Inception, Introspection and Deception

-
     "Lo, you see the man is mad; why then have you brought him to me? Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence?" - Achish, King of Gath

     I finally got to watch the movie that’s been keeping the audience around the world awake; ironically about dreams. After watching the movie a couple of days back, I actually thought it would make sense to read more about it. Like every other movie by Christopher Nolan, the movie capitulates to a certain magic woven by the script. For someone like me, sleep-deprived nocturnal, dreams are a faraway thing. Forget the inception of dreams, I can’t even dream of dreaming.
     It’s a farce that when people can’t figure out a majority of the plot in a movie, they praise the direction, script, background music, Pepsi, popcorn and in some cases the nachos and salsa. I saw people do that with Memento, possibly with “the Butterfly effect” and most certainly with “Inception.” Someone even explained to me that the word “Inception” had something to do with dreams. Ahem.
     Some time back I heard a story, and a paradox that arose from it, namely “Abilene Paradox” (for those who like to hear it from the horse’s mouth; well, wait for it to speak). For the rest, here’s the summarized version of the story. And the phenomenon repeats, with some books and most movies (the majority of the crowd neither read nor watches such movies). It’s such a fad, to talk about books and movies that everyone else talks about. Inception is a good movie, no doubting that. But for some reason, movies are considered to be good for the visual appeal it provides. First Avatar, and now Inception have been drawing the crowds, raking the moolah. And why? Because my friend on facebook thought it was amazing, and his friend liked the comment.
     To be brutally honest, TDK and “The Prestige” were better movies by the same director. Those movies had strong performances from the actors cast in them. Heath Ledger as the Joker is a world apart from DiCaprio’s Cobb. Even Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale reveled as magicians in “The Prestige.” Not that I question Leonardo as an actor. But if movies were all about visual appeal, why is “The Godfather” considered to be one of the greatest movies of all-time?
    And if watching the movie wasn’t enough, a friend of mine forwarded a link which might be of interest to some of you. An in-depth autopsy of the movie can be found here. Strangely enough, as I was about to leave for the movie, a friend remarked that English movies were at times highly unrealistic. The next time you dream, ensure that you have a totem (Skv's definition: Something that you inherited from those board games. Original definition: A totem is any supposed entity that watches over or assists a group of people, such as a family, clan, or tribe. Movie definition: Something that belongs to you and could be a pawn, loaded dice or top). It'll ensure that you're not in a dream, or a dream within a dream or so on and so forth. And kick the person next to you to ensure that when he kicks back you wake up.

P.S: Sarcasm is “a sharp, bitter, or cutting expression or remark; a bitter jibe or taunt.” Some authorities sharply distinguish sarcasm from irony, however others argue that sarcasm may or often does involve irony. (Wikipedia™)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Time and Tide – Sorry, I’m late

-
Image
     “Punctuality is the virtue of the bored.” - Evelyn Waugh.      Someone once remarked that IST was originally an acronym for Indian Stretchable Time. Are we Indians so bad when it comes to respecting (more likely disrespecting) the value of time? Read on to unveil the greatest myth of the new era.      The discovery of time was the biggest mistake. Why do we need a device to measure (and magnify) our slowness? A large sect of today’s population has the notion that if you're there before it's over, you're well on time. And it’s true to a large extent. The reason being that no one important is ever present to appreciate your punctuality. As a kid, my teachers emphasized on the virtues of character, punctuality, discipline and etiquettes. Strangely enough, I’ve reported to half a dozen people in my corporate life. And only one of them stressed on punctuality (do I have to provide an explanation for the rest of the...
Read more

Romancing the language

-
Image
" I know such English that I will leave the British behind. You see sir, I can talk English, I can walk English, I can laugh English, I can run English, because English is such a funny language. Bhairo becomes Byron because their minds are very narrow. In the year 1929 when India was playing Australia at the Melbourne stadium Vijay Hazare and Vijay Merchant were at the crease. Vijay Merchant told Vijay Hazare. look Vijay Hazare Sir , this is a very prestigious match and we must consider it very prestigiously. We must take this into consideration, the consideration that this is an important match and ultimately this consideration must end in a run. In the year 1979 when Pakistan was playing against India at the Wankhede stadium Wasim Raja and Wasim Bari were at the crease and they took the same consideration. Wasim Raja told Wasim Bari, look Wasim Bari, we must consider this consideration and considering that this is an important match we must put this consideration in...
Read more

Stop and Proceed

-
Image
“When real people fall down in life, they get right back up and keep on walking.” - Michael King This post has been on the backburner for over 6 weeks now and the drought has no correlation with my current location, 14,305 Kms (8,888 mi, can’t disappoint my negligible reader base in the US of A) away from home. 9 months; this length of time has never been more significant in my life. Do we remember our childhoods? Yes, to a certain degree. I remember most parts of my life since the time I was 3. Not every single day, but the significant aspects of it. But do we remember how we learnt to walk, to run and perhaps, to jump? I remember my first race. I had to run to one end, put my cap on, run back and pick up my bag, and finally run to the finish line. I even remember my prize, a disposable Kodak camera. As I stood on top of the pedestal, I felt light. Over the years, my parents would joke that the wind helped me get to the finish line quicker than everyone else. In an ins...
Read more