If you haven’t seen it, don’t read this!
I saw it last night and I loved it to bits… however it got me thinking.
Check this out:
Real world -> dream -> dream -> dream -> dream.
If we assign a number to each the real world and the dreams Cobb is in EG:
0 -> 1 -> 1 -> 1
So, technically speaking IF we ever see Cobb in the real world, we can designate that as ZERO.
The moment he enters a dream, 0 + 1 that equals 1. So he’s in ONE level/dream.
The moment he goes in further, 0+1+1 equals 2. He’s two levels deep.
If you get a kick, you go back a previous level.
Let’s say for example Cobb and his crew are 4 levels/dreams deep. If he and the team get kicked back you wind up in the previous dream. 4-1=3. You’re in the third deeper dream.
So you need to ground your base in a “reality” in this movie.
I need to go back and watch it again during the Mombasa scene to see if there are any ‘quick jumps’ in the scene, because I’m starting to think that Mombosa = Floor, Level, Dream 0.
If you add a number to each sequence where you think a dream is occurring because of a notable jump, you can track back to where your reality is planted, eg: Your totem dream.
Cobb’s children are his totem, the spinning top is just something he does to calm his nerves and remind him of his wife… he told Ariadne that “in his dreams, we are together”, and he also called the copy of his wife “the best I can do.” He’s trying to recreate Ariadne as his wife in his dreams, but he can’t because he can’t remember her because he’s using her totem (the top!), remember what he said? Don’t use other people’s totems because otherwise you will get lost and never find your way out? He was so reliant on his wife’s totem, he lost focus of what his real totem was, his children.
Keep subtracting numbers from any fixed point in the film after you establish a “Dream 0″, and you’ll come up with some interesting results.
Another side note: His children don’t age in what we the audience see as the “real world” in the final scene when he “wakes up”. Did you take note of how long the guard stared at him before welcoming him “home”?
There’s a reason for it. Cobb isn’t home. He’s lost in limbo. His wife was trying to save him but she can’t anymore because he has “killed” her in his mind.
Thoughts?
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