Do You Really Understand Inception, Like Really Really Understand It?

I don’t even know if I really understand it, but I do know that I spent most of the month becoming an expert on it.

Christopher Nolan’s stunning summer blockbuster has taken the internet by storm. There’s so much buzz, comments, discussions and articles it’s kind of ridiculous — and I love it. You may have read my previous article on how Inception is a pop-culture masterpiece dedicated to (the emerging trend of) thought-management.

Now I’ve created an Inception Tribute Info-Graphic. I initially started it because Melodie said that I’m perfectly suited to win FastCompany’s Inception Graphic Contest, because of my passion for explanation, pop-culture, art, design, and technology… and I agreed.

So I made something really cool and sent it to them. Then I double-checked the eligibility rules, and realized I’m not actually eligible for the contest ’cause I don’t live in The States, lol.

Soooooo…

Now I’m sharing it here for everyone who’d love an easier way to get a handle on a lot of the beauty packed into the movie.

Inception (For Dummies) – A fantastic movie about ideas, that’s also jammed with cool ideas about dreams, reality, relationships, creativity, thought-management and more.

A huge Thank-You to Christopher Nolan and the entire Inception Production Team for creating a movie that basically combines everything I love. A huge Thank-You to FastCompany.com for calling out for the beautiful information-designers of the world to flex their muscles and contribute even more value to the Inception phenomenon.

Inspiration Hits!
This info-graphic came together through a week of inspiration, suggested by a beautiful muse, and went through 4 drafts, 57 re-writes, and 125 layers in Photoshop. It used 4 full watch-throughs of Inception, 4 subliminal play-throughs in the background while I worked, 100s of single scene-replays, and many conversations about the movie. Not to mention the 20+ websites, blogs, and reviews I read about it.

There’s some spoilers in the graphic and it works far better if you’ve seen the movie, but I feel it conveys the main points of the plot, the characters, the themes, the dream-sequences, and the time-line all in one graphic — even if you haven’t seen it. (I debated including the number math + specifics but in the end left it out — felt too cluttered)

It felt best to make it slightly wordier than I’d initially intended, but hey, it’s pure love for Nolan and the gang, FastCompany, typography + design.

Text Link To The Info-Graphic: http://spiritsentient.com/inception_infographic_spiritsentient.com.jpg

Jason helps you successfully bridge the gap from where you are to where you want to be, using his clarity & insight to help you rise in all areas. He speaks, writes, and offers success-coaching at http://RyzeOnline.com. He’s been featured on Firepole Marketing, Building Digital Empires, PuttyLike and IntuitiveSoul Radio. Follow him at @jasonfonceca.

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The initial dreams where they attempt to extract from Saito are described incorrectly. The innermost dreambubble is labeled “first dream within a dream” which is correct. But the text describes what happens after they exit the inner dream to an “outer level”. The description on the outer dream is what happens in the dream within a dream. You label this outer dream as “Opening Dream”, but the film opens in the innermost dream (if you don’t count the in media res dream with the old Saito). Perhaps you should label the outer dream as Nash’s dream.

Aside from that, there is some ambiguity about if team goes “one dream deeper” to get Fischer and Saito. Here’s what I mean. It was established that if you die with this strong sedative, you go to limbo instead of waking up like normal. Since Fischer and Saito die, wouldn’t they go to limbo and not the next dream layer? Well, one possibility is that the next dream layer is limbo (as in 4 dreams in, you always end up in limbo) and instead of killing themselves in layer 3 to get to limbo, it’s more pleasant to use the dream machine. Another possibility is that Cobb dreams the next layer using the dream architecture that he and Mal created in limbo. He does this since he knows where he can find projection Mal in this architecture (that’s what he says at least). We have to assume that projection Mal somehow goes to Limbo and brings Fischer to Cobb’s dream to use as bait. Then after that Ariadne and Fischer kick back to level 3 where inception is done to Fischer. Cobb stays and dies from the knife wound or other means so he can go to limbo to get Saito. So Cobb actually goes 2 levels deeper (his dream then limbo) to get Saito. As far as I could tell, the film doesn’t give enough detail to tell what happens. Anyway, clearly this is a minor quibble. It’s the part regarding the initial extraction on Saito that bothered me. Though it’s nice that you included it, since most of these infographics do not.
http://www.infographicsblog.com/inception-infographics-which-is-the-best-inception-infographic/ Inception Infographics: Which is the Best Inception Infographic? | Infographics Blog

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Do You Really Understand Inception, Like Really Really Understand It?

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