somebody might as well post an "Inception" thread

[typicallistener]

and it might as well be me

SPOILERZ.

Just came across this on Reddit. Assumed it would be trite analysis (because I am an asshole) but it's a pretty compelling and seemingly plausible explanation..

..except that it doesn't take into consideration how old-man-limbo Seito appears at the very beginning of the movie, during the job before which Cobb meets Ariande for the first time. If the whole movie was an inception on Cobb, by Ariande, then how would her memory have been able to create him (Seito) in the first place?

[madeyeshawn]

I thought that was just a non linear book end. It just gives you the same scene with two different contexts but they are still the same scene same moment.

Does anyone else think that its possible the whole movie is Leo in Limbo? Just like what his wife said, challenging his reality as a ridiculous action movie dream. The final scene cuts before his safety object stops spinning and his kids are in the identical spot with the identical clothing that he had been dreaming about the whole movie.

[bluecrucial]

When the movie ended I really was on the side of it not all being inside of one larger dream.

But a things that might be clues I thought were at least interesting:

When his wife, Mal, kills herself all the years before, why is she on the hotel ledge across from their room?

There is very little written text throughout the film, which is usually used when characters need to find out if they are dreaming. Things like exit signs your brain will know the meaning of but not lengthy text.

[DudeEMETIB]

Originally Posted by bluecrucial

There is very little written text throughout the film, which is usually used when characters need to find out if they are dreaming. Things like exit signs your brain will know the meaning of but not lengthy text.

I know about the text thing in dreams, but I don't think the movie followed that idea since in the very first dream they're in Leo is reading full on documents inside the Asian guy's dream.

I don't think the end was Leo dreaming...the keystone wobbled and it never wobbled before, and he saw his kid's faces which was supposed to be one of those "big things" that ooh I can't ever see their faces in my dream blah blah.

Also, I dunno, that'd just be lame. lol It was an ending to get you to talk about it...I don't think it was real "twist" just a "maybe???"

[madeyeshawn]

As stated previously I was in the "it's all a dream" team. Technically, I still am; but with a twist. I now believe Cobb is the antagonist and Maude is a background protagonist (which is kind of an oxymoron in hollywood). I believe the original inception was against Cobb done by Maude and it convinced him everything was real. If Maude was as much of a dream expert as Cobb, why wouldn't she be inclined to try the same thing? The difference being, hers worked and his didn't.

I can imagine a fan fiction follow up about Maude in reality fighting and plotting ways to invade Cobb's dreams and undo her own inception. This is why she appears as an antagonist to us/him trying to foil his plans and kill his sub consciously created team members who are all acting as a defense mechanism. If you look at her suicide scheme from this perspective it fits perfectly considering it would either lead him to undo his inception or drive him away from his imaginary children, thence forth making her inception even harder to live with.

In the end she gives up and loses her husband forever to his perfect dream with his children. It would make for an interesting sequel. It disgusts me to discuss franchising such an original piece of film (blame the matrix), but it seems like that would be an awesome direction with a unique and new story to tell, especially since she is such an amazing actress.

It's kind of a convoluted theory and I rarely get into this kind of movie chat i.e. the mindlessly dull Donnie Darko debates BLAH!, but it's about a convoluted film that successfully makes you think even with its many obvious faults.

[bluecrucial]

I don't think the end was Leo dreaming...the keystone wobbled and it never wobbled before, and he saw his kid's faces which was supposed to be one of those "big things" that ooh I can't ever see their faces in my dream blah blah.

One thing I hadn't noticed at the end was that the kids are wearing the same clothes he had imagined them wearing throughout the movie.

[DudeEMETIB]

lol I just noticed I said keystone...
They called their little things "totems" didn't they? I don't know where I got keystone from.

[hellbent]

An Illustrated Guide To The 5 Levels Of Inception

the dreamer part might be wrong...

[mathman]

I agree with the illustrated guide in that the first level in the movie is reality and the rest are dreams. I guess I just do not buy into the whole movie is a dream idea. The reason why is because it totally messes with the whole premise of the movie: that inception, the planting of an idea into someone, is possible. If the whole movie is a dream, then inception is either possible or not, whose to say, but it's tangential to real purpose of the movie, that it's all a dream. And the idea that they are planting an idea into Cobb? I do not believe you can really substantiate that.

Another reason I believe the plot is straight forward is due to the tragedy behind Mal's death. Since it resulted from an idea that Cobb planted into her mind, that explains why Cobb is reluctant to do it again. If the whole movie is a dream, then Mal's death wasn't a tragedy and we're stuck back at another WTF.

Here is how I interpreted the last few seconds of the movie: Cobb spins the totem to find out if he is dreaming or not because he wants to first see his children's faces in real life. But he walks away from it because he realizes at that moment it doesn't matter if he is dreaming or not. That paranoia about being in a dream state was what lead to Mal's suicide, and that he would not suffer the same ends. And the movie ends without us knowing for sure as a sort of way to tell us we're not supposed to worry about it either.

[picard102]

The ending is hilarious. But the rest was a bit over hyped.