[Movie] Inception - Page 21

My personal take on the movie is that Mal was never real, she is an idea created by Cobb. Thus the over-arching plot of the film (which no one seems to realise) is Cobb is attempting to incept himself into believing Mal is real. What is the ultimate purpose of this? It is so he can create a dream-state for himself to exist in, and by killing Mal at the deepest level of his dreams, he erases all evidence that he ever created a dream-state for himself. The superficial plot of Ken Watanbe trying to defeat his corporate opponent via inception to dissolve his entire company is a metaphor for Cobb trying to defeat his awareness of existing in a dream-state by dissolving all awareness of the layers of his dream-state.

Lots of people think that the end scene with the spinning top is open-ended, because you're not sure if the top is going to stop spinning or not. How ever, the top was never Cobb's totem for telling reality from dream-state, it was Mal's. But IMO Mal isn't real, so the spinning top is essentially a red-herring.

Finally, consider our role as the audience in watching the film Inception. We are the people infiltrating into Cobb's mind. The entire film is about us being given access to Cobb's secrets. It logically follows then that Cobb is and always was presented to us in a dream-state, in which we are the observer delving deeper and deeper into his subconscious as he constructs a way to incept himself into forgetting he was ever dreaming.

Correct me if i'm wrong, but it doesn't matter if it wasn't Cobb's totem originally. The totems aren't magical, they are just supposed to be secret. Since Mal is dead, he is free to use her totem as his own.

It's about making movies. Everything makes total sense in this light.

http://www.theawl.com/2010/07/the-key-to-inception-its-a-movie-about-making-movies

I just watched this movie, and i've been thinking about the whole saito aging much older than everyone else thing. The way i take it, is that each level of dreaming has its own respective limbo. So, when Saito dies, he does so in all three levels of dreaming. However, i believe the first level would hold priority, as its the one he actually dies in.

The fact that Fischer is dead before him means nothing, because Fischer is only dead in his dreams (level 3), and not his reality (dream 1). This means that Saito has ended up in Limbo 1. Cobb on the otherhand chases after Fischer, who has only died in dream 3. This means that this is another (but probably identical) limbo 3 in which anyone in dream 3 can jump into, but is entirely a figment of Saito's imagination, who is sitting in Limbo 1. Therefore, when Cobb fails to leave limbo 3 in time, he doesn't necessarily die, but he is incapable of being woken up. For this reason, he soon after drowns in dream 1, which then places him into Limbo 1. But, since Limbo 1 is a creation that is still three dreams deep, i suppose the no more than 2 minute difference between Saito's bleeding out and Cobb's drowning become something like 50 years in Limbo 1, thus leaving Saito old and dying.

Pathing this looks something like this:
Reality: (Saito and Cobb jump into dream 1)
........dream 1: (Saito and Cobb jump into dream 2)
................dream 2: (Saito and Cobb jump into dream 3)
........................dream 3: (Fischer dies and Cobb follows him to Limbo 3)
........dream 1: (Saito dies causing...)
................dream 2: (Saito dies causing...)
........................dream 3: (Saito dies bringing him to Limbo 1***)
................................Limbo 3: (Cobb refuses to be woken up, disallowing any kicks causing...)
........dream 1: (Cobb drowns causing...)
................dream 2: (Cobb drowns causing...)
........................dream 3: (Cobb drowns bringing him to Limbo 1***)
................................Limbo 1: (Cobb finds Saito, etc.)
Reality: (The stewardess has by this point already jacked Firschers 500+ dollar wallet and everything in it).

Anyways, this is how I see it having gone down. But i would also like to note, Saito must have really regretted wanting to go into the dream, considering he dies three times over and must live 50 years alone with only the projections of his own subconscious to keep him company.

*** Remember, Limbo 1 is the limbo that represents Saito's death in all three dreams, while the creation of Limbo 3 is merely a figment of his imagination