Implanting an Idea: Inception Should Have

Won Best Picture

David Kyle JohnsonKing’s College

The Point• Actually, it didn’t bother me that much

that Inception didn’t win best picture. • But the reason it didn’t win, I believe,

is because no one in the Academy truly understood the movie—it went right over their heads.

• So my attempt to explain why it should have won is really an attempt to explain the movie—to help you understand what Inception was about, what happened in it, and how philosophy can help one understand it.

One Thing They Probably Missed• Inception, and the act of incepting itself, is a metaphor for

film making. The role of each member of the “dream team” parallels roles of a movie-making team.– Cobb, who orchestrates everything, is the director.– Ariadne, who designs the dreams, is the screenwriter.– Saito, who bankrolls the whole thing, is the production

company.– Arthur, who organizes and sets everything up, is the producer.– Eames, who pretends to be Peter Browning and the Sexy

Blonde, is the actor.– Yusuf, who has the technical savvy to enable them to produce

the dreams, is the special effects expert.– Robert Fischer, the mark, is the audience.

Eames, The Actor(notice the reflection)

They also didn’t notice….

…that every part of the soundtrack is based on a tempo-altered part of an Edith Piaf song.

Inception is an Inception• In fact, you may think

inception is impossible—that you can’t implant ideas into others’ minds—but that is what movies do best. – Inception implanted into you

the idea that reality may be a dream.

• But these are not even close to the most significant things the Academy missed.

The Spinning Top• On the surface, the movie is a great action film with cool

special effects and a fairly clever cliffhanger ending. • Unraveling the movie would seem to simply require

discovering the answer to this question: “Did the top fall?” – Although fun, this is not entirely novel—so it didn’t win.

• The first step in understanding why Inception should have won best picture, and thus understanding the movie itself, lies in discovering why the answer to that question—“Did the top fall?”—doesn’t really matter.

• Even if the top falls, Cobb could be still dreaming—in fact, he probably is.

How Totems Work• You are never supposed to let

anyone else touch your totem because they might figure out how it works—how it is weighted or how it is supposed to behave in the real world.

• If they do, the totem will not be able to tell you whether or not you are in their dream.

How Totems Work• Arthur’s totem is a loaded die. If Ariadne touched

Arthur’s die in the read world, she would know how it is weighted and thus on which number it always falls in the real world.

• Consequently, if she does touch it, Arthur’s totem could never assure him that he is not in one of Ariadne’s dreams—for she could dream that his die falls just as she knows it does in the real world.

• This is why Arthur refuses to let Ariadne touch his totem.

How Totems Work• This is also why Ariadne refuses to let

Cobb touch her totem when he asks to see it. Recall, Cobb is pleased when she refuses. “So, you’re learning?”

• Most importantly, this is why a totem can only tell you that you are, as Arthur tells us, “not in someone else’s dream.”

• Since you know how it behaves in the real world, it can behave that way in your dream. So, even if the top did fall at the end of the movie, Cobb could still be in his own dream. Why? Because he could dream that it fell; he knows how it works!

Cobb Reveals Too Much

• The problem gets worse: Cobb is not the only one who knows how his totem works.

• When Ariadne calls totems an “elegant solution for keeping track of reality” and asks Cobb if it was his idea, he replies, “No . . . it was Mal’s actually . . . this one was hers. She would spin it in the dream [and] it would never topple. Just spin and spin.”

• He told Ariadne how it works! It can no longer tell him whether he is in one of her dreams (or one of the Fischer inception dreams that she designed).

Cobb Reveals Too Much

• Worse yet, as that same line reveals, the top was once Mal’s—so she knows how it works too.

• Sure, Cobb thinks she is dead, but he only thinks that because she threw herself from a window—a window in a world that Cobb couldn’t prove was real.

• Mal might have been right; they could have still been dreaming.

• So, even if the top did fall at the end of the movie, Cobb could still be in Ariadne’s or Mal’s dream.

It Gets Worse• Think about how the other totems work. • Only Arthur knows on what number his die will rest

in the real world.• Only Ariadne knows how her metal bishop is

weighted, in the real world. • Only Eames knows how “Mombasa” is misspelled

on his poker chip in the real world. So if he sees it spelled correctly he knows that he is in someone else’s dream. – (Actually, I know how it is misspelled; the chip was on

display at Comic-Con. “Mombasa” has an extra “s”—“Mombassa”.)

• Totems work because only their owner knows how they actually behave in the real world, and other dreamers will assume that they behave as such objects usually do in the real world—dice are random, metal bishops are solid, and real 100 shilling poker chips from the Mombasa District Casino don’t have an extra “s”.

Cobb’s Totem is Backwards! • How do tops behave in the real world?

– If Cobb spun a top in your dream, how would you assume it would behave? Wouldn’t it fall? Shouldn’t he expect it to fall?

• Its behavior should be unique in the real world, but ordinary in a dream—like Arthur’s die, Ariadne’s bishop, and Eames’ poker chip.

• Instead, its behavior in the real world is ordinary (it falls) and in a dream it’s unique (it spins continuously).

• The top falling tells us nothing. If it is going to be reliable as a dream detector, no one can know how Cobb’s totem works in the real world. Yet everyone knows that tops fall in the real world.

• So even if Cobb’s top falls at the end, he could still be in anyone’s dream.

Cobb is Unreliable• This is not an “oversight” and not only is his totem unreliable, but

Cobb himself is unreliable as a narrator of the movie. • As Arthur tells us, “…you’ve noticed how much time Cobb spends

doing thing he says never to do.”• We see two versions of some events that he himself recounts.

– E.g., one version of him and Mal on the train tracks when they are young and another when they are old.

• He admits to trying to change his memories. • He tells us how stuff works, but we can’t be sure any of it is

accurate.

The Ending Was More Clever Than You Thought!

• What’s clever about the ending is not the final cut. • What’s clever is the magic trick. Nolan misdirects us,

making us pay attention to the wrong thing—the top—to try to find a clue about whether Cobb made it home.

• While you are watching the top, something happens that reveals that Cobb is probably still dreaming.

• But to understand why, some background is needed.

The subconscious works its way through• Subconscious elements work their way through dreams. • The train from Limbo appears in Yusuf’s kidnap dream. • The random string of numbers Fischer arbitrarily gives as

the combination to his father’s safe is 528491.– That is also the combination to both safes in Eames’ snow

fortress dream and the fake telephone number Eames gives Fischer (as the sexy blonde) in Arthur’s hotel dream.

– The room numbers in the hotel are 528 and 491. • Mal and Cobb’s anniversary suite number is 3502.– The train is # 3502.– The taxi they hail is # 2053.

A House on a Cliff

• At both the beginning and ending of the film, we see that Saito dreams of a mansion on the ocean—a house, as it is described in the shooting script, “on a cliff”. – In fact, this is where Saito spent at least 40 years in Limbo.

• When Cobb returns to his children at the end of the film and asks them what they have been doing, they say they are building “a house on the cliff”. (Turn the captions on!)

• It seems that Cobb is in Saito’s dream, and anelement of Saito’s subconscious is peeking through!

Why think Cobb is in Saito’s Dream?• When Ariadne and Fischer committed suicide in Limbo, they just

went one dream layer up—back to Eames’ snow fortress dream. • Wouldn’t Saito have done the same after killing himself in Limbo

—gone back up to Eames’ snow fortress dream—only to find that dream level abandoned? – The rest of the team was back to Yusuf’s kidnap dream before Cobb

and Saito had awoken. • Might Saito have remade that dream level based on his own

expectations— finding himself in the plane—and Cobb enteredit after he committed suicide in Limbo? After all, Saito would have shot himself first.

Inception is more complicated than you think!

• What is clever about the ending is not the fact that it is a clever cliffhanger.

• It is clever because it tricked you into thinking that it was a clever cliffhanger, when it isn’t a cliff hanger at all! You should have already suspected that he was still dreaming and realized that the top is a red herring!

• Nolan misdirected you! At first you were confused, then you thought you had it figured out…but when you start to think about it, everything you thought you had figured out, you actually misunderstood!

• Are you convinced it was better than The King’s Speech yet? We have only scratched the surface!

The Questions Continue• If, when you exit Limbo, you just go “one layer up”—like Ariadne and Fischer—where did

Mal and Cobb go after they were struck by the train in Limbo? • We see them awake on an apartment floor, hooked up to a PASIV device. But is that

reality? • Cobb tells Ariadne that he and Mal slipped into Limbo while “exploring the concept of a

dream within a dream”. They were in a multilayered dream and he pushed them too deep.

• Wouldn’t they have simply awoken from Limbo, one layer up—in the deepest layer of the multileveled dream that led them to Limbo?

• If so, Mal was right. They were still dreaming. The real world was not really real at all. The entire movie was a dream, from beginning to end!

• There are many clues that suggest exactly this.

Clue #1: The Mombasa Chase• The chase scene in Mombasa, for

example, has many dream-like qualities.

-The overhead shots establish that Mombasa is a maze—just like one of Ariadne’s designed dreams

“You’re not dreaming now, are you?”

• Agents (projections?) inexplicably pop up around every corner.

• The walls of buildings literally close in around Cobb—just like in dreams.

It’s a maze!

Cobol Agents…out of nowhere!

The Walls Are Closing In!

Clue #2: Eames Forges in Reality• Need more? Eames is a dream

forger, appearing as others in dreams and “magically” lifting Fischer’s wallet in Arthur’s “Hotel Dream” as the “sexy blonde”. – Watch closely; he can’t have

actually lifted it.• Yet in the real world Eames

forges casino chips and also magically lifts Fischer’s passport (again, watch closely).

Eames picks pockets in the real world…

…just like he does in a dream…

…without touching you!

Eames’ bets his “last two chips” (according to the shooting script).

After losing them, he “mysteriously” produces two stacks of chips that he cashes in.

Clue #3: Mal’s “Suicide” • Consider where Mal sits as she threatens suicide: in

the window of another hotel room across from their suite.

• If she had climbed out their window, she would be on the same side of the building as Cobb.

• Her inexplicably being in the window of another hotel room is exactly the kind of thing that happens in a dream.

Clue #4: Miles’ Quote• When Cobb speaks to his father-in-law Miles

about Mal’s death and getting home to his children, Miles specifically tells him to “Come back to reality.”

Clue #5: Running Time• The song the dreamers use to herald the end of a

dream is Edith Piaf’s original recording of “Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien” (No, I Regret Nothing.) – When the song is done, the dream is over. – That recording is 2 minutes and 28 seconds.

• Inception is, exactly, 2 hours and 28 minutes. (It’s timed down to the second; watch the counter on your Blu-ray player!)

• Could it be, just like with shared dreaming, when the movie is done, the dream is over?

Clues that it is not a dream

• Of course, there are two sides to every coin. • There are also clues that suggest that the real

world is indeed real. • Let’s look at the two most important ones.

Clue #1: Cobb’s Children

• Cobb’s children, at the end of the film, are older, wearing different clothes, and even played by different actors.

Clue #2: The Wedding Ring• Cobb’s wedding ring could be his real totem. – He never wears it in the real world (except in

flashbacks). – This includes the end of the movie.

Nothing can be proven• The fact is, pointing to clues in the movie is never going

to settle the issue. • The movie is ambiguous—Nolan has even admitted that

he intentionally made it so. • Nothing will definitively prove whether or not the entire

movie, or even the ending, is a dream. – The “dream clues” could merely indicate that Cobb is losing

his grip on reality. – The “not a dream” clues could merely reflect Cobb’s

assumption that he is not dreaming. • The answer to the question is, what philosophers would

call, “underdetermined”.

Dealing with Underdetermination• Any scientific data can be accounted for by many possible

hypotheses. • Scientists prefer the most “adequate” one—the one that is:

– Most fruitful (predicts correctly)– Most simple (has fewest assumptions)– Most wide scoping (explains the most)– Most conservative (does not contradict current knowledge)

Dealing with Underdetermination• Philosophers, when presented with ambiguous

statements and arguments, employ the principle of charity. – When it’s unclear what someone means, you choose

the most charitable interpretation—the one that entails the speaker is not an idiot or misinformed.

• Which interpretation of Inception makes it a better movie? The “Full dream” interpretation!

Why “full dream” is better. • There are a number of things that make Inception kind of a bad

movie if the real world is, in fact, real. – All the characters in the real world (besides Cobb) are one dimensional. – The editing in the real world is kind of sloppy—quick jumps within scenes

without transitions. – Having Saito swoop in, out of nowhere, in Mombasa to rescue Cobb with

the excuse “I have to protect my investment”—isn’t that a bit cheesy? • Yes, unless all of these things are subtle clues that Cobb is, in fact,

dreaming the entire movie. – Might the characters be one dimensional because they are just

projections of Cobb’s subconscious? – Is the editing sloppy because Cobb is jumping from place to place and

time to time in the real world—just like we know he does when he is dreaming?

– And yes, Saito’s line is cheesy—but as a subtle clue that Cobb is, in fact, dreaming, it’s brilliant!

Even if it is a dream we should still care• Some might object by arguing that the “all dream”

interpretation makes Inception a worse movie. – After all, why care about a movie if nothing in it really happened?

• But there’s the rub—it’s a movie! Nothing in it really happened anyway. It’s fiction. – Why would anyone care less

about fictional dream events than fictional “real” events?

• Besides, as a dream, Inception can be ametaphorical story about a disturbed mind or even a demonstration of how our own minds are disturbed. Might that be more interesting?

Does Nolan’s answer matter?• Of course you might think that the movie is all a dream

only if director Christopher Nolan wanted it to be all a dream.

• But do “authorial intentions” dictate meaning?

• Can Inception only be “rightly interpreted” in a way that coheres with the author’s intentions?

• Or might a work of art belong to everyone once it is “released to the public”?

Inception Should Have Won Best Picture

• In conclusion, either the Academy didn’t understand Inception or they didn’t interpret it charitably.

• If they had done either, they would have realized that it was better than a movie about a stuttering English monarch.

Plato’s Academy Award

• Even though it didn’t win best picture, Inception still wins Plato’s Academy Award for Philosophical depth.

• (The award looks like Rodin's “The Thinker”.)

• Why? Because of the plethora of philosophical questions that it raises, all of which are covered in my book:

• Inception and Philosophy: Because It’s Never Just a Dream (Wiley-Blackwell)

Other Philosophical Questions• If we can’t tell whether Cobb is dreaming, can we tell whether we

are dreaming…right now? • How do we deal with the angst that arises when we realize that we

can’t know for sure? • Perhaps we can just have faith that we are not dreaming, but when

(if ever) are leaps of faith rational? • Can you be held morally responsible for what you do in a dream? • Are real paradoxes—like real Penrose steps—possible? • Is inception really possible? (Isn’t that what, for example, movies

and advertisements do?) • What is time and can it really slow down in dreams?• Would you really want to live in Limbo (utopia)?• And many more…