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™)