result, Fischer becomes suspicious and Cobb almost fails in gaining Fischer’s trust because of this incident.
We can analyze throughout the movie that as time goes by, Cobb unconscious’ interference is getting worse. In the first layer of the dreams when his team is kidnapping
Fischer, a train suddenly cuts off their escape route and makes Saito get shot in his chest. This train is also part of his unconscious projection, formed out by his past memories with
Mal. On the second layer of the dream, as mentioned above, he catches a glimpse of his children’s back and it distracts him. The deeper they go down, the stronger the
unconscious bursting. Mal shows up once again in the third layer and sabotages the mission just when it’s about to succeed.
4.2. The dynamic of the conscious, subconscious, and unconscious within the dream
As the writer has pointed out above, this movie has not used the term unconscious even once in the entire screening. Instead, it uses subconscious for everything that happens
in the dreams. However, a distinction between these two notions should be made because the subconscious suggested by the movie is not as deep as the unconscious. It seems like
this subconscious lies in the middle between the conscious and unconscious, and we can still control it.
The most obvious example of subconscious in the movie is the inception job itself. The team is aware of what they are doing in the dream; they know that they are no
longer in a real world, and they are there to work. They brought with them the memory of their task and what they need to do to accomplish it. Ariadne the architect, for instance,
she is the one who is in charge of designing the dreams; she creates a hotel, a small town, and a facility in snowy mountain for the team. Like what other architects do, she too
makes blueprints and models beforehand, and then in the dreams these places are
projected by her subconscious in every level of the dream as the stage where the job is carried out. The memory from her conscious is easily brought into the dream.
On the other hand, Mal’s appearances in the dream come from the deeper part of Cobb’s mind, and they are uncontrollable. Thus Mal is not merely a projection of his
subconscious; but unconscious. Mal is a projection of unconscious that manifest itself in Cobb’s subconscious. Just as Maclagan argues, the nature of the dream-work is dynamic,
it is a complicated traffic. The conscious, subconscious, and the unconscious have interchangeable movements – back and forth inside the dream and it is uncontrollable.
So why exactly does Cobb’s unconscious try to sabotage his every mission? The answers have been stated in the movie numerous times, but let’s take a closer look at it.
After returning to the real world, Mal continued to believe that she was still dreaming and believed that dying was the only way to wake up. On their wedding anniversary, Cobb
went to the hotel room they always stayed in and found out that Mal is outside the window, prepared to jump. She asked him to jump with her, but he refused and attempted
to bring Mal to her senses. She ignores him anyway and jumped to her death. Obviously this tragedy left him with mixed feelings such as sorrow, pain, regrets, and guilt.
However, there must be something deeper other than these feelings. “The subconscious is motivated by emotion, not reason,” said Cobb. The emotion of the tragic
events is resulting in Mal’s projection within the subconscious area. However, the reason why Cobb still cannot escape from these emotions is stored deep down in his unconscious
‘storehouse’. Ariadne, who feels that the whole mission is endangered by Mal, tries to help Cobb. She tries to convince Cobb that Mals death was not his fault and that he needs to
focus on the mission.
ARIADNE. It might have been your idea to push the limits, Cobb. But you’re not responsible for the idea that destroyed her. The idea that her world wasn’t real... that
was her own idea from her own mind. Your guilt defines her. Powers her. ... COBB. You don’t have to do this for me-
ARIADNE. I’m doing it for the others. They don’t know the risk they’ve taken coming in here with you. Nolan, 93
Ariadne keeps reminding him that he cannot blame himself forever, that it is not his fault and it is time to move on.
We can see then that in the fourth layer of the dream Cobb and Ariadne are forced to look for Fischer after Mal shot him. This fourth layered is what they call as Limbo.
Limbo is an unconstructed dream space – a place of random subconscious impulse. Mal is
waiting for them here and eventually Cobb has to confront her. From their intense conversation, Ariadne finds out a shocking revelation:
MAL. What do you feel? COBB. Guilt. I feel guilt, Mal. And no matter what I do, no matter how hopeless I am,
no matter how confused, that guilt is always there, reminding me of the truth. MAL. What truth?
COBB. That the idea that caused you to question our reality came from me. MAL. You planted the idea in my mind? Nolan, 133-134
From the dialogue above, one can conclude that Cobb had performed an inception to his wife in order to make her want to go back to reality. He is the one responsible for the idea
that grows inside Mal’s head. This is what he tried to forget, an agonizing memory that is buried deep under his unconscious. There is a reason why he always feels guilty. He does
not allow himself to be happy because of this. This is why his unconscious always tries to stop him accomplishing his job.
Ariadne, who constantly questioning the cause of Cobb’s ‘wild’ unconscious, eventually made Cobb confronts his unconscious. She is the ‘subconscious’ that helps us
unravel the deepest memory that repressed in Cobb’s unconscious. Just like Ariadne who acts like the subconscious for Cobb, the whole work done
by the team also serves as the subconscious in accessing Robert Fischer’s unconscious. Fischer is the target of the whole operation. He inherited a multi-billion dollar empire from
his father, Maurice Fischer. The huge corporation soon becomes a superpower that dominates the energy supply of half the world. This is why Saito asks Cobb to do
inception, to make Fischer destroys his father’s empire. They try to change his mind by planting the idea that Maurice did not want him to take over the company. They need to
plant the seed of the idea into Fischer’s unconscious. The focus here is not about the planting of the idea, but the focus is what Fischer’s found in his unconscious.
Robert’s relationship with his father was not too good. Raised by a hugely powerful individual like his father, Robert experiences insecurity where he thinks he
cannot cope with his father’s standards. The team’s objection is to make Fischer recall this sentiment in his subconscious. In the first layer of the dream, Fischer is kidnapped by
Cobb’s team and ordered to tell them a pass code for his father’s safe. This safe is not real, of course; it is only a distraction for the actual plan of the team. After insisting that he does
not know the pass code, Peter Browning Robert’s godfather and Maurice’s right-hand man is taken in and the kidnapper threatens to kill him. In order to not to let his uncle
Browning got killed, Fischer tries hard to remember the pass code during the given time. This Peter Browning is not real; he is actually Eames who’s in disguise. Here, we can say
that Eames is functioning as the ‘subconscious’ tool for Fischer. Eames’ job is to dig out some information that can be used to smooth out their plan. He retrieves this information
from Fischer:
FISCHER. We didnt have a lot of meaningful experiences together. After my mother died, I went to him in my grief. You know what he told me? Theres really nothing to
be said, Robert. BROWNING. He always had a hard time with emotional-
FISCHER. I was eleven, Uncle Peter. BROWNING. He loved you, Robert. In his way.
FISCHER. In his way? At the end he called me to his deathbed. He could barely speak, but he took the trouble to say one last thing to me. He pulled me close... I could
make out only one word. Disappointed. Nolan, 84-85 Eames understands that the relationship between Fischer and his father is worse than what
he thought. Fischer as a child felt that he was not loved and supported by his father, even hated by him. This is the repressed feeling that unconsciously he tried to bury.
This piece of information is then used as a scenario in the third layer of the dream. Ariadne designs this level of dream as a snow fortress with a big safe. This safe is not a
safe that has been talked about before; this is a safe that contains Fischer’s unconscious. The safe is opened; the image projected in front of him is his bed-stricken father muttering
his last word. This is the subconscious projection of his last painful memory with his father. He felt that he disappointed his father because he couldnt be him:
FATHER. hoarse whisper I... was ... dis ... dis ... FISCHER. I know, Dad. You were disappointed that I couldnt be you.
The dying man SHAKES HIS HEAD with surprising energy. FATHER. whisper No... no. I was disappointed... that you tried. Nolan, 140
Maurice then points to a cabinet where Robert finds the will and a pinwheel his father made personally for him once as a child.
The dialogue exhibits Robert’s genuine wish it is a dialogue between him and his unconscious. He realized that this is what he’s been longing for, not the recognition of
years of endless hard work, but merely an acceptance of his existence, knowing that his father actually loved him. So once again, the movie gives a perfect example that
subconscious assists us to find the truth of our unconscious. Nevertheless, the dynamic movements between the three conscious,
subconscious, and unconscious do not stop there. What happened in the dream is brought back into reality conscious. And this process, where the dreams are brought back to our
conscious, is where dreams become important for us, the dreamers.
4.3. The Importance of Dream
