Perspectives - Post-Modernism in Inception (2010)

Figure 1: Inception - Film Poster  

Inception is the idea that you can plant an idea in an individuals mind to manipulate them into subconsciously doing something. When looking deeper into the narrative going on in the background you realise the techniques which Nolan uses to post-modernise the film. Post-modernism is about reflection, striving to find new ways to perceive the world. One of the ways Nolan does this throughout the film is through the narration of story telling, he weaves a story about plotting a story, his narrative explains the journey of a group who come up with a story which is then implanted in the mind of the character Robert Fischer, the narrative is already multi-layered in that regard, it then again layers itself with the concept of multi-layering of dreamscapes in a way to physically represent and reinforce this conscious creation of depth; the technique constantly forces the audience to assess their perception of depth, and if they can take the story at face value because the narrator is unreliable.

    

Figure 2: Inception - Limbo Structuralist Destruction 

The Scene in which the character of Cobb travels to the dreamscape of Limbo is significant because of what it represents. In Figure 2 you can see in the background replicated buildings, their design derives from structuralist architecture, which is built specifically to be functional, every aspect has been made irreducible to its purest form. The choice Nolan makes of creating a dreamscape where these structures are collapsing is arguably metaphoric because he is comparing this to the death of the theories of structuralism, the ideas which structuralism dictates as universal truths, for examples set by the unreliable narrator: that the idea Cobb will never leave Limbo, and that inception isn't possible, are being eroded with time, post-structuralism and modernism.  

Nolan uses sound to give another sensory feeling to the film too, using modern technology to manipulate the song "je ne regrette rien" by Edith  Piaf-Non so that it is slowed down to give the audience a perception of time manipulation and being overlaid over the original to make them sound like the same track, this technique is only possible with modern technology, and rethinks how we interpret the 4th dimension through sound.    

Finally the final scene is controversial in film because of the way it ends, linear story telling dictates a story/film to go start > middle > end, this is a traditional way of telling a story, Nolan creates the final scene where the spinning top is left spinning in order to create a cliff-hanger, in other words he completely removes an 'end', and suggests Cobb is still in a dream world, this finally also adds to the notion of the unreliable narrator because you are led to believe one thing, then are forced one last time to reevaluate your perception of the events you've just watched.  

Figure 3: Inception - Cliff-Hanger Final Scene

Illustrations:

Figure 1: Inception [Film Poster] - Christopher Nolan: Warner Bros, Legendary Entertainment
Figure 2: Inception [Film] - Christopher Nolan: Warner Bros, Legendary Entertainment
Figure 3: Inception [Film] - Christopher Nolan: Warner Bros, Legendary Entertainment