Christopher Nolan's movies often require a repeat screening or two to fully process all
the plot layers and subtle details, and Inception is no different.
The 2010 film — which thrusts its leads into a chemically-induced dream state where
they attempt to implant ideas into people's minds — was so complex and ambiguous that
the director's true meaning has become a point of cinematic controversy.
Don't worry, though, we've got your back.
Let's dive into explaining the ending of Inception.
Grief and guilt
At its core, Inception is about two things: grief and guilt.
Leonardo DiCaprio's Cobb is working to get back to his children after his wife Mal committed
self harm — which looks more like Cobb himself killed her.
At least that's how he remembers it.
but his memories are clouded by guilt, over his role in her passing.
After an experiment gone wrong, which trapped Mal and Cobb together for what seemed like
decades in limbo, Mal became so absorbed in the dream world that she could no longer tell
the difference between different layers of existence.
In her mind, the waking world was just another layer she needed to kick herself out of.
So when she leaped from a high rise hotel, she didn't think she'd actually harm herself.
Cobb feels so responsible for Mal's passing that he keeps his sharpest memories of her
locked away in his mind.
But when his protégé Ariadne releases Mind-Mal into the dream, she becomes his biggest obstacle
in completing his inception mission for Mr. Saito: she creeps into the third
layer of the group mission and sends their target, Robert Fischer, into Limbo.
Cobb eventually realizes Mind-Mal is just a projection of his guilt and grief and let's
Ariadne "kill" her.
That theme of getting through a difficult loss like this plays out on a parallel plane
with Robert Fischer, as he's basically guided through the five stages of grief amid the
looming death of his dad.
In the end Cobb decides to embrace the reality he's currently in with his children.
In doing so, he also lets go of his guilt and grief.
It's probably no coincidence that Nolan lost his own father in 2009, suggesting that Inception
may just be his most personal film ever.
"Chris is very expressive in what he's trying to accomplish but it is insulated in his own
mind so we knew we had to take a leap of faith."
That darn top!
The biggest question viewers have after seeing Inception is this: will the spinning top at
the end ever fall down?
The top was a totem Cobb had created to show whether or not he was in a dream or in true
reality — in a dream, it would spin forever, but in the real world, it would eventually
fall over.
For Nolan, though, the whole point of that ending is that it doesn't matter to Cobb anymore
whether he's in a dream world or the real world, which is why he doesn't bother waiting
to find out the results of his final spin.
He's happy to be reunited with his children, and he decides that this is the reality he
wants to live in regardless of whether it's a dream or not.
"We all dream, it's a, it's a universal experience.
Uh, but a very private one."
It's all Greek to us
In Greek mythology, Ariadne is a young goddess on the island of Crete who's put in charge
of a labyrinth that sees the sacrifice of several Athenians each year.
But upon finding affection for one of its would-be victims, Theseus, she helps him escape
by giving him a red string and a sword to defeat the Minotaur and find his way out of
the maze.
Not only does Inception's Ariadne almost always wear red, but she also slowly but surely shows
Cobb the way to overcome his own demon: the long-lingering image of his deceased wife.
Some fans theorize Ariadne may have originally been hired by Stephen Miles, Mal's father,
to discover whether Cobb had actually killed Mal or was as innocent as he claimed.
That would explain why Ariadne is so acutely interested in delving into Cobb and Mal's
history.
After seeing the toll it takes on him, however, she may have developed a fondness or sympathy
for him and decides to help him "escape" in the end, much like her mythological namesake.
Daddy issues
Cobb & Co. have to sift through a lot of layers to get to the bottom of Fischer's allegiance
to his father's company, but by the end, it becomes clear that all Fischer ever really
wanted was the affection and respect of his old man.
That's why, when his dad tells him to open the safe that'd been planted by Cobb's team
in his dreamworld hospital room, all it contains was a pinwheel that reminds Fischer of one
of the few happy memories from his childhood.
For Fischer, the pinwheel signifies that his dad treasured him more than he ever let on,
which gives value to his suggestion that Fischer go off and become his own man — and thus
dissolve the company that's causing Mr. Saito so much trouble.
The eye of the needle
While Saito isn't exactly evil, he's willing to go to some great lengths in order to get
a financial profit for his company, including literally entering someone else's mind and
planting thoughts in it.
But Saito's plan backfires spectacularly when he dies within the dream and is sent to limbo.
Cobb manages to rescue him, but not until Saito has aged to the point of senility.
When they finally emerge from the dream and back into reality, Saito isn't thrilled about
his financial victory, but instead he's rather stoic and seems to have experienced a change
of heart as a result of his time in limbo.
With both Saito and Fischer, Nolan seems to be saying there's a lot more to life than
the pursuit of wealth, a theme he would pick up on in his next film, The Dark Knight Rises.
But that's not the only impact Inception would have on Hollywood.
Inception's Legacy
Not only did the themes of Inception carry over into The Dark Knight Rises, specific
character arcs did too, as crazy as that sounds.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt's Inception character Arthur is tasked with keeping watch over his
helpless comrades in much the same way that his Dark Knight Rises character Blake protects
the innocent kids of Gotham City.
Tom Hardy's Bane, meanwhile, picks up where his Inception character Eames leaves off,
using masks and ultra-violence to achieve his ends.
And Marion Cotillard's Miranda and Mal are each so devoted to their convictions that
they don't hesitate to sacrifice themselves for what they believe in.
The end of Inception didn't just affect Nolan's movies, either.
Raking in over $825 million worldwide while also garnering massive critical acclaim, Inception
paved the way for a whole wave of high concept, big budget sci-fi fare, including films like
Looper, Source Code, The Adjustment Bureau, Limitless, In Time, Edge of Tomorrow, and
Lucy.
And then there's Marvel's Doctor Strange, which unapologetically lifted Inception's
entire city-bending sequence.
However, the most obvious — and annoying — influence of Inception, though, may be this.
Created by composer Hans Zimmer to give potency to several action sequences, this obnoxious
noise has been featured in seemingly every sci-fi blockbuster since Inception.
And Zimmer hates it.
He told Vulture, "Oh, it's horrible!
This is a perfect example of where it all goes wrong.
That music became the blueprint for all action movies, really.
And if you get too many imitations, even I get confused!"
So...All we can say is…
BRRRRAAAAAMMMMMMM!
(coughing)
Enter the dream
Ever since Inception's debut, fans have been clamoring for a sequel.
But while Nolan has publicly toyed with the idea of a video game that allows players to
explore the world of Inception, so far nothing has come of it.
Still, there's hope that someday, fans may be able to play through Inception themselves
and figure out first hand just what the ending means to them.
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