they were in another dream

15. plot • Cobb is approached by Saito with a job offer to perform “inception” to convince the heir of a company rival, Fischer, to break up the empire. • He accepts the job and goes to recruit his team. • In France, a discussion reveals that Cobb can’t go home legally for reasons unknown

16. plot • Team: • Ariadne – architect that creates labyrinths for the dreams • Eames – identity forger • Yusuf – chemist that formulates the sedative used for the job • Saito – joining to make sure the job is done correctly • During planning the inception, Ariadne finds out the conflict inside of Cobb with his wife, Mal.

17. plot • The plan starts when Fischer Sr. dies and Fischer Jr. goes along to see over the funeral. • Entering Yusuf’s dream, they ‘kidnap’ Fischer but their plan has a wrench thrown into it via freight train and armed henchmen who fatally wound Saito. • While Eames talks to Fischer, Cobb reveals to Ariadne that Mal committed suicide

18. plot • After “interrogating” Fischer, they enter dream layer two. • Using the “Mr. Charles” trick, Cobb manages to convince Fischer that they are on the same side. • Fischer’s projects an image of Browning that is betraying him. • They go under again, leaving Arthur behind.

19. plot • Yusuf is having trouble with the henchmen on level one, meanwhile, Arthur is dealing with various security of the hotel. • Dream level three is a mountain security outpost with a vault of Fischer’s secrets (key to inception). • First ‘kick’ is missed, setting up for second • Fischer is killed by Mal, goes to limbo. • Cobb and Ariadne go to limbo to retrieve him

20. Plot • Cobb explains what they did in limbo • Eames and Arthur set up for second ‘kick’ in their dream levels • Ariadne and Cobb find Mal and Fischer, Cobb talks to Mal, reveals that Cobb was responsible for idea. • Saito dies. • Ariadne gives Fischer the ‘kick’, shoots Mal

21. plot • Fischer talks to his projection father • Breaks down and cries • ‘Kicks’ occur, leaving Saito and Cobb in limbo • Revealed that Cobb and Mal lived for decades in limbo • Fischer decides to break up company • Cobb reminds Saito about their agreement, return to reality.

22. Plot • Saito makes phone call, Cobb makes it through security • Cobb gets home and spins top to check for reality, sees kids, looks away from top as it continues to spin.

25. Characterizationmain Characters • Cobb • Job: Extractor • Meaning: Thief- Cobb was the name of Christopher Nolan’s first film character who was a thief • Untrustworthy character • Not as skilled in the real world as he is in the dream world

26. CharacterizationMain CHaracters • Ariadne • Job: Architect • Meaning: Women who helped guide • Person who audience identifies with • Asks all the questions that the audience wants to know • Curious to search the world

27. Characterizationmain Characters • Mal • Job: “The Shade” • Meaning: in Spanish: Bad, demon of darkness/ hostile • Key noir reference character

28. Characterizationmain Characters • Arthur • Manages and does research on the mark • Eames • “forger”; can become people in dreams once mannerisms are learned • Yusuf • “chemist”; supplies sedative for the dream within a dream state • Saito • Businessman who employs Cobb

29. CharacterizationMinor Characters • Cobb’s Children • Wore different clothes and were different children in the beginning and in the end • Kids are a combination of Dream and memory like normal humans who try to visualize things

30. Cobb’s Children Difference

31. Motivation • Cobb is presented with an extraction mission that he first turns down. Yet, when he is offered the chance to reunite with his children he quickly changes his mind and accepts the offer. This motivating factor drives Cobb to remain focused on creating and executing the mission. Later, Cobb is motivated by the fact that he has no other choice but to finish this mission, if he wants to be reunited with his children and to resolve his conflict with Mal.

32. motif • Time changing • Ex: 5 minutes = 1 hour, top spinning. • All dreams start spontaneously with no sense of beginning. • Totem • Top • Wedding ring • Penrose Steps • Music • Non Je Ne RegretteRien

33. setting • Mombasa • Similar to the dreams; labyrinth • Rain, hotel, and snow are used to differentiate dream levels • Other than that, we don’t know where the dreams are taking place. • City = general, Hotel = smaller, more specific, Mountain security outpost = precise and specific

34. Dialogue/Quotes • “Take a leap of faith” • The idea is related to real life and how you really don’t know what comes next • Ending refers to how you need to take a leap of faith and chose whether it was reality or a dream • “I built a house” • Cobb’s son saying this last line of movie • References to how the movie is about architects and everybody is building

35. Point of View • Entire movie is mostly from the point of view of Cobb, albeit restricted • Ariadne helps us see the entire story • Ariadne aims many questions at Cobb, thus representing the audience and helps provide narration via Cobb.

36. Important Scene • Final scene where Cobb comes to terms with his reality and finally confronts the death of his wife • See’s his children finally • Cobb doesn’t care anymore about whether it was reality or not

37. Questions?