Inception and Christopher Nolan

Title: An Investigation of Postmodernism in Contemporary Film with Special Reference to Inception

Inception (2010)

The concept of a dream within a dream has been on the literary scene for centuries. However, contemporary art and cinema seems to put a big emphasis on the subject. 'The trick is that we want to be fooled.’4 Baudrillard suggests that media has become our new reality, that the real and the mediated world collides into a simulacrum5 through which we perceive life. In Inception, the protagonist Cobb loses the ability to distinguish reality from dreams. In my creative project I have taken this principle and twisted it around slightly. I have also adapted ideas from the 1960 Hungarian novel 'A gólyakalifa' (the stork caliph) by Mihály Babits, which was translated to English under the title of 'The Nightmare'. In this story the protagonist falls asleep and wakes up in another life every day. What connects it to Inception is the addictive nature of dreaming: the urging need to be in a comforted situation, even if the price is the complete loss of control over reality. In Inception, many people enter the world of shared dreaming for hours and hours each day, as if there was no chance of living in any other conditions. The scenario is hauntingly reminiscent of that one explained in Gerbner's cultivation theory, but of course, here the role of television is replaced by dreams. The most shocking part of the film is the view that the only way out is suicide. Although the attempt is to avoid any references to religious background, this could be highly unacceptable even for such diverse societies as the American or British. Most religions deeply reject the idea of suicide, however common it might become in present or future days.

Christopher Nolan

The question of auteurism often pops up in connection with the idea of postmodernism. If everything is taken from somebody else, then how can it be original? There is a considerable amount of originality and creativity in putting other people's work in a certain order6. The writer-director Christopher Nolan uses the recurring themes of blurring reality with imagination/ hallucinations and deception and self-deception, which elements combine to create recognisable filmic fingerprint. However, it is hard to consider him creating a brand of movie which is clearly identifiable - as on the case of other filmmakers such as Tim Burton or Quentin Tarantino. Many fans claim that his labyrinthine narratives have made mainstream cinema more popular among fans of the indie. And it is true the other way as well: mass audiences finally have a chance to see more complicated stories and philosophical ideas. Also there are often lonely, troubled protagonists who are unwillingly forced to hide their true identity from the world. The hero often chooses the world of lies, dreams or fantasy instead of the pain to accept reality. His films usually revolve around characters that are afflicted with some kind of psychological disorder (phobia, dual personality, insomnia etc.). E.g. in Inception (2010), Cobb loses the ability to distinguish dreams from reality; in Memento (2000), Leonard has his 'conditioning', a memory problem, in Batman Begins (2005), Bruce Wayne suffers from bat-phobia since his childhood accident7.The villains often reflect the hero's mistakes and humiliate them in public. The antagonists mirror, question the hero. They are really ‘getting under his skin’.8 Christopher Nolan is a Noir fan himself, and he deliberately uses elements from the ‘60s cinematic scene. The most recognisable element is that most of his films are set in an urban area. This also where he borrowed the tensity, countdown nature of storyline from. He admittedly mixes classical genres with however, he regards himself as a ‘very modernist’ filmmaker.9 His endings have a recurring theme of justified dishonest, almost every time with the characters' fate open to interpretation. Typically concludes his films with a character giving a philosophical monologue10. Often ends his films with a jump cut to black and displays the title before the end credits.

Notes:
4:  The Prestige [DVD], 2006, dir. Christopher Nolan
5: Jean Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulation, 1981
6: Mel Thompson, Understand Philosophy, 1995
7: Frank Miller, Batman - Year One, graphic novel, 1987
8: The Treatment, host: Elvis Mitchell. Interviews with Christopher Nolan (2010). Available at kcrw.com.
9: The Culture Show. Interview with Christopher Nolan (Aug. 2012)
10: IMDb profile of Christopher Nolan, available at http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0634240/