"Inception" Dreams and reality, spiritual exploration and physical action. Nolan's intellectual action drama that combines contradictory elements

The metaphor of “shared dreams = movie experience”

Around the 4th century BC, when Zhuangzi wrote ``The Dream of the Butterfly,'' in ancient Greece, the philosopher Plato wrote the famous ``Allegory of the Cave'' in his book `` The State .'' People who have been tied up in caves and faced walls since they were children see only the shadows reflected on the walls when the light source shines on them, and they believe that they are "entities." Plato considered "ideas" to be entities that could only be recognized through reason, and through this metaphor he explained that what humans see in reality is nothing more than a shadow of an idea. Plato's ideas can also be said to be one of the sources of stories that deal with the ``uncomfortability of reality.''

Why are we so drawn to ``Inception,'' which uses science fiction techniques to construct a story in which the characters carry out a mission in the same dream? A hint comes from the comment made by director Nolan and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who plays Arthur, that ``dreaming is like making a movie.'' Dreams are created by brain activity during sleep, and stories in novels and movies are also created from brain activity. The act of dreaming is only a personal experience, but the science fiction setting makes sharing dreams more convincing.

“Inception” ©2014 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

For a filmmaker, the act of turning his ideas into a film is equivalent to the realization of a dream. If you think about it this way, the act of watching a movie is the same as sharing the ``dream'' of the filmmakers. The metaphor of ``sharing dreams = movie experience'' can also be cited as a hidden charm of ``Inception''.

Text: Ikuya Takamori

Freelance writer, English-Japanese translator. Mainly contributes movie reviews and columns to web media, and translates news articles. The translated book is ``Science of Star Wars--Thorough verification! From the true nature of the Force to intergalactic travel” (written by Mark Blake and John Chase, published by Kagaku Doujin) and others.

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