Immunity

This 2010 contemporary sci-fi actioner follows a subconscious security team around the globe and into the intimate and infinite world of dreams.
Posts: 264
Joined: February 2011
Hi i am a big Inception fan and i have an interpretation of the movie a lot of you will get a kick out of...
especially the more "Darwinian/biologically" oriented of you lot..

Well i have seen the movie about a dozen times.. and currently i am taking a college course in immunology..
so naturally when i saw scenes from inception, the word "virus" grabbed my attention..

let me reference the 2 quotes i am talking about.. the context die hard fans will know already:

"What is the most resilient parasite?... An idea. Resilient... highly contagious. Once an idea has taken hold... it's almost impossible to eradicate. An idea that is fully formed - fully understood - that sticks; right in there somewhere." (this one is after the flash back sequence)

"Listen there’s something you should know about inception. An idea is like a virus. Resiliant. Highly contagious. The smallest seed of an idea can grow. It can grow to define or destroy you." (this one is an exchange between Cobb and Mary when they go a level deeper)


Now what do viruses do?? they take over their host's machinery and wish to STICK and GROW..
now what is the movie inception about??
it is about STICKING an idea into a subject/host's mind.. using the subject's OWN machinery (which in this case are Fisher's own relationships/memories, which are of course manifest in his projections while in the dream)..

now what is Cobb's mission??

it is to help DISSOLVE the Fisher empire..
what do virulent viruses do? they lyse the cell.. "lysis" is when the cell bursts open releasing copies of a virus..

now if you follow me.. every character symbolizes an aspect of a virus..
Cobb=viral genome
Saito=tail fibers
other=unknown (contributions are welcome)

helpful in understanding what i am saying are these analogies

dissolving a major cooperation= lysis
idea=genome
dream=heist performed by a virus (fooling the immune system and allowing recombination/self variability)
product=offspring and immunity (both of which Cobb acquires at the end)

Now i want you all to watch the Mombosa chase scene very carefully..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7eE0g-uU9o

keep in mind.. Cobb is the viral genome.. and the people chasing him are the body's defense mounted against the virus..

i have picture posted on my facebook that elaborates better...
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid= ... 1087280199

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Joined: June 2009
i think the analogy was made IN the film itself...thats a straight forward interpretation

Posts: 17
Joined: February 2011
This is a very unconventional connection to make! And a pretty interesting way to view how the movie plays out. I especially like your comparison of the Mombasa scene to a virus in the body :lol:

Posts: 264
Joined: February 2011
talli wrote:i think the analogy was made IN the film itself...thats a straight forward interpretation
hmmm... of course the analogy was made IN the film.. it is just that it is "inferred" and not spelled out for the audience..

"They sense the foreign nature of the dreamer. They attack like white blood cells fighting an infection." (i think a quote you might be thinking of)

remember the video is of Mombasa... which is NOT a dream sequence :think: (hence any interpretation comparing real life human beings to the likes of viruses or white blood cells is NOT straight forward.. the average person wouldn't make that connection.. if you do.. kudos to you..

p.s. there isn't one single analogy.. there are many..
i have highlighted some of them..

compare the dissolving of an empire to the lysis of a cell
compare the very fact the people in the coffee/tea shop (normal components of a cell) in the video are UNLIKE Decaprio (the virus or variant that seeks to guise its deviance by "fitting in").. and that their shouts of frustration at having encountered something "alien" attracts the security (White blood cells.. probably macrophages)..
compare the fact that they use Fishcer's OWN subconscious to introduce an idea into his head (much like viruses use a cell's own machinery to introduce their genome into their host's DNA..
compare the fact that Cobb is seeking IMMUNITY.. and wants to see his progeny..

Posts: 264
Joined: February 2011
let me be clear here:

"an idea is like a virus"... clear analogy
"Cobb is the virus".. and the carrier/manifestation of an idea.. not clear at all

Posts: 15900
Joined: June 2009
i guess, being a biomedical engineer, i kind of made that connection automatically

Posts: 264
Joined: February 2011
talli wrote:i guess, being a biomedical engineer, i kind of made that connection automatically
then you must have a superb imagination..
kudos to you :)

if you have any analogous roles that the remainder of the gang fits into, please do share..
i was guessing Eames might fit the role of a reverse transcriptase.. he is an expert at fooling people
and his dialogue with Cobb kind of hints on his view of inception..

Posts: 333
Joined: January 2011
Viral114 wrote:let me be clear here:

"an idea is like a virus"... clear analogy
"Cobb is the virus".. and the carrier/manifestation of an idea.. not clear at all
I wouldn't say your revelation is ground breaking because it is pretty well implied in the movie, but it does make you look at the movie differently.

Here are some more analogies:

Fisher's increased defenses were taught to him-like a vaccination teaches your body to defend against a certain organism.

And the reason Fisher's defenses couldn’t defeat Cobb and his team (except Saito, known virus?) was because they are an inoculation for the flu, and Cobb and his team are HIV (Eames transforming himself into something the defenses won’t attack).
But you already stated that above.

But if you apply biology to the movie what is Mal to Cobb (if he is a virus). I mean since mal is a part of him does that make her an imperfection in his genetic structure, a weakness that can be exploited into a vaccination, like an allergy.

Posts: 264
Joined: February 2011
JUSTIN time wrote:
Viral114 wrote:let me be clear here:

"an idea is like a virus"... clear analogy
"Cobb is the virus".. and the carrier/manifestation of an idea.. not clear at all
I wouldn't say your revelation is ground breaking because it is pretty well implied in the movie, but it does make you look at the movie differently.

Here are some more analogies:

Fisher's increased defenses were taught to him-like a vaccination teaches your body to defend against a certain organism.

And the reason Fisher's defenses couldn’t defeat Cobb and his team (except Saito, known virus?) was because they are an inoculation for the flu, and Cobb and his team are HIV (Eames transforming himself into something the defenses won’t attack).
But you already stated that above.

But if you apply biology to the movie what is Mal to Cobb (if he is a virus). I mean since mal is a part of him does that make her an imperfection in his genetic structure, a weakness that can be exploited into a vaccination, like an allergy.
wow those are some really good ones.. 2 in my opinion are right on the money.. (Mal being a known and discoverable
nucleotide sequence associated to the genome.. and of course the vaccination being associated to the militarized subconscious of the Fishcer..)... Fishcer could also be analogous to a dendritic cell..

and i don't think Saito is a virus.. in my opinion he is the covering (capsid)..

remember the quote by Cobb: "... in order for this all to work, you need to completely let me in?"

Posts: 736
Joined: May 2010
Viral114 wrote:Hi i am a big Inception fan and i have an interpretation of the movie a lot of you will get a kick out of...
especially the more "Darwinian/biologically" oriented of you lot..

Well i have seen the movie about a dozen times.. and currently i am taking a college course in immunology..
so naturally when i saw scenes from inception, the word "virus" grabbed my attention..

let me reference the 2 quotes i am talking about.. the context die hard fans will know already:

"What is the most resilient parasite?... An idea. Resilient... highly contagious. Once an idea has taken hold... it's almost impossible to eradicate. An idea that is fully formed - fully understood - that sticks; right in there somewhere." (this one is after the flash back sequence)

"Listen there’s something you should know about inception. An idea is like a virus. Resiliant. Highly contagious. The smallest seed of an idea can grow. It can grow to define or destroy you." (this one is an exchange between Cobb and Mary when they go a level deeper)


Now what do viruses do?? they take over their host's machinery and wish to STICK and GROW..
now what is the movie inception about??
it is about STICKING an idea into a subject/host's mind.. using the subject's OWN machinery (which in this case are Fisher's own relationships/memories, which are of course manifest in his projections while in the dream)..

now what is Cobb's mission??

it is to help DISSOLVE the Fisher empire..
what do virulent viruses do? they lyse the cell.. "lysis" is when the cell bursts open releasing copies of a virus..

now if you follow me.. every character symbolizes an aspect of a virus..
Cobb=viral genome
Saito=tail fibers
other=unknown (contributions are welcome)

helpful in understanding what i am saying are these analogies

dissolving a major cooperation= lysis
idea=genome
dream=heist performed by a virus (fooling the immune system and allowing recombination/self variability)
product=offspring and immunity (both of which Cobb acquires at the end)

Now i want you all to watch the Mombosa chase scene very carefully..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7eE0g-uU9o

keep in mind.. Cobb is the viral genome.. and the people chasing him are the body's defense mounted against the virus..

i have picture posted on my facebook that elaborates better...
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid= ... 1087280199
You really saw this a dozen times? It's Ariadne- NOT Mary. LOL! You think that if you've seen a movie a dozen times, you'd at least get the names right.

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