roup Elijah CArter Julio Rosales Kevin Wang stephen

roup: Elijah CArter, Julio Rosales, Kevin Wang, stephen huang, victor hsiao INCEPTION

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

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

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”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

Characterization main 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

Characterization Main 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

Characterization main Characters Mal Job: “The Shade” Meaning: in Spanish: Bad, demon of darkness/ hostile Key noir reference character

Characterization main 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

Characterization Minor 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

Cobb’s Children Difference

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 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.

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 Regrette Rien

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

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

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.

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

Questions?