Christine Jamie Melchor - Reaction Paper

Melchor, Christine Jamie M.

2013-37871
Sir Juned Sonido STS X2

 

Reaction Paper on “Inception” 

We always hope that complex things be beneficial and beautiful. However, if mishandled, things could turn out to be ugly and destructive. 

Inception, a sci-fi and action movie by Christopher Nolan, showcases the concept of implanting a seed of idea into someone else’s mind. What’s mindboggling about the process is its method. As explained from the movie, inception is near impossible to be done because unlike extraction, a process of taking information from a one-level dream, it requires the extractor to implant an idea by entering two to three-level dreams. Mr Dom Cobb is the main protagonist of the movie who knows inception can be done because he has done it before. However, the first time he used inception messed up his following extractions and inception as well as his life.

The complexity of inception made me fascinated about four things: dreams, relationships, personal struggles and consequences. This science fiction make dreams as alternate realities wherein people could actually stay there for as long as they like. They could visit memories, build worlds and actually live there. Also, the “realness” of the dream state take consideration the actions that can be done by real people (not merely projections) such as stealing information and implanting an idea. The dream states are actually planned and built, not as abstract and sometimes absurd like the common dreams we experience. The movie showed an implication that we can actually control our dreams and that is too good to be true. If in the future something like that happens, people may actually choose dreams over the reality.

As mentioned, in dream states, you can actually relive memories. However, it severs the ties of the person from reality. This is the personal conflict of Mr Cobb which he feels guilt over. He and Mal, his late wife, both built their own world in their dream state and stayed there for 50 years. Since Cobb knows he can’t live like that anymore, he implanted an idea in Mal’s mind. It is the seed of idea that their built world is not her real world. When they came back to reality, the implanted seed of idea grew in Mal that made her think death is the only escape. Thus, in reality, she committed suicide because she thought that the world she’s living in is not real. Therefore, the guilt of Cobb always trigger a projection of Mal who makes his work tons harder. Projected relationships are as good as fantasies, in my opinion. Dreams are the means of the escaping the truths of reality that make us actually savor our time there with someone. However, in learning to treasure relationships, shaded reality is not reality itself. It may be hard to accept that what you desire can never be yours but letting it go is the only way to truly live.

Inception made me realize a lot. I think it only boils down to one thing, what we wanted to have in both dream and reality is happiness. I may not have focused on the inception itself but even in subtext, happiness still resides there somewhere. 

*Worst case scenario: You would take something beautiful in every means possible even it means ruining something.