i am pretty bad with names..

This is a very interesting way of presenting the ideas at play. What you essentially were discovering is that Nolan is comparing our subconscious protecting our mind in the way it sees fit to how our body protects against invading agents, projections are a visual manifestation of our subconscious's hunting down dangerous ideas that threaten the mind's safety. Only problem is by safety it's really the subconscious anterior motive, and almost all of Nolan's films are on some level about the treachery of the human mind, so what the projections are really attacking is ideas that threaten the model of reality it's built for the mind, toxic or well adjusted or psychotic or religious or whatever.

I think you're overreaching with that characters actually are built around viruses and bacteria, the key concept is more allegorical, that models of reality (anchored by totems) our essenitally as constraining as our physical bodies and other people's models of reality register as dangerous to your subconscious (which as seen in Shutter Island will do horrible things to protect you emotionally), and thus we live in a disconnected world because our fellow man, each and every one, represents an invader to our personal reality.

Which is why Nolan's planting the idea in the world of a leap of faith as a fix for the future so that future generations (chidren) will have what they need to create a healthy world, we need to take a leap of faith away from our own models of reality so we can stop being so destructive to each other. It being an Asian man on the other side of that table is not by mistake, the film is very much an argument for cultural and religious tolerance and togetherness.

dustbust5 wrote: I think you're overreaching with that characters actually are built around viruses and bacteria

I don't think anyone was saying that the characters or movie were built specifically around viruses. This was just a brain building exercise. We all know the movie is based on psychological interpretation.

Right but all I was saying is I don't think characters are meant to represent types except for invaders vs. projections, that's all. Past that I completely agree with the idea at play.

i like this analogy

dustbust5 wrote:This is a very interesting way of presenting the ideas at play. What you essentially were discovering is that Nolan is comparing our subconscious protecting our mind in the way it sees fit to how our body protects against invading agents, projections are a visual manifestation of our subconscious's hunting down dangerous ideas that threaten the mind's safety. Only problem is by safety it's really the subconscious anterior motive, and almost all of Nolan's films are on some level about the treachery of the human mind, so what the projections are really attacking is ideas that threaten the model of reality it's built for the mind, toxic or well adjusted or psychotic or religious or whatever.

I think you're overreaching with that characters actually are built around viruses and bacteria, the key concept is more allegorical, that models of reality (anchored by totems) our essenitally as constraining as our physical bodies and other people's models of reality register as dangerous to your subconscious (which as seen in Shutter Island will do horrible things to protect you emotionally), and thus we live in a disconnected world because our fellow man, each and every one, represents an invader to our personal reality.

Which is why Nolan's planting the idea in the world of a leap of faith as a fix for the future so that future generations (chidren) will have what they need to create a healthy world, we need to take a leap of faith away from our own models of reality so we can stop being so destructive to each other. It being an Asian man on the other side of that table is not by mistake, the film is very much an argument for cultural and religious tolerance and togetherness.

interesting that you use Shutter Island as an example of the brain's capacity to accede to a stable mental state
over one that constantly contends with one's version of reality or "normality".. (Memento is a good example of a type of
catharsis as well)..

the reoccurring theme here is incompatibility (whether it be a bunch of foreign antigens or radical thoughts embedded in a sane mind).. the resolve of course is through catharsis.. (in the case of a virus the resolve would be immunity.. and in the case
of an idea, an altered sense of reality.. as Cobb says himself: "that idea can grow to define you, or destroy you")

Viral114 wrote:

dustbust5 wrote:This is a very interesting way of presenting the ideas at play. What you essentially were discovering is that Nolan is comparing our subconscious protecting our mind in the way it sees fit to how our body protects against invading agents, projections are a visual manifestation of our subconscious's hunting down dangerous ideas that threaten the mind's safety. Only problem is by safety it's really the subconscious anterior motive, and almost all of Nolan's films are on some level about the treachery of the human mind, so what the projections are really attacking is ideas that threaten the model of reality it's built for the mind, toxic or well adjusted or psychotic or religious or whatever.

I think you're overreaching with that characters actually are built around viruses and bacteria, the key concept is more allegorical, that models of reality (anchored by totems) our essenitally as constraining as our physical bodies and other people's models of reality register as dangerous to your subconscious (which as seen in Shutter Island will do horrible things to protect you emotionally), and thus we live in a disconnected world because our fellow man, each and every one, represents an invader to our personal reality.

Which is why Nolan's planting the idea in the world of a leap of faith as a fix for the future so that future generations (chidren) will have what they need to create a healthy world, we need to take a leap of faith away from our own models of reality so we can stop being so destructive to each other. It being an Asian man on the other side of that table is not by mistake, the film is very much an argument for cultural and religious tolerance and togetherness.

interesting that you use Shutter Island as an example of the brain's capacity to accede to a stable mental state
over one that constantly contends with one's version of reality or "normality".. (Memento is a good example of a type of
catharsis as well)..

the reoccurring theme here is incompatibility (whether it be a bunch of foreign antigens or radical thoughts embedded in a sane mind).. the resolve of course is through catharsis.. (in the case of a virus the resolve would be immunity.. and in the case
of an idea, an altered sense of reality.. as Cobb says himself: "that idea can grow to define you, or destroy you")

Yes sir, incompatibility was a perfect way to put it. And there in lies the brilliance of the idea that Inception plants, that Catharsis is not in needing everything to fit together neatly and comfortably, but in not demanding it too. It essentially is Nolan trying to go into the recesses of our mind to reverse our Planted concept of faith, that faith shouldn't be in knowing without a doubt what's the true model of reality, but instead in not needing to know.