What do the characters in Inception have to teach us?

1. Angelique Tsang
Interactive Movie Club analysis
December 2011

3. Cobb: What is the most resilient parasite? Bacteria? A
virus? An intestinal worm? An idea. Resilient... highly
contagious. Once an idea has taken hold of the brain it's
almost impossible to eradicate. An idea that is fully formed
- fully understood - that sticks; right in there somewhere.

4. What could be motifs for inception / extraction:
Training
Fun
Creation
Illegitimate purposes – ultimate power and control
When are you more vulnerable for inception?

5. Cobb: I think positive emotion trumps
negative emotion every time.
Cobb: I'm going to improvise. Listen, there's
something you should know about me...
about inception. An idea is like a virus,
resilient, highly contagious. The smallest seed
of an idea can grow. It can grow to define or
destroy you.
Eames: What you have to do it start at the
absolute basic.

6. How does the subconscious protect us, what from and when is it harmful?
Arthur: What about his security? It's gonna get worse as we go deeper.
Cobb: I think we run with Mr. Charles.
Arthur: No.
Eames: Who's Mr. Charles?
Arthur: Bad idea.
Cobb: The second we get in that hotel with Fischer, his security is gonna be all
over us. We run with Mr. Charles like we did on the Stein job.
Eames: So you've done it before?
Arthur: Yeah, and it didn't work. The subject realized he was dreaming and his
subconscious tore us to pieces.

7. How does the subconscious protect us, what from and when is it harmful?
Safes: to lock away what could destroy or heal
us
To protect us from invasion from others but
also from what could heal us.
Cognitive dissonance : Our worldview/old
identity is resistant to new ideas
Totem: How do we know it’s our dream/reality
or somebody else’s?

8. How do dreams wake us up? When are dreams our reality?
The gap between dream and reality: is the dream an escape or is the dream
world used to wake you up?
Why do we need to escape reality?

9. Cobb: Never recreate from your memory. Always imagine new places!
Ariadne: These aren't just dreams. These are memories. And you said
never to use memories.
Cobb: I know I did.
Ariadne: You're trying to keep her alive. You can't let her go.
Cobb: You don't understand. These are moments I regret, the
memories that I have to change.

10. How does healing occur
Cobb: I can't stay with her anymore because she doesn't exist.
Mal: I'm the only thing you do believe in anymore.
Cobb: I wish. I wish more than anything. But I can't imagine you
with all your complexity, all you perfection, all your
imperfection. Look at you. You are just a shade of my real wife.
You're the best I can do; but I'm sorry, you are just not good
enough.

11. Going down the subconscious to rescue what was lost / forgotten
The unhealed wounds as main drives and how relentless they are.
Catharsis:
- is about Love, giving it and getting it
- letting go of the past and waking up from the unreality of projections
- letting go of an idea that hurts and seeing in a new way
- Whether it is “real” does not matter, if it heals, the negative compulsive emotional drive
dissipates