Inception is a science-fiction action heist film written and directed by Christopher Nolan. The film was released in 2010 by Warner Bros. It uses a lot of typical conventions found in thriller movies.
The narrative centres around a crime eg. a theft or a murder
The narrative centres around breaking into someone’s mind and planting an idea there, making them believe that it’s their own idea, which is a crime. Thriller films often centre around some kind of crime.
The protagonist is fallible and has an 'Achilles heel' that is exploited by the antagonist
In Inception, the protagonist’s, Cobb’s, flaw is the guilt he feels over his wife’s, Mal’s, death. He blames himself and always ends up bringing her projection into the dreams. Interestingly, the antagonist is Mal, or rather her projection. She exploits Cobb’s weakness by ruining any “plans” Cobb makes in the dreams, such as trying to kill Fischer before he is able to unlock the safe room of his subconscious.
Towards the end of the movie, when Cobb is in limbo, he is able to overcome this fallibility by confessing what he did to the projection of Mal.
Most stories, regardless of genre, have protagonists with some kind of fault because it makes them more accessible, relatable and real to the audience, however, in thriller movies, this convention is almost essential in order for the antagonist to be a real threat to the protagonist.
The protagonist will be seen 'in peril' in one or more scenes before the resolution.
Cobb, along with all of the main characters, are technically in peril from the moment they enter the first dream – if they die, they won’t wake up, instead going into a limbo state.
That being said, there are definite moments when Cobb is really in peril. For example, in the first level of the dream, projections in Fischer’s subconscious attack the team, almost killing them and injuring Saito.
The narrative presents ordinary situations in which extraordinary things happen.
The world of Inception is seemingly ordinary, until we learn out the shared dreaming.
During the dreams, situations are shown as being ordinary before extraordinary things happen in them. For example, during Ariadne’s second experience with shared dreaming, she and Cobb are walking down an ordinary street, however (because it is a dream) she chooses to fold the street over itself, which is obviously impossible.
Themes of identity are common: mistaken identity, doubling/doppelgangers, amnesia.
Misleading characters, or mistaken identity, is a common theme in thriller films. Inception also features the theme of mistaken identity. A good example of mistaken identity would be when the team manage to fool Fischer into thinking they are trying to help him, when in fact they are the ones breaking into this subconscious.
Mistaken identity is also shown, for example, when Eames takes the appearance of Fischer's godfather Peter Browning, and makes Fischer believe that it is really him.
Themes of seeing, reflection and mirroring. Manipulation of perspectives, visual McGuffins, and optical illusions are common.
Inception features multiple optical illusions within dreams. For example, when Arthur teaches Ariadne about creating dream environments and mazes, he explains Penrose Stairs – the impossible stair case.
In conclusion, I think Inception uses enough of the typical thriller conventions strongly enough that it can be classed a thriller movie.
Post by Rebecca Gibson
The narrative centres around a crime eg. a theft or a murder
The narrative centres around breaking into someone’s mind and planting an idea there, making them believe that it’s their own idea, which is a crime. Thriller films often centre around some kind of crime.
The protagonist is fallible and has an 'Achilles heel' that is exploited by the antagonist
In Inception, the protagonist’s, Cobb’s, flaw is the guilt he feels over his wife’s, Mal’s, death. He blames himself and always ends up bringing her projection into the dreams. Interestingly, the antagonist is Mal, or rather her projection. She exploits Cobb’s weakness by ruining any “plans” Cobb makes in the dreams, such as trying to kill Fischer before he is able to unlock the safe room of his subconscious.
Towards the end of the movie, when Cobb is in limbo, he is able to overcome this fallibility by confessing what he did to the projection of Mal.
Most stories, regardless of genre, have protagonists with some kind of fault because it makes them more accessible, relatable and real to the audience, however, in thriller movies, this convention is almost essential in order for the antagonist to be a real threat to the protagonist.
The protagonist will be seen 'in peril' in one or more scenes before the resolution.
Cobb, along with all of the main characters, are technically in peril from the moment they enter the first dream – if they die, they won’t wake up, instead going into a limbo state.
That being said, there are definite moments when Cobb is really in peril. For example, in the first level of the dream, projections in Fischer’s subconscious attack the team, almost killing them and injuring Saito.
The narrative presents ordinary situations in which extraordinary things happen.
The world of Inception is seemingly ordinary, until we learn out the shared dreaming.
During the dreams, situations are shown as being ordinary before extraordinary things happen in them. For example, during Ariadne’s second experience with shared dreaming, she and Cobb are walking down an ordinary street, however (because it is a dream) she chooses to fold the street over itself, which is obviously impossible.
Themes of identity are common: mistaken identity, doubling/doppelgangers, amnesia.
Misleading characters, or mistaken identity, is a common theme in thriller films. Inception also features the theme of mistaken identity. A good example of mistaken identity would be when the team manage to fool Fischer into thinking they are trying to help him, when in fact they are the ones breaking into this subconscious.
Mistaken identity is also shown, for example, when Eames takes the appearance of Fischer's godfather Peter Browning, and makes Fischer believe that it is really him.
Themes of seeing, reflection and mirroring. Manipulation of perspectives, visual McGuffins, and optical illusions are common.
Inception features multiple optical illusions within dreams. For example, when Arthur teaches Ariadne about creating dream environments and mazes, he explains Penrose Stairs – the impossible stair case.
In conclusion, I think Inception uses enough of the typical thriller conventions strongly enough that it can be classed a thriller movie.
Post by Rebecca Gibson
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