What constitutes reality? That’s the question Inception asks viewers. The film follows Dominick Cobb, a thief running away from murder charges who steals information from powerful individuals by infiltrating their minds in shared dreams (a process called extraction). Cobb receives a job offer to perform inception (planting an idea) on a businessman with a reward he cannot resist: the opportunity to have his charges dropped and to return to America where his children await his return. During the job, Cobb, worried he’ll lose sight of reality, uses a top as an indicator for reality (He spins the top whenever he’s unsure if he’s in reality. If the top falls, he’s in reality, and if it keeps spinning, he’s in a dream). Christopher Nolan, the director,
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While in limbo, he has the opportunity to see his children’s faces, and as they are about turn around and face Cobb, he looks away (2:02:03-2:02:12). By looking away, he is keeping himself from being imprisoned in limbo. If he looks at their faces, he knows he won’t be able to leave them. However, upon Cobb’s return to home, he spins the tops and focuses on it until his son is called by the children’s grandfather (2:19:50-2:20:08). Instead of waiting for the top to fall like in previous scenes, confirming he’s in the real world, he chooses his children over the top. Looking into their faces, without confirmation that he’s in reality, he accepts this world as he won’t be able to leave it. Additionally, Nolan’s framing of the scene also alludes to this choice. In the shot, Cobb and his children are in the right side of the frame and the top is in the left side (2:20:34). As the left traditionally represents the past and the right represents the future, Nolan shows that Cobb has left behind the top, reality, for his children, fantasy. By choosing the children over the top, Cobb decides that being with his children is more important than knowing what’s
While in limbo, he has the opportunity to see his children’s faces, and as they are about turn around and face Cobb, he looks away (2:02:03-2:02:12). By looking away, he is keeping himself from being imprisoned in limbo. If he looks at their faces, he knows he won’t be able to leave them. However, upon Cobb’s return to home, he spins the tops and focuses on it until his son is called by the children’s grandfather (2:19:50-2:20:08). Instead of waiting for the top to fall like in previous scenes, confirming he’s in the real world, he chooses his children over the top. Looking into their faces, without confirmation that he’s in reality, he accepts this world as he won’t be able to leave it. Additionally, Nolan’s framing of the scene also alludes to this choice. In the shot, Cobb and his children are in the right side of the frame and the top is in the left side (2:20:34). As the left traditionally represents the past and the right represents the future, Nolan shows that Cobb has left behind the top, reality, for his children, fantasy. By choosing the children over the top, Cobb decides that being with his children is more important than knowing what’s