Don't get me wrong I really liked the movie, but I think that it lacks a main theme. OK the relationship between Cobb and Mal and the alternate reality theme are there, but I think the movie focus more on really clever ideas which are illustrated even better on screen. What I want to say is that the movie doesn't have something to say. What do you think?
One of the most beneficial things I’ve ever learned is how to keep my mouth shut.
ERIC CLAPTON.
My take is that the main theme of the movie is the power of an idea -- how it can come to define you or control you.
What is the most resilient parasite? Bacteria? A virus? An intestinal worm? An idea. Resilient... highly contagious. Once an idea has taken hold of the brain it's almost impossible to eradicate.
An idea is like a virus, resilient, highly contagious. The smallest seed of an idea can grow. It can grow to define or destroy you.
Eventually, she told me the truth. She was possessed by an idea, this one, very simple idea, that changed everything. That our world wasn't real. That she needed to wake up to come back to reality, that, in order to get back home, we had to kill ourselves.
Thank you. You just gave a whole new perspective on the movie.
One of the most beneficial things I’ve ever learned is how to keep my mouth shut.
ERIC CLAPTON.
Thank you. You just gave a whole new perspective on the movie.You're welcome. I also try to understand the theme of good movies. In the case of Inception, I think the theme gives a better understanding of the movie.
I would focus on three themes;
1. How do we treat/live with guilt? How do we forgive ourselves?(Dom)
2. How do we live/recover from our past (dysfunctional family life-Fischer/abuse suffered-Mal)
3. Are we forced to view life by society? (idea that life consists of school, work, marriage, family- similar to Matrix.) Do we conform and think "elephant" or are they our ideas?
A 'just for fun' theme is from Borges, who wrote that are dreams are the real world and the real world/our waking life is a dream. Mal and Dom both discuss this point.
Best unknown feature at IMDB.com
http://www.imdb.com/features/video/browse/
1) Remember your past, not live by it: only then you can move in future.
2) Nothing is impossible, even planting the idea artificially into somebody's mind.
3) The parallel notional level of Inception being truly a movie about cinema.
The first one is the most dramatic one, the second one is the most obvious one, and the third one is the most interesting one.
Nolan, I love you forever!share