prince0gotham,
I agree with your point that symbolism must serve a purpose to be meaningful. But in this case the point should be obvious: the allusion provides an answer to the puzzle Nolan poses when he focuses on the spinning top at the end of the film. It tells us the ending is not simply another level in an infinitely recursive maze of imagined worlds. Cobb is not dreaming. Or - if he is - there is something qualitatively different about this one.
The
why is always open for discussion. You can argue that Nolan is making a Christian movie, or view Cobb's salvation as entirely imaginary. It's also possible Nolan is simply invoking religious imagery to explore the question of how we come to hold certain beliefs ("the genesis of an idea" as he puts it). If you push me on it, I'd argue that we're supposed to take the ending at face value, if only because Inception is constructed as two parallel stories of alienated sons who seek reconciliation with their fathers. Given the prevalence of religious iconography it does not seem unreasonable to interpret this as commenting in some capacity on man's presumed alienation from God. I suspect the point of the comparison is to suggest that if Cobb's redemption is real then Fischer's must be too, even if it is entirely in his head. Woohoo.
On a different note, I like the Coen brothers' films although I don't think any of them is as good as Inception. If I'm avoiding details on this stuff it's because I think the problem with a lot of comments on this thread (especially ones hostile to the idea that films can be about ideas) is that there is a lot of "I think" when the author really means "I want to believe". I suspect it would be a more interesting discussion if we had more "look at what Nolan does" or "here is some supporting evidence", even if it contradicted the way I've come to see the film.
thats Plato... come on... give me a break...
Z. Cobb,
I don't think I've said anything offensive to you, so I'll just assume your overt hostility is because you're threatened by something else. Maybe it is the ideas, although that is sad because they can't hurt you, and if you're convinced I'm in the thrall of a horrible and ill-considered ideology and am trying to foist it on you then you should pity me instead of attack me.
The truth is that I just like good films and think Inception is one of the greats. If you really wanted to talk about philosophy, the starting point for any serious philosophical discussion of epistemology or ontology or the relationship between dreams and reality is of course The Republic. I shouldn't need to quote Whitehead to a self-avowed naturalist and I think you should read more Plato if you doubt this. But regardless of this, as far as I can tell, all you're saying is that you don't like religion and that anything which invokes religious symbolism bores you. So consider the point taken, for all it is obviously worth.
