Defining Reality

Yesterday, I caught up with the rest of nerd-dom (and everyone else) and watched Inception for the first time. I know, I know - but when you live so far away from people who would actually like these kinds of movies and would see them with you, it's hard to stay current. My burden is heavy, I know, but I'm caught up now, okay? Now that I've got the shameful admission out of the way, down to business:

I loved it!

It was a fascinating and clever concept wrapped up in fantastic characters/actors, directing, special effects, and of course BRAAAAHM! I was very impressed with the editing as well - it must have been extremely difficult to make the three-level dream cohesive and understandable to the audience. And that fight scene on the second-level dream with Arthur and the Projection dude while the van in the first-level dream was rolling down the hill was kick-ass! Special features on the DVD, please! Also, major kudos must be given to Christopher Nolan, who, whatever you might think about his films, is clearly not afraid to challenge his audience, nor does he underestimate them. That alone is extremely refreshing, especially as we live in a time when Yogi Bear in 3D is the top movie at the box office for any length of time.

I really love films that force me to think about them - and this one ended on a doozy of a question: did Cobb's top keep spinning, or fall over? I have a friend who insists that it did indeed topple over, because for her to believe otherwise means that there was not the happy ending she wanted. I'm not so sure, though. It seemed a little too easy, and we didn't see any of the others use their totems - that would have been more convincing for me, but I liked how it ended anyway.

So what is reality, anyway? We learned in the film that Cobb planted the idea in Moll's mind that her reality (the world they had built together in subconscious limbo) was not, in fact, real. Unfortunately, Moll kept believing that, even after they'd waken up. This led her to question what was real and what wasn't, which ended with her ending her life the way she would have ended a dream. Cobb's guilt about incepting (is that the term? I'm fuzzy on the vernacular of dream-building and subconscious manipulation) Moll led him to re-create her in his own subconsciousness. She gains frightening power over his mind there, and by extension any dream he happens to be in. She was only stopped once he admitted that the Moll in his mind was not the Moll he loved - just his imperfect memories of her coalesced into an archetype.

What really struck me as I was watching the film (other than wishing I could try that dream thing - knowing what I feed my conscious mind, my subconscious must be the wackiest place ever!) is that the film itself is a dream. It is a creation borne of collaboration, just like the dream-builders in the film. It made me wonder why we, as a species, have always constructed alternate realities, for as long as our historical memory can confirm. We know these alternate realities as fiction, myth or religion. Why have we done this? It cannot have been just for amusement, judging from the impact some of the current incarnations of these alternate realities have affected our entire planet. What do we gain from these?

The best answer I can think of is that we need them. We need these fictions, myths and religions so that we can tell what our reality is. These stories take on the function of the totem objects that the dream-builders used in Inception, only in reverse: to observe a fictional construct, like a film, book or TV show is to draw a concrete line. This is real, and that is not real. This of course, is not their only function - in many cases, they tell us what we ought to aspire to. They teach us about how the world should be, instead of what it actually is. If the injustice of our reality becomes too much for us, we can access a story that has justice built in. If humanity's capacity for great, wide-spread cruelty becomes unbearable, we can find a story of love and compassion to help heal our souls.

Now, leaving that aside for a moment: if dream-building were real, and the possibility to allow our conscious minds delve deep into our subconscious, would you do it? Would you be brave enough to confront what you found? Would you allow anyone else inside? I joked earlier that my subconscious must be incredibly wacky, judging by what I knowingly allow my conscious mind to consume. But really - could you do it? Anything and everything that you find in your subconscious would be yours, and yours alone. That means all of the good, and all of the bad. You would be forced, in a way rarely encountered in our current existence, to confront every observable part of you - and you would have to accept it, or go insane. And if you were able to accept yourself, would you be able to let go? Christopher Nolan did an amazing job convincing the audience that dream-building was possible within the world of the film, though relatively unknown. I wish he would have had time to explore the potential impact that dream-building would have on people. Ariadne was unable to give it up, even though Cobb's subconscious frightened her. She'd gotten a taste of godlike power, and had to continue. When we met Yusuf, we also found people that were addicted to the dream-state, because it had become their reality.

Inception is one of those movies that spark very interesting ideas (which, as we learn in the film, are most infectious). There were very dark places and concepts explored, and also some extremely touching moments. The one that comes to mind is when Fischer met his dying father in the third-level dream, and discovered his hand-made pinwheel in the safe. This was moving, even though Fischer is played by Creepy Face Cillian Murphy. And again, we must give another shout-out to Arthur and his badass topsy turvy fighting skills on the second-level dream - that scene was almost face-meltingly awesome.

I'll try to keep up on amazing films this year, though I'm not sure we can expect anything rising to the level of Inception. But until next time, dear readers, I leave you with BRAAAAHM!