Gender Representations (Inception) & Visual and Sonic Motifs

Emotional Responses

Arousal- In Inception, like most blockbuster films, all the lead characters are attractive; especially a lot more than the average person. With Leonardo Dicaprio, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy and Joseph Gordon Levit leading the roles. Many spectators would choose to see the film just because Leonardo Dicaprio is the main star and he's universally known as a heartthrob. As well as this, these actors are people to be admired and spectators could emotionally respond with arousal due to this as well.

Sympathy- Throughout the film Cobb's troubles are at the forefront of what goes wrong, especially whilst dreaming. Although not all spectators know what it's like to see or dream of a dead loved one or relative they can sympathise with him because through the film its noticeable how much he's struggling so they can feel sorry for him and sympathise with wha he's going through.

Empathy- In contrast to sympathy, audience members that resinate with Cobb and have dreamt about or seen loved ones who have passed can empathise with him as they know what the feelings like to have an intense experience with someone who isn't actually there. For instance having a dream about that could leave people feeling upset and distressed and every time Moll appears in Inception Cobb is noticeably down and distressed.

Pessimism- A key throughout Inception is the subtle anti-capitalism that surrounds the story, especially of Mr Fischer. The plot of the film is very pessimistic and there isn't a lot of compassion between the characters so the spectator will respond by feeling that the film is very pessimistic and dystopian like.

Visual and Sonic Motifs

Totems- Cobbs totem in particular is shown quite often and for instance his is a spin top and when he thinks e's not dreaming he spins it and if it falls he's back to reality but if it keeps spinning he's still in a dream.

Water- Usually water has connotations of purity and cleanliness, it could be argued that Cobb is trying to achieve as he's plagued by seeing Moll in his dreams.

Lifts/Stairs- They represent the different levels of a dream and have even been likened to video game levels as the characters are always walking up stairs or using elevators to get to different levels.

War/Fighting- In every dream there's always a conflict, be it with the sub conscious or Moll, war and fighting is present in every dream.

Musical Motifs- Lietmotif "Je Ne Regrette Rien"- The iconic song is present when the characters are coming out of the dream, it's like a warning that they only have a certain amount of time left.

Wider Representations

What does the implanting of an idea in Fischer's head represent?
Capitalism- it is to stop Fischer's energy company from gaining too much power, so the film could be seen as anti an anti capitalism film.

Male Trauma post 911- Christopher Nolan has always shown male trauma in his lead male roles post 911, for instance in Batman most of the lead males and some sort of trauma going on in their life and Inception is no different. he does this because 911 had a massive impact on him as everyone saw the biggest country crumble and the whole idea of men being masculine and strong was abolished.

Crisis in Masculinity- Much like male trauma, the crisis in masculinity is the idea of men being more feminine and less of a stereotypical strong, attractive heroic man.

Gaming- the different levels and speeds are designed to reflect the gaming generation who form much of the intended audience- Due to massive advances in technology Inception is intended to hit the generations of gamers and people who use technology the most.



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