Structural Theories & Storytelling | "Inception" (2010)

Fig. 1 "Inception" Poster

Every existing movie has a structure just like short stories or novels. They only differ from each other by having either a 5 act structure consisting of: Prologue, Conflict, Rising Action (eventually leading to Climax), Falling Action and Denouement or a 3 act structure consisting of: The Setup (Exposition), The Confrontation (Obstacles) and The Resolution (Denouement). As for this review about the movie “Inception” the 3 act structure will be discussed in detail.

Act 1 The Setup:

The movie starts off with Cobb our protagonist of the movie doing his work as an expert extractor or more simply an expert dream manipulator. The first sequence set up Cobb’s life as a “thief” as well as his character (expert dream extractor) and his flaw Mal his wife who committed suicide in believe of waking up from “the dream”. The next scenes shown can be seen as the “Inciting Incident”: Saito offers Cobb a job where he has to create not only two layers but three layers of dreams in order to plant an idea inside Fischer’s head who is the heir to a multi-billion dollar empire. At first Cobb decides to walk away, but is drawn back to the job and accepts it eventually. Therefore Cobb is crossing his mental threshold by accepting Saito’s job.

Fig. 2

As for the first plot point one can consider the scene where Cobb tests Ariadne, who will become the new architect of the dream for the upcoming job, in his dream whether she is capable for the job and warns her not to change too much in a dream since the subconscious will seek out and destroy the invader and eventually they run into Mal, Cobb’s wife who kills Ariadne. At this point Ariadne noticed that Cobb is in conflict with himself about his wife and tries to find more about it. Later on, after assembling the six team members who will take part in planting an idea in Fischer’s mind Ariadne finds an opportunity to sneak into Cobb’s dream where he is together with a projection of his wife Mal. She finds out that Cobb is keeping Mal’s projection in the deepest part of his mind locked away in the hotel room where she suicided.

Act 2 The Confrontation:

The first plot point is then followed by scenes working towards the climax. Cobb’s team is preparing and discussing about how to make a three level deep dream, where the dream hijack is going to take place and how to make the target (Fischer) not become suspicious and therefore fail the mission. In order to enter and maintain the third level a strong sedative is needed, the hijack will take place in a plane which Fischer attends to regularly. Coincidentally Saito owns the flight company and therefore allows them to take part of the flight.

Fig. 3

They finally find themselves on the plane with Fischer and initialize the inception. In the dream things do not go as planned. When Cobb and his team hijacked a cap and picked up Fischer they are chased by trained projections. They find out that Fischer trained his subconscious to fend off unwanted intruders. During the chase Saito is shot and is slowly dying. The team is panicking because if they die they eventually end up in limbo, a state they cannot escape and therefore trapped in a dream forever. Cobb sees no other way out and suggests the team to continue as fast as possible.  Soon Cobb’s secret is revealed to Ariadne. He tells her about Mal and himself that they were trapped in their limbo for 50 years, they lost sight of what was real and eventually they realize that the only way to find out the reality is to commit suicide. Even back in the real world she doubts the reality and grows crazier thinking that nothing is real unless you kill yourself to find out. Cobb blames himself for her death that he showed her the dream that he tested/experimented with her until Ariadne tells him to forgive himself.  

The team is chased by the trained subconscious of Fischer with the intention of killing them. They find themselves in the third level of the dream eventually where Fischer is supposed to find “the idea”. This whole mission is a race against the time. In the first level of the dream the entire crew is chased by Fischer’s subconscious and they will get caught in the end they cannot escape forever. Therefore before they are killed by the chasers the crew will be given a “kick” to wake them up. Having not much time left Fischer finally finds himself in front of a large safe where he will find his “idea”, but he gets shot in front of the safe. Cobb and Ariadne try to dive deeper into the fourth level of the dream where they find themselves in the dream Cobb and Mal once lived in. They say if you die in a dream you may still be alive in the deeper level therefore they try to find Fischer down there and bring him back to live in the third level by giving him a kick. Fischer eventually wakes up and opens the safe. He finds his father in it and another safe with a code lock of which the code he knows.

Fig. 4

In the fourth level Cobb finally comes clean with himself. He realizes that Mal is not here anymore and that he has to let go. Surprisingly Ariadne shoots Mal and not Cobb, but the consequence is clear: Cobb has ended his inner conflict and got rid of his flaw. One can now argue whether Cobb finally resolving his inner conflict or Fischer finding his “idea” is the real climax or even both. At least one can agree on that this part of the movie was the climax.

Act 3 The Resolution:

After the successful mission the team initializes the kicks to get them out of the dream. Since Saito was the job offerer and he is killed in the dream Cobb still has to rescue him. Therefore we see the scene where Cobb is stranded at a beach and is supposed to take back the massively aged Saito in his keep who does not remember which important task he had before coming there. Eventually all six members and Fischer wake up in the plane where they initiated the inception. In the end we see Cobb coming back to his two kids and him spinning the totem which does not seem to topple but still unstable.

 Ending Type:

Fig. 5 Spinning Toten

The movie clearly has a partial ending since all of the conflicts were solved throughout the film, but it still leaves the audience in the dark at the ending letting them question if the protagonist really escaped the limbo and leading his happy life in reality with his kids or if he is still trapped in the limbo symbolized by the spinning totem which at first does not seem to tumble which indicates that he is in a dream, but at some point it seems shaky ready to stop and tumble at any moment indicating he is in reality.
 
Plot vs Story:

The plot type of the movie “Inception” is clearly the so called “Arc Plot”. An arc plot is characterized by the concept of a ticking bomb which is very clearly presented in “Inception”. When Cobb’s team were forced to descend the dream levels quick as they had Fischer’s subconsciousness chasing them potentially killing them and therefore trapping them in a limbo. Cobb’s crew is racing against time at that moment. 

Illustration List:
Fig. 1 "Inception" Poster At: https://20ui41tp7v127j03rcnp97oh-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/edit_inception.jpg (Accessed on 14/10/2017)
Fig. 2 At: http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m940w1bqLr1qh7ga5o1_500.gif (Accessed on 14/10/2017)
Fig. 3 At: http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m940w1bqLr1qh7ga5o2_500.gif (Accessed on 14/10/2017)
Fig. 4 At:  http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m940w1bqLr1qh7ga5o3_500.gif (Accessed on 14/10/2017)
Fig. 5 Spinning Totem At: https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--C99Zt2Bt--/c_scale,f_auto,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/lfw6bvdh730gervcsavn.gif  (Accessed on 14/10/2017)