AriadneYusufSaitoCobbEamesBrowningMalFischerArthur

Who is who?

A B C D

E F G H I

1. Dream thief with an unruly subconscious2. Dream Architect3. Pharmacologist4. Fischer’s godfather and mentor5. Identity thief specialist 6. Manages/researches the dream missions7. Heir to a business empire8. A manifestation of Cobb’s subconscious9. Gives Cobb and co. the mission

Now match the description to the name…

2010

Director & Writer – Christopher Nolan

Production Companies – Warner Bros. Pictures, Legendary Pictures, Syncopy

Cast – Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy

Budget - $160,000,000 Gross revenue - $825,956,569

Background Information

Christopher Nolan: “I wanted to show the potential for the real world to have analogies to the dream world.”

“The concept that dreams feel real while we’re in them underlies the whole film.”

Leonardo DiCaprio: “It’s this whole different set of rules and laws that applied within the insane world that Chris Nolan created.”

Quotes

8.9/10 – IMDB

86% - Rotten Tomatoes: “smart, innovative and thrilling.”

Amongst its awards are 4 Oscars, 3 Baftas and 5 Saturn Awards

Critical Reception

Confusion over time and space: -alternates between dreams and reality -fragmented narrative as it alternates between settings (e.g. hotel to snow

scene)- Do we really know where we are, who’s dreams, who’s reality?

Decline of meta-narrative: -presents the idea that there is no single truth or idea to explain the world. It

is suggested in the film that it is personal and defined differently from person to person (micro narratives)

Strinati

Style over substance – the dreams have to ‘look’ correct and they often do but on close inspection the flaws are there e.g. the carpet in Saito’s ‘love nest’

Not everyone needs to know the details of the dream (only the ‘dreamer’) it just needs to be convincing

BUT the brain can tell the difference – What happens when people start to realise that some is wrong in the dream? What comment is being made here about the post modern society (Think back to The Matrix)

Strinati

Ideology: -question whether Cobb and his team are good or bad (they

are criminals, but have good motives) - The ‘Drug Den’ – people seem to prefer the hyper reality to the real world ‘the dream has become their reality, who are you to say otherwise’ - Redistribution of wealth and attack on the film industry…

Narrative: - fragmented (alternates between scenes, e.g. on plane and

then suddenly in dream) - not chronological (e.g. see him washed up on the beach at

the beginning and then near the end) - Multiple narratives – stories within stories.

Media Concepts

-the cafe scene

-the hotel scene (oblique angles)

-the road scene

Media Language: - its constructed nature is obvious at points, for example...

Also, slow motion and flashbacks are used.

Audience 1: What do you think happens at the end?

Audience 1: The Marketing Campaign

Audience 2: demands a lot from the audience in terms of active engagement. They need to engage intellectually to understand the text.

Audience 2: How ‘comfortable’ and reassuring was the ending? ‘ It’s one of those rare films that, just for a second, makes you question your own reality’

What evidence is there to support that this film is

Action Adventure

Thriller

Science fiction

Experimental

Genre - Hybrid text

Intertextuality (Strinati – Breakdown between High Art and popular culture)

The Penrose staircase is referenced during the film ‘Inception’. This expands on the idea that anything in a dream can be possible with the architects creativity.

Intertextuality. (Strinati – Breakdown between High Art and popular culture)

During the film ‘Inception’ there is a reference to the photographer Ori Gersht who also blows up things as they have done in the film ‘Inception.’

Intertextuality. (Strinati – Breakdown between High Art and popular culture)

The scene with the mirrors references Citizen Kane when he sees himself indefinitely reflected. In the film ‘Inception’ it shows the idea that there are many worlds than reflect off this one world. This reinforces the dream within a dream concept. This could also link with Hyper reality….

“The film is a metaphor for the way that Nolan as a director works, and what 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.”

A thought …

What elements of inception could have alienated audiences?

Are the various dream levels differentiated in any way so that audiences can keep track? How?

Is Inception the brainiest blockbuster ever? Explain other movies that could hold this title.

Questions