Let's talk about movies

[Tian]

Awesome. Christopher Nolan is even cleverer than I thought.

[Tian]

Saw Inception a second time, here are some answers:

Spoiler: show

- The music thing (from the YouTube above) is REALLY obvious the 2nd time around. You just don't think about it. Very clever.

- Limbo is indeed a shared dream state, just like the levels above. The only difference is that nobody has designed it, so all that's there are remnants from whoever has been there (Cobb). When Saito and Fischer "died", they went to limbo because the sedatives prevented them from waking up. Cobb and Ariadne went into limbo from sleeping in the last level because they had only designed 3 levels. So going any further than that meant they would go into limbo.

- The question of who's dreaming is actually answered in the dialogue. I was wrong in my initial belief that it was all one person; Dileep Rao's interview is accurate. It's Yusuf's dream first, which Fischer populates. They go to the hotel, which is Arthur's dream. The last dream is Eames's.

- The thing with defibrillating Fischer was kind of a cheat. You actually were just supposed to accept that a man could get shot above the heart, get defibbed, and then be ok. The defib served as Fischer's kick so that he would know to escape from limbo.

- There is a continuity error. When Cobb and Saito woke up, everyone else was already awake because the sedatives had presumably worn off. So it makes sense that Cobb and Saito spent more time in the dream state, and hence more time in limbo. Except the movie shows that they had already packed away the equipment, so Cobb and Saito couldn't have been sharing a dream. I'll attribute it to a production goof.

- Christopher Nolan drops some hints throughout that Cobb has lost track of reality. It's interesting though because in each case, the suggestion is given by Mal. She's the one that tells Cobb to forget the real world, and that he doesn't know what's real. She also tells him to take a leap of faith; that same idea (the exact line, actually) is used by Saito when he first offers Cobb the job. Then it's used by Cobb to pull Saito out of limbo.

- Then there's the top at the very end. Upon the second viewing, I'm going to say it wasn't going to topple.

- I'm not sure if this means anything, but I noticed that Cobb never sees his children's faces in any of his dream states, but at the end he does. So maybe Christopher Nolan wanted to keep things ambiguous? Either that, or Cobb really has succumbed to the perils of dreaming.

[Cobalt]

Spoiler: show

- I'm not sure if this means anything, but I noticed that Cobb never sees his children's faces in any of his dream states, but at the end he does. So maybe Christopher Nolan wanted to keep things ambiguous? Either that, or Cobb really has succumbed to the perils of dreaming.

They also haven't aged from the picture. As for everything else, you could have just said I was right.

[MahatmaJonny]

Do you find telling people to tell you that you're right is an effective tactic for getting them to tell you that you're right?

[chou]

hahaha

[Cobalt]

Don't you work in a medium to large size company? You haven't learned that yet?

[Tian]

Spoiler: show

They never said how long Cobb was away for, so it's possible that he wasn't gone long enough for his children to have aged noticeably.

[Cobalt]

Spoiler: show

They never said how long Cobb was away for, so it's possible that he wasn't gone long enough for his children to have aged noticeably.

And the fact they're also wearing identical clothing?

[Tian]

Spoiler: show

The outfit I'm wearing is identical to the one I wore to work 2 weeks ago. SHOCK! You must be in a dream!

[killbam]

Has this been said? It's not confirmed that it's possible to fall asleep inside your own dream and it makes a difference. In each of the levels, the dreamer of the dream stays behind.

Since we see Cobb fall asleep in "the real world" several times and dream his own dream, it would mean that the real world is the real world.

The music composer is Hans Zimmer, who also did work on Batman. His Batman score may be even more clever, the Joker's theme music with that suspenseful rising tone is actually a new technique. The pitch feels like it's rising but it can go on forever.

[Tian]

The pitch feels like it's rising but it can go on forever.

That's actually the sound effect used for the Batpod.

[Inferno]

It's not confirmed that it's possible to fall asleep inside your own dream and it makes a difference.

Just out of curiosity, has anybody every dreamed inside of a dream. Like, not in the movie, but in your real lives? I don't think I ever have, but I guess it's possible.

[Tian]

I don't remember any specific instances but I feel like I've done it before. It could be that the dreams just changed motifs or something, and it wasn't actually a dream within a dream.

[chou]

I have had at least five dreams within dreams. A few days ago I dreamed that I was staying at one friend's apartment while texting her friend. At one point all these people came home and wanted to continue partying (it was like 5AM, dusk). I left to go find the friend I was texting. I went to a subway station, but the subway was down and the city was using police cruisers to shuttle people around like taxis. While I was waiting for mine, I woke up to find myself in a suburban playground setting. I remember feeling guilty that I was texting the apartment-owner's friend while staying at her place (there's more backstory here). Then I woke up again to find myself in real life.

I've also had a dream within a dream where the intermediate dream was lucid. In the bottom-most dream I was walking around an old colonial town. Every building had a belltower, even the small shacks adjacent to buildings. When I woke up from that, all I remember was thinking, "wait this is still a dream." I used the lucidity to pilot a shifter kart around some hills, but I missed a turn and hucked myself off a cliff. I contemplated whether I should I ask God for forgiveness for my sins as I hurled towards the ground. It was awesome.

I actually have a lot of crazy, often violent dreams. There's a lot of weird shit going on up in my noggin.

[Inferno]

I actually have a lot of crazy, often violent dreams.

You, uh, should get that looked at.