Inception

A.)  Whenever I first started to think about what I wanted to do for my midterm project  I immediately wanted to try to use a movie. I really enjoy watching movies for the aspect of filming techniques and the use of music to enhance the viewers enjoyment level. I was really caught up in what movie I would do for the midterm. After going back and forth multiple times I finally settled on Inception. I saw the movie over the summer and knew I was coming to this class in the fall semester and hoped I would get a chance to talk about it and it just so happens that I do. I saw the movie on July 22^nd. I was immediately destabilized going into this movie, because I was out on one of the first dates with my current girlfriend. I was a little nervous to go see this movie with her because I picked it out and I was afraid she was not going to enjoy it as much as I would. I became re-stabilized over this when she told me, while we were walking into the theater, that she was excited to see the movie. I also felt a destabilization when I first was trying to interpret the movie. I have always enjoyed social sciences, but certain aspects of dreaming in psychology have caused me some trouble in understanding. I felt re-stabilized partway through the movie when I finally got a grasp on what exactly was happening.

B.) The theater itself had all the typical advertisements in the lobby trying to persuade the consumer to purchase there product. This was also one of the longest strain of advertisements which took place before the movie even started. There was over a half an hour of these advertisements which made me become impatient. Inception, itself, was a movie which did not use a lot of sociopolitical issues that dealt with persuading us of items in the popular world. They had some underlying motifs. For example the film deals with coping, dealing with a loss, and moving on from that loss. The main character in the movie loses his wife and cannot do away with her memory which causes problems during the film.

C.)  Critical Lenses.

     The first critical of the critical lenses I am going to use is the Reader-Response Criticism. Upon viewing certain films I feel as though I begin to think more in-depth and want to do something more on the intellectual side of things Some movies I view also have the tendency to make me think more critically and change the way my mind views certain concepts. Inception was definitely no exception to this rule. From the beginning of the movie I was already trying to interpret what was going to happen during the movie. I think the writer of the plot was attempting to have this effect on the viewers that way it would potentially have them want to see the movie again or even possibly buy the movie when it was released later.                               

     The second of the critical lenses I am going to use is that of Postmodern Analysis. Inception is a film adhering to the trend of movies which have endings left open to one’s own interpretation. The film used concepts that would require the viewer to think outside the box. This is an aspect of post-modern culture, showing that not everything is always straight forward. The film also uses a lot of post-modern art for the architecture in the film. For example they use Penrose Stairs as one of the motives used throughout the film. Also the hotel room and warehouse used in the first and second dream sequences respectfully are of the post-modern era.

D.)  The movie theater where I went to see the film was quite deceiving from the outside. It looked like a smaller establishment and could be equivalent to the Indiana Movie Theater. Whenever I went inside, though, I found it to be one of the nicer establishments that I had ever been in. After purchasing the tickets we moved into the room where the film was playing. There was stadium seating and comfortable chairs you could lean back in. One big difference to me is that this theater had leg room. Being a taller person this was a huge benefit.

E.) One of the artifacts I have is a ticket stub from the showing of the movie. This kind of pertains to my identity, because I am a person who enjoys saving ticket stubs so I can look back and remember certain memories I have associated with the ticket stub. Sometimes the memories are good and sometimes the memories can be bad, but I feel as though keeping these artifacts contributes to who I am as an individual.

F.)  Seeing as I was in a movie theater and on a date at the time some of the social discourses I had were how to act around my significant other. I was more likely to become distracted during the moving by holding hands or possibly talking quietly while the movie was going on. This caused my own behaviors to deviate from the typical behaviors expected in a movie theater. I am typically expected to sit quietly and watch the movie without any disruptions or even being a disruption myself. I felt as though this was tested while on a date.

G.)   I feel as though Inception is a movie Baudrillard would find interesting. Inception incorporates one of Baudrillard’s main points in that what is really real anymore. During the entire course of the movie it is based on designing dream architecture and to convince an individual, at first, to believe they are not actually dreaming, but are in the “real world”. Baudrillard would say they are actually using these dream sequences to create giant simulacra based on things they have perceived while they were awake. I also feel as though Baudrillard may find some of the aspects of the movie distasteful, seeing as he talks more about simulation in the first space and not as much simulation in the second space.(Baudrillard)

I.) Color Symbology

         This was something throughout the film which really fit the bill. The main color used in Inception is the color gray. According to squidoo.com gray is timeless, practical, and solid. A longstanding favorite suit color, gray can mix well with any color. Although well like and often worn, people rarely name gray as a favorite color possibly because gray also is associated with loss or depression. This is a remarkably accurate use of the color in the film. For example is says gray can mix well with any color. I feel this is a metaphor for how you can make your dream anything you want, or you can mix any idea you want into your dream. Also squidoo.com says gray makes a person fell unsettled or expectant. I felt unsettled with how the movie was going. I also felt on the edge of my seat seeing what was going to happen throughout the duration of the film. This is also the reason I chose gray as the text color for my wiki. I feel it furthers the reusing of gray during the film.

J.) Film Techniques

          There were quite a bit of individual filming techniques used in this movie.  The film opened with a framing shot close up on Leonardo Dicaprio's characters face. It then transitioned to a memory he had of his children. The film also used in the same scene a pan to show the beach and they utilized a wide-angle shot to give the allusion the viewer was actually part of the film. The filming crew used an interesting 360 degrees camera ratio to film the scenes for zero gravity. In doing so they were able to create the allusion of bending and altering physical space.(Wikipedia). From what I was listening to I found it interesting that there was diegetic sound incorporated in with non-diegetic sound. For example whenever they are making a jump from one level of dream space to the next level of dream space they use classical music to remember the prior place like skips on a record. Whenever on piece of music is played on a higher level it is subsequently slowed down on the next level. As seen in the video below you can see how Hans Zimmer, the composer for the film, uses this technique.

Works Cited

                        Baudrillard, Jean.Simulacra and Simulation. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1994. Print.

                    "Color: Meaning, Symbolism and Psychology." Squidoo : Welcome to Squidoo. Web. 10 Oct. 2010.            

               <http://www.squidoo.com/colorexpert>.

               "Inception (film)." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 11 Oct. 2010. Web. 11 Oct. 2010.                <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inception_(film)#Filming>.