Inception or Reality

After reading the Psychoanalysis of Dreams: Dream Theory and its Relationship to literature and Popular Culture, by Walden and Poch and The Pathos of the Unconscious: Charlie Chaplin and Dreams by David J. LeMaster the first film that I thought applied the concept of dreams was film Inception. Both the film and the articles discuss the area of the unconscious, which is influential in shaping how a person dreams.

The film Inception starring Leonardo Dicaprio depicts the concept of dream theory is vividly. The plot of the film is focused on Leonardo Dicaprio, Dominick Cobb and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Arthur. These two are extractors who are performing corporate espionage, in attempt to enter the subconscious of various test subjects with the intention to discover and remove information shared in the dream world.

According to Freud the “connection between literature and dream analysis is inextricably interwoven”(Walden and Poch 114). This idea applies to the filmmaking behind Inception, but with films instead of literature. The filmmaker Christian Nolan does so by incorporating films of various genres into the making of Inception. For instance, there are times throughout the film where it feels like a heist, this idea is from the film Ocean’s Eleven, where heists occur throughout the film. Since the film as a whole provides a various set of dream situations this idea works with Freud’s claim that dreams and literature (films) are inextricably interwoven.

This movie coincides with Freud’s Dream theory about the unconscious; Freud states, “the unconscious is made of desires, impulses or wishes of mostly sexual and destructive nature” that we neglect to act on (Appaignansei et all 68).  This idea is present in the scene where Dominick Cobb and Ariadne, who is also recruited to construct the dreamscapes, navigate through the dream world of Dominick and are unable to prevent aspects from his own mind from attacking his wife, Mal. This scene exemplifies that unconscious cannot be acted on and works with Freud's statement that dreams are the “royal road to the unconscious,” and illustrate the logic of ones unconscious mind.

In conjunction to Freud’s idea of dream theory is Carl Jung. Jung claims that dreams are “involuntary spontaneous products of the unconscious psyche”(LeMaster 1). This film proves Jung’s claim as correct with the example I stated earlier of Dominick’s inability to prevent his unconscious self from killing his wife.

Overall, the concept of dreams in the words of Freud and Jung is that the unconscious is something that we desire, but neglect to act on our actions in reality and as well as the idea that literature and dreams work together as one in the mind of one's subconscious.