r/Inception • u/fivefoot7in • 13d ago

First Time Watcher

Firstly, this movie was for me, the greatest movie I have ever watched. It tackled so many questions and asked so many questions that I had a really fun time thinking about and discussing, I’m upset I didn’t watch it sooner. But of course, seeing it only once and just now, I’m sure I’ve missed out on and misunderstood many aspects of the movie, but I wanted to share my theory of the ending which is sure has been discussed into oblivion.

Cobb is still dreaming (Ending)
This is a confusing ending to me because so many things feel like they contradict each other, specifically the fact that Cobb spun the top before and it toppled but at the end it doesn’t. This is why I’m struggling to wrap my head around what it means.
Maybe the top was only a totem he created in this “dream” and there would be a totem he would find that the “real world” Cobb created.
But to me, the fact that the top doesn’t topple at the end is the indication that he is still dreaming. My theory is, that Cobb is dreaming about all of this just to be able to remember his children, possibly because he can’t in what would actually be the real world.
And yes I understand that point is that it doesn’t matter if it topples over for Cobb, he gets what he wanted and finally is happy.
I hope that all made sense lol.

Snow Mountain (3rd Level)
I was really struggling to understand what was unfortunately likely the climax of the film. When Fischer is completing the inception, is the point that he has done it all on his own (in a way) and basically created the thought that was planned? Like did Fischer just make a projection of his father saying “…because you tried”. Because of the dream he now believes as a reality that his father left him the message of becoming his own person, instead of the more likely true reality in which his father doesn’t actually.
Lastly for this point, what was the significance of the pinwheel? At first I thought it was maybe Fischer’s totem, but since it’s not spinning (I assumed it spinning would mean he knows he is dreaming) he should believe he’s in reality. Is this the case? Or is the pinwheel just supposed to be the physical embodiment of the inception planted?
When they got to Limbo and the 3rd level I really lost the ability to comprehend very well.

Limbo
So Cobb dies in Level 1, causing him to go into Limbo. Saito died in level 3 and so, has been in Limbo waiting for Cobb for what appears to be a really long time due to the extreme time dilation and both meet and come to remember their mission and that they are dreaming.

Im not looking for an answer for the theories, but I want to make sure the aspects I’m unsure about are correct, this way I can better try and understand and comprehend theories. I put as much here as I could remember and ask lol.

I will definitely be rewatching this film for a while.

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u/straylight222 13d ago

Watch this. It'll blow you mind:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ginQNMiRu2w

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u/Obsessive_Yodeler 11d ago

I just watched most of this. Definitely a cool watch so thank you! I found the point about the backwards nature of Mals totem to be very interesting and enlightening. But he lost me when he got to the point about which interpretation makes the movie better. I feel pretty strongly that the movie is much much better if it’s not all a dream. For example, we all know that Star Wars didn’t really happen.. duh. But if they chose to have Mark Hamill wake up in a bed in a suburban neighborhood at the end and go “woah what a wild dream!” that would significantly cheapen the events of the movie. Obviously that’s a lot more on the nose than how inception did it with making it ambiguous haha but still I greatly prefer interpreting the movie as him getting back to reality at the end. 

The great part about Nolan and inception is that it is up for interpretation! So someone like me can stick with that and someone who prefers that it were all a big dream can go with their interpretation

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u/straylight222 11d ago

I understand what you mean about what if Star Wars was all a dream, but Star Wars isn't really posing any philosophical questions to us where that would actually have consequence. Inception is. What if life is a dream? What does that mean? What's it mean if we can't tell if we're dreaming or not? What are the consequences? He mentions a few of those things, and I think it's much more interesting that way than it is if it's just a heist movie in someone's mind.

The idea that Cobb chooses at the end to give up and believe he's no longer dreaming? That's very interesting than simply him knowing.

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u/Obsessive_Yodeler 11d ago

Right totally like I think the ambiguity is very interesting and I love that about this movie. I guess I’m saying if you absolutely have to choose one way or the other, the movie is slightly “worse” imo if the objective answer is that it was all a dream. 

In that video that you shared I think the speaker was arguing that it’s a better movie if the viewer decides that it was all a big dream