How does Arthur stay asleep in the van?

This 2010 contemporary sci-fi actioner follows a subconscious security team around the globe and into the intimate and infinite world of dreams.
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Nolanoscopy
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kahern93 wrote:
That is true. Arthur woke up as the chair was falling during the demonstration of Yusuf's sedative, but in this scene, Cobb only woke up once submerged in water.
One idea: maybe a kick from the real world only requires the feeling of falling, while a kick from the dream world requires both the feeling of falling as well as imminent death at the end of the fall. Also explaining why Cobb's chair was positioned above the tub. He needed to fall into the tub, as well as feel the imminent threat of death from drowning.

Kind of a bizarre explanation, but it seems consistent with what happens in the movie. The only scene where the feeling of falling with no threat of death wakes a dreamer is waking someone from level 1 up to reality. Waking someone from a deep level of sleep up into another higher level seems to require both falling and death at the bottom of the drop.

Maybe. What do you guys think?

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I completely agree with this explanation. I've been struggling with the logistics of the kicks in Inception since I first saw the film. In the explanation Cobb gives to Ariadne, he gives Arthur a kick (tipping his chair) which pulls him out of the dream and back down a level to reality. However when the team is performing Inception, the kicks occur in the same level; for example the kick in the elevator brings them back to the van instead of the kick in the van pulling them out of the hotel back to the van. I had finally come to accept the conclusion that a kick can either be in the previous level/reality or in the current dream level can cause you to go back a level. Until I read your explanation, I was not fully satisfied with that conclusion. But I totally agree with the importance of the imminent death. In reality it is very much based on the inner ear, however in a dream state, I could be wrong but I feel like the visual of falling is more important than the actual sensation and that's where the knowledge of imminent death comes in. Its the waking up before you die that serves as the kick. As for questions concerning the purpose of synchornizing, I just think a kick can only work on the next level. The van falling can not pull them out of the hospital level. Therefore the kicks have to be synchronized so that the team is pulled back through the levels back in the order they went in and one at a time. However that does not explain how Cobb and Saito got out of limbo....
They shoot themselves. Cobb washes on to shore with the gun and the totem in his pocket which is detailed at the beginning of the movie. Then at the end you see (I don't remember which) Cobb or Saito reach for the gun after Saito spins the top and it just spins. Then they cut to the van underwater.
kahern93
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They shoot themselves. Cobb washes on to shore with the gun and the totem in his pocket which is detailed at the beginning of the movie. Then at the end you see (I don't remember which) Cobb or Saito reach for the gun after Saito spins the top and it just spins. Then they cut to the van underwater.

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Wow. I completely forgot that dying in a dream also serves as a kick. However, with the sedation they used dying doesn't work, so I think what I said still applies.
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Tristy
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Nolanoscopy wrote:They shoot themselves. Cobb washes on to shore with the gun and the totem in his pocket which is detailed at the beginning of the movie. Then at the end you see (I don't remember which) Cobb or Saito reach for the gun after Saito spins the top and it just spins. Then they cut to the van underwater.
Wut? They cut to Cobb waking up on the plane.... :eh:

Does anyone know if the team was still under the influence of Yusuf's sedative when they - well, except Cobb and Saito - begin riding the kicks back up to the first level?
Queen of Hearts
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Tristy wrote:
Nolanoscopy wrote:They shoot themselves. Cobb washes on to shore with the gun and the totem in his pocket which is detailed at the beginning of the movie. Then at the end you see (I don't remember which) Cobb or Saito reach for the gun after Saito spins the top and it just spins. Then they cut to the van underwater.
Wut? They cut to Cobb waking up on the plane.... :eh:

Does anyone know if the team was still under the influence of Yusuf's sedative when they - well, except Cobb and Saito - begin riding the kicks back up to the first level?

I think the shooting was implied..not shown...I get something different everytime I watch this movie, that is why I love it so much:-)
Nolanoscopy
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Tristy wrote:
Nolanoscopy wrote:They shoot themselves. Cobb washes on to shore with the gun and the totem in his pocket which is detailed at the beginning of the movie. Then at the end you see (I don't remember which) Cobb or Saito reach for the gun after Saito spins the top and it just spins. Then they cut to the van underwater.
Wut? They cut to Cobb waking up on the plane.... :eh:

Does anyone know if the team was still under the influence of Yusuf's sedative when they - well, except Cobb and Saito - begin riding the kicks back up to the first level?
I'm sorry, you're right. I was just trying to do it from memory and for some reason remember Cobb waking up in the van and swimming to the surface. I think that's Arthur that does that though. My bad.
kahern93
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[quoteI'm sorry, you're right. I was just trying to do it from memory and for some reason remember Cobb waking up in the van and swimming to the surface. I think that's Arthur that does that though. My bad.

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Yes, that's Arthur. He even looks back to see Cobb still buckled into the van unconscious.
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the_red_ninja
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kahern93 wrote:
They shoot themselves. Cobb washes on to shore with the gun and the totem in his pocket which is detailed at the beginning of the movie. Then at the end you see (I don't remember which) Cobb or Saito reach for the gun after Saito spins the top and it just spins. Then they cut to the van underwater.
Wow. I completely forgot that dying in a dream also serves as a kick. However, with the sedation they used dying doesn't work, so I think what I said still applies.
The team and the audience learn in the first level after Saito is shot that if you die under this sedation then you will end up in Limbo. However, Cobb and Saito are already in Limbo for who knows how long, so it is safe to say that the sedation has worn off and dying (or killing yourself) in Limbo with the knowledge of knowing you are in Limbo will kick you all the way back to real world, out of the dream; thus them waking up in the airplane just as it lands.


Regarding the topic question:
May I remind you of the original plan - it was going to be just 3 levels under sedation - planting the idea in level 3 and then kicking themselves back to level 2 by the time the van hits the railings of the bridge in level 1, while Arthur was going to sync the hotel room imploding with them in it. I do believe that the synced acts of dying/falling from within each dream level simultaneously would be the fastest way of escaping under sedation via riding the kicks - and the team, excluding Cobb and Saito, do end up executing that part of the plan anyways.

However, during the actual job, because they wasted time dealing with militarized projections etc. they missed the first opportunity of riding the kicks i.e. the van hitting the railing of the bridge. So while the van is in free fall off the bridge, Arthur and team in level 2 are weightless (no gravity) due to them not being kicked at the time of impact in the first level [Arthur explains to Ariadne why it is important not to miss the first kick]. That's why rigging the elevator for a synthetic kick was important for the team to make it all the way to level one. Waking from lower levels under this sedation requires being kicked from within the dream and from the dream above simultaneously as illustrated in the final kick. So because Arthur is not kicked within level 2 during the first kick he does not wake up in the van, and I think because he is aware of what is coming due to the musical cue he can "reject" the kick from the above level.

And don't forget that the team that made it to the first level i.e. the rainy bridge, have to wait out the sedation for approx. one week, so they do not truly wake from the sedation completely. It is only Cobb and Saito that kick themselves "awake" awake, as explained in my first paragraph.
I get Nolan yo. ;)
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