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In the movie Inception, Leonardo DiCaprio invades other people's dreams. He creates dreamscapes, steals information, and implants ideas. Can we create a form of dream inception even without the cool devices used in the movie? Giving someone else dreams may be possible - a potential science of dream inception.
Good Article
I think the movie would have been a lot better if rather than the idea of "dream sharing" was explored, practical ways to persuade and change people were shown. (It also didn't help that any line in reference to Freudian beliefs pi**** me off especially when Leo kept mentioning catharsis, which was disproved experimentally decades ago.)
Even when I did finally say, "Okay, I accept the film's logic," I was still bored by the action sequences, the dream worlds were not strange enough, at least like my dreams, and some of the acting made me laugh.
Nolan did Memento, right? The psychology there was popular knowledge on memory, short- and long-term stuff... I remember as an undergraduate student, my psychology professor warned us about the film. Research on memory was and still is a swampland, from what I know, which ain't much...
We're talking about good cinema with outdated psychology. Inception's not rotten, but it wants to be smart, ... It's not... Once again, a bad mixology of science and art. If anything, the film's a sci-fi romantic-drama. Be lost and entertained to enjoy it. I should've had a few beers beforehand to like it. You know what the ironic thing is about my comments? I want to see it again because there are so many other thoughts I have about it :o)
I think the entire movie
I think the entire movie itself was an inception. On what exact level I have not yet determined, but the recurring motif of an idea acting like a virus seemed to support the fact that the movie was quite successful in implanting an idea in the viewers' minds. Unfortunately, I cannot find any intelligent discussion on the movie and its possible deeper meanings other than the drab conversations about the end of the movie, the ring and totems, limbo, etc..
entire movie an inception
The best forms of communication work as inceptions as you suggest. The goal is for your audience to continue thinking about the ideas long after the communication is finished. Many writers have discussed the topic of memes -- ideas that develop a life of their own to some extent. While ideas don't live, they certainly are passed around and evolve. In that way, the best ideas gradually come to inhabit a great many minds. Obviously, the people involved want their ideas about dreaming to inhabit your mind. They want you to think about them after the show and communicate about the topics to other people -- classic word-of-mouth. Perhaps you're right about inception. The entire goal is to plant ideas, to get them stuck in your head. But that may be the goal with most forms of communication.
I'm not sure if the movie has any deeper meanings. Clearly Director Nolan (same guy that directed Memento) likes to play with Psychological ideas. Memento was a nice movie that got ideas about anterograde amnesia mostly right and presented the topic in a fun an interesting fashion. In Inception, he is playing with the content of dreams. We are much further from his desired level of science of dreaming. But he can dream.
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