What INCEPTION Is Really About

Over 10 years later, Inception is still an amazing film that works simultaneously as both a blockbuster thrillride and thought provoking sci-fi. In this video, we go deep into what the movie is saying on a subconscious level and what Christopher Nolan hopes we take away from it. So, take your sedative and get ready to go two… Maybe even THREE levels deep into Inception’s underlying meaning.
0:00 Intro
3:00 True Inception
11:44 Enter the Subconscious
21:09 Does Reality Matter?
33:37 Control the Subconscious
36:05 Wait… But For Real… Did the Top Fall?
Various Tracks by Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio - whitebataudio.com/
#Inception #scifi

[@mikebelcher7244]

One of the most impactful and even cathartic movies I've watched. I lost my wife in '96 while deployed. For years I carried the memories and sense of guilt that comes from what was a much anticipated but also unforeseeable bend in the road of Life. It wasn't until seeing this movie right around the time I was burying my Mom who had just passed away from cancer, that the final door closed on my coming to terms. Seeing my Pops go through what I had already experienced, having to console him let me see clearly. To finally allow myself to be free.

[@mikejackson2228]

I lost my mom to cancer also. I unfortunately had the ability to end it for her.(she told me when I was 17 what she needed from me) It was hard to end it for one of my best friends, but I was able to follow out her wishes. It took almost two years, but I got it all done. My dad couldn't cook, so I had to teach cooking classes so my dad could feed himself. He's actually thriving as a cook at this point.

[@mikebelcher7244]

@@mikejackson2228 So sorry to hear, erally. My brother and I had to do the morphine thing for mom the last couple weeks of her life. Pops was just useless. Here was the typical All-American Hero, three tours in 'Nam, 173rd ABN then SF, MACVSOG, operations in Laos, Cambodia, retired out of 3rd Bn 7th Group in Panama after years running ops throughout Central and South America. Goes on to work for Uncle Sam on the other side still doing the same shit just under a different agency letterhead. Now he was confronted with something he had absolutely no power, no skill, no ability to change. It just about broke him he was so beside himself. So it was myself and my brother. Switching off every couple hours like shift work. Trying to make this wonderful, generous, quirky, stubborn, and above all loving woman, try and make her as comfortable as we could, right up to the end. I had already ridden this rodeo with my wife's Mom who passed from cancer just 2 years before Holly did. So I already knew the toll this would take on everyone. The way the long drawn out fight can beat down on everyone not just the one suffering that horrible disease. I'm glad your Dad has made it through and he's lucky enough to have a son like you to keep moving forward.

[@AndrewMabon]

One additional argument supporting that the spinning top is in reality is the fact that Nolan goes through painstaking detail to explain Cobb's journey home. He doesn't simply appear back there. This implies that he is in reality, since, as he himself states earlier in the film, the dream world is one where the intermediate journey is glossed over and forgotten.

[@dphilosopher06]

Beautiful explanation

[@AndrewMabon]

@@dphilosopher06 Thank you :)

[@samlasley798]

I always thought Inception was about the movie making process. Cobb is the director with the belief and vision, Saito represents the studio with the money, Arthur is the producer, Eames is the script writer, Ariadne the set designer, Yusuf is the editor (he manipulates their responses while asleep the way an editor knows how to construct meaning in the edit) and finally, Fischer is the audience that the team are trying to convince that what he experiences (while not real) is meaningful. It's Nolan bearing witness to the power of stories while acknowledging the fact it's total manipulation of the senses and logic. Most of the time we experience a piece of art, we accept multiple lies in the hope of finding some truth

[@rottensquid]

I don't think he's just bearing witness. He's also participating. This is a movie about Nolan as much as dreams and films. By his own admission, it's about his feelings of guilt for separating himself from his family when he goes and makes movies. So like a lot of great artsy filmmakers, the film itself is him processing his feelings by examining the reality rather than just letting the subconscious conclusions rule him. Cobb is Nolan, trying to incept an idea into the audience. But he's also incepting an idea into himself. If art is not manipulation. What makes art great is that it shares the experience between the audience and the artist. He tells us the story of how he has come to believe a certain truth, and invites us on that same journey. But it works because the artist believes it. It's not a lie, it's just the metaphorical, parabolic language of the unconscious.

[@TheBlueGoldenHawk]

Eames would also be the actor. I haven't watched the video yet, but unless this video's theory contradicts the filmmaking theory, both can be true

[@judeannethecandorchannel2153]

24:58 Not to mention, no one ever seems to mention, if he reversed the climactic lesson he had with "Mal" and accepted the possibility of living a dream--he'd be abandoning his children. To parent as we've evolved to conceive of it is primarily to dedicate ourselves to our offspring as a sacrifice and offering to them. Enjoying them is 2ndary. A good parent doesn't just long to be with their children but is driven to be there for their children. At least that's my idealistic ideal. 😌🧘🏼‍♀️😌

[@oldmanloki]

The video was excellently made and I truly appreciate your analysis. It's intriguing that you interpreted Cobb's totem as Mal's top. I was under the impression that the top was a decoy and his wedding ring is the real totem. I wonder if this difference in interpretation was unintentional.

[@rottensquid]

The wedding ring may have been Cobb's totem, but it's not what convinces him of the truth of his reality. Totems are proven to be an imperfect barometer of reality. He himself hacked Mal's totem. Cobb gives away what his real gauge is early in the film. "Those kids, they are my reality." He realizes he's in the world he wants to be in when he sees their faces. They are real. Cobb is imprisoned in his guilt, and that exiles him from the people he loves. Cobb's release comes when he accepts that his version of Mal isn't the real person. He looks into her eyes and sees not her, but himself, everything he regrets. In facing that truth, he lets go of his self-imprisonment. The problem people run into with this film is that they think of it as a logical problem, when it's actually an emotional journey. And it's set up like that on purpose. We trap ourselves in emotional prisons when we think of them as logical problems. I think that's what the endless staircase refers to, the way our minds run around and around in circles thinking we're working our way up to a solution. It's only by recognizing that the staircase is going nowhere that we realize we need to get off it. Cobb's whole quest to construct dream realities where he can change the truth of Mal's death is exactly that, an endless staircase leading him back to the beginning of the problem, rather than a solution. Getting off the stairs requires seeing them from a different perspective.

[@Winter_Lantern]

​@@rottensquid this is a very strong statement, I can totally relate. When I was at my lowest and very stressed, I kept pushing for logical answers, to just "fix" things and put a bandaid on. My counseling therapist that I saw for this reason said that the issues lie elsewhere but we don't want to look at them and any solution will be temporary, that I will be visiting again without a doubt. She recommended a book about this self confrontation, "the knight in Rusty armor". It's a crying shame they don't teach that at school, so much grief can be avoided...

[@EnterTranscend]

There actually is one clue in the final sequence that answers if Cobb is in reality. Throughout the film he never sees his kids' faces in the dreams, but in the final shot we do finally see their faces 0:35 2:57

[@TheToothlessPhilosopher]

Plus when Michael Caine is on-screen that's real

[@libertysumai7809]

​@@TheToothlessPhilosopher 😂😂😂

[@Mumbles_]

Love all these break downs ! I’m on a binge of your vids. Keep ‘em coming please !

[@nerd26373]

Inception makes us question our own existence and why things are the way they are in this world. It seems as though we're lost in time and are attempting to return safely to what's actually real as opposed to what could be just make believe.

[@Aramsantze]

Bro, I laughed at the end of the video, as if I subconsciously knows that was what gonna happened

[@OneTakeVids]

Haha had to do it

[@katarishigusimokirochepona6611]

​@OneTakeVids bruh 😂😂😂

[@katarishigusimokirochepona6611]

Did not see it coming despite reading your comments before the end! 😂

[@LonghornInOmaha]

Great job on this one, Gil!

[@OneTakeVids]

Thanks Cole!!

[@thefearofg0ds758]

30:43 It's wild how spot on he is with this lol. This was the exact audience reaction to the cut to black in the theater I was in. Followed by some "teeth smacking", and "awwwwww seriously?!!!" Lol.

[@c-130turbo3]

still loving this series, keep them coming!!

[@OneTakeVids]

Thank you!

[@judeannethecandorchannel2153]

36:05 "...you're actions...are what matter." How galvanizing and encouraging! I never hear anyone quote Rachel Dawes but to me what she says and what Bruce as Bat Man says back to her as a powerful call back later are the most, for me, important and moving lines in the whole trilogy. 💥 💥 💥 💥 💥 💥 That's what puts the lump in my throat. And that they discovered in those intimate exchanges that they shared that commitment to the world--and he *found a chance* to *let her know* that *his whole life* embodied what she exhorted "Bruce" to understand. ❤️‍🔥💥❤️‍🔥

[@andrewah15]

Great work on breaking down the deep meaning behind Inception. I see Inception from a different perspective now.

[@rottensquid]

I think it's absurd to expect the artist to come out and state what the subtext of their art is. What is the point of making the art if you do that? The whole point of art is for the artist to imply something, and the audience to infer it. The mutual understanding is the point. It connects the artist's subconscious with the audience's, as well as bonds the audience members with one another. We don't need the answer to the logic puzzle. We all know the ending is a happy one, with Cobb reunited with his kids. We don't have to understand the how to experience the catharsis.

[@Spagghetii]

Whoa, that first part really puts some things together for me.

[@judeannethecandorchannel2153]

This may be a pedestrian way to solve the mystery but--Michael Caine says Nolan him that all of his scenes happen in the real world. Grandpa Michael Caine is in the ending. Therefore that's the real world. (I think it's nihilistic to get off on theories that nothing in Inception, or The Matrix, is ever real.) It's a wholesome, reality is the home we come home to, ending.

[@Jared_Wignall]

Inception is truly an amazing film. Thank you for making this, take care guys!

[@missyanndavenport3745]

This was wonderful and the kind of deep dive into a movie that I am looking for. If you were to do this They Cloned Tyrone for I will love you forever amen

[@tesspulido]

Brilliant analysis. Thank you 😊

[@bupemofyalongwanikunda3772]

This might sound crazy but I think Cobb is still dreaming, I mean look at his kids every time there’s a flash back he can’t see their faces but at the end he gets to see them, but why do they have the some clothes in the flash backs and the final scene, and it’s like when he gets home ,the kids are as he pictured them to be

[@OneTakeVids]

Could be that he’s in a dream but it’s a common misconception that the kids look exactly the same! They’re similar but if you look closely… they’re actually different actors and wearing different clothes

[@judeannethecandorchannel2153]

4:26 Again, about the "fact" of the subconscious, some of us are aware of the war between our shoulds but don't want tos and our shouldn't but do want tos. We can heard the debate as it happens or figure it out after the fact when we peel away our rationalizations. These conflicting goals and motivations aren't hopelessly inaccessible to awareness, imo. Nor are they fully and easily transparent (as my husband largely believed). Again, I see the truth about the subconscious as in between these two extremes.

[@Filmbaz]

Thank you for this video

[@judeannethecandorchannel2153]

25:15 he doesn't care about the spinning top "because he no longer has doubt." BRILLIANT! Best Possible Answer! Imo. 💥⚡️💥

[@SweetSourPickle]

Absolutely love your dissections.

[@Daniel-Six]

Nolan is definitely one of the simulation's most capable enforcers.

[@SGTSnakeUSMC]

The top begins to wobble.

[@TheTechnicsfan]

I am soo rewatching Inception tonight...

[@joshabrogena1240]

also i'd love to hear what Dr. K thinks about these concepts

[@judeannethecandorchannel2153]

11:35 ~When you engage with art you "open your subconscious up to reprogramming." Good point nicely put! You could also think of it as a collaboration: Consciousness mind, subconscious, experience, logic, instinct all collaborating with the influence of the work of art.

[@barbados3592]

you may not be able to "control" the subconscious like you would say a computer program or building a block of legos, but you absolutely can influence it trememdously like you would to an extremely intelligent, utterly loyal pet who loves you.

[@OneTakeVids]

You can “train your subconscious” like Cobb says

[@walterwright8454]

I love this movie!! Such a great story!!

[@BushRoostersMX]

If you’re wondering if Cobb was awake or in a dream, just ask yourself…What was Cobb’s Totem??? It wasn’t the top! The top was Mal’s Totem, His is his wedding ring, and if you rewatch with this knowledge you’ll notice when he is, and isn’t in a dream…. But besides that, Nolan has actually said he made it home… But watching the top just spin at the end, leaves it up to the audience to make up their own minds as to the outcome. I LOVE This movie.

[@Sammsy1126]

Man, give this channel more views/support! The team behind this channel is genius. I see some videos with over a million hits and others with only over a thousand. Cmon people!

[@OneTakeVids]

Thank you my friend! 🙏

[@katarishigusimokirochepona6611]

21:07 Sub Urban - Cradles is the song, if you're looking for it

[@jaredstig]

After only watching the introduction, I am making a prediction. You have come to interpret the movie in the same way I have. That Cobb is the target of inception, woken up from the waking dream he had been living in since the death of his wife. Will edit if I am correct. Edit: Oh so close. I think you just missed out on the true meaning of Inception. In the movie Nolan is illustrating the control our subconscious has over the perception of our reality. Cobb's guilt over the role he played in Mol's death haunts his perception of reality when he is awake and up to the events of the movie have caused him to incorrectly perceive that he is being hunted. This paranoia has ruined his life and will ruin his kids lives if he does not accept the reality that even though he believes he is solely responsible for Mol's death, NO ONE IN REALITY believes that. Once you understand this, you realize the purpose of the juxtaposition between the scene where he holds a gun to his head at the beginning and the ending scene. If you question this viewpoint review the scene where Cobb goes to Miles(Michael Caine) to recruit Ariadne. You will notice Miles plays along with Cobb's fantasy that he is in trouble with the law and being hunted when his body language and demeanor changes and he says the line "come back to reality Dom... please". The ambiguity at the end is Nolan's way of pushing the viewer to give it another watch and further peel back the layers to get to the root of it. kzbin.info/www/bejne/n2mtoI1-htNgqM0

[@3boodae749]

Didn't Michael Cain confirm in an interview that Cobb's actual totem was the wedding ring which he only wore in his dreams? In the final scene he doesn't have it.

[@OneTakeVids]

Cain didn’t mention the wedding ring as far as I know. But he did comment on the final scene: "When I got the script of Inception, I was a bit puzzled by it. I said [to Nolan]: 'I don't understand where the dream is.' I said: 'When is it the dream and when is it reality?' He said: 'Well, when you're in the scene, it's reality.' So get that - if I'm in it, it's reality. If I'm not in it, it's a dream." I just don’t take it too seriously, because Nolan has also said he intended for the ending to be ambiguous. So he might’ve just said that to Cain as a rule of thumb to keep things clear but not necessarily an end all be all iron clad rule.

[@globetrekker86]

Leo certainly took a leap by shaking off the heartthrob image he initially projected. He portrays villains disturbingly well: Richard in *The Beach*, abusive hubby Frank in *Revolutionary Road*, Teddy/Andrew in *Shutter Island*, Dom in *Inception*, Jordan Belfort in *The Wolf of Wall Street.*

[@SchizoidPersonoid]

Arnie Grape

[@joshabrogena1240]

great reference to the one episode season of Black Mirror

[@judeannethecandorchannel2153]

In terms of what's "true," I believe in the kind of subconscious you're talking about but there aren't egos psychologists like my late husband, Claude M Steiner PHD, who would say that there is not a vast subconscious that is largely unavailable to our awareness but rather a more shallow subconscious that we can pretty easily read if we pause to examine ourselves. Again I don't fully agree with this. My opinion occupies more of a middle ground. But it's not an **established truth** that a hypostanciation like the subconscious exists, although certainly there are things happening within human beings like constantly regulating their heart and breathing are not conscious. But that's not the kind of subconscious that is being referred to here as existing as a fact. A concept like the subconscious and especial the unconscious can't, as far as I understand it, be proven. That aside--I adore this film. For me it's about Mal and Cob and their traffic love, as well as visually dazzling and existentially heady. (There's a great video by Walarius the Therapist arguing that Cob is a high functioning narcissist with serious culpability in Mal's delusions and suicide. "This is tragic." Solemn and chilling video essay. Interesting to think of a character with obvious vulnerable emotions like guilt and grief and some kind of love as a narcissist. It's an over simplification to say narcissists "can't love." One friend put it well: "They can love--they just always love themselves more." Seeing the movie through that lens adds a tragic dimension that grounds the visual and conceptual spectacle. Again--such an unforgettable film.

[@ClockworkGearhead]

The question is so much bigger than that, even. Did Cobb even have a wife and kids in the first place? It's very likely he, himself, was a mark, and they were looking for information from him.

[@katarishigusimokirochepona6611]

...

[@davidking4838]

I think the real twist at the end is that none of it happened......BECAUSE IT WAS ALL A MOVIE!!!!......Ha, ha. Of course, that is dumb. And if Nolan had intended you to think the entire movie was just a dream, that would be dumb too. If it's just a dream, then maybe Cobb doesn't even exist - maybe it's someone else's dream. Maybe they look like Cobb in their dream.....What I'm getting at is I don't believe you were ever supposed to think the entire movie was a dream. In fact, I found the movie quite good at always letting you know exactly where you are. You can be in reality, or in stage 1 dream, stage 2 dream, stage 3 dream or the deepest level where time practically stands still - which I would call stage 4. I never thought the director was trying to trick me in this movie - it was always clear where things stood. If the movie ended with......FOOLED YOU ALL ALONG!!!!!.....I would be asking for my money back. Which I certainly did not do.......I question that Nolan even intended for the ending to be questioned, I think he just thought the shot of the top spinning (clearly about to fall) was a good ending shot. The idea that the entire movie was a dream is not something he wanted you to think at all - it was a creation by viewers via the internet. Maybe I'm wrong about that, but it just seems a little cheesey to me and I think more of the director. If I'm wrong, well, I still think he's a great director.

[@katarishigusimokirochepona6611]

😂😂😅

[@santarosatallbikes9025]

" what do you believe? What do you feel?"

[@roguequeen6323]

So is this guy a therapist because I felt spoken to.

[@user-ot1hj6rh7h]

The human imagination is symbiotic because it can take full control of you without you knowing, but you can at will detach from it, you shouldn't fight it like the world does, you should only know who you are so you can detach at will, you are not your imagination? because you are the reality of your imagination

[@resoody2]

How much time went by after Maul died? The children never aged.

[@OneTakeVids]

They did actually age slightly, it’s just hard to tell since we only see them with their faces turned away. But in the final scene, Nolan confirmed they’re played by different, slightly older actors.

[@mikejackson2228]

This is a dream because his children are the same age as when he last saw them, years ago. Not even Nolan knows that.

[@RacoonFighter]

Watch the scenes again - the children at the end look different

[@RacoonFighter]

"Both Nolan and his costume designer have confirmed resoundingly that Cobb's kids are wearing different clothes at the end of the film (and, more important, that they are, in fact, older),"

[@mikejackson2228]

​@@RacoonFighter Well I'm Schooled

[@ToddAdams1234]

@@mikejackson2228me too! 😮

[@alfredowkwk]

I sleep half the movie length

[@SteveMorre-wj6pb]

All bullshit, cobb wears his wedding ring in all the dreams, but not in the real world, the last scene, he has no wedding ring, so therefore he did reunite with his kids, ......then the music starts playing, dum dum dum!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@Chino-bk9fd]

BRUH IS JUST A MOVIE