Comparing Inception to Lost by The Black Rock

After I watched Inception I realized that their were a lot of similarities to Lost. Especially with the season finale. I've decided to discuss both the movie and t.v. show. I am going to show how both shows/movies compare and contrast. NOTE IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN INCEPTION STOP READING NOW! I DO NOT WANT TO SPOIL THE MOVIE FOR PEOPLE WHO HAVE NOT SEEN IT! This analysis/theory is only for people who have seen the movie.

Inception

(Spoilers!!!)

Inception is a great movie by Christopher Nolan. Inception is not similar to Lost in the sense of its numerous mysteries. It does like Lost have a very complex plot, crazy moments, a lot of unanswered questions, an attachment to rules and an interesting cast of grey chracters. However, Inception like Lost, incorporates the idea of the a Flash Back, a Flash Forward, possibly a Flash sideways (think the ending)and possibly the Dream Sideways. As in a dream within a dream-within a dream-within a dream. The so called Dream Sideways may have been used in Lost if it had a season 7. Inception appeared to be quite straightforward until the ending. The ending in a very similar manner like Lost completely turned the whole movie upside down and made it similar to Lost. As in similar to the Lost Series Finale. Okay the final spoiler alert. Here's the ending that tore the Internet in half. (For people completely angered or frusturatedd by the ending go to Cinemablend they have a nice article discussing the ending and every question the movie brings up.) Okay so Dom Cobb (Leonardo Di Caprio) spends most of the movie implanting an idea ala Inception into The Mark's brain. Okay so it appears that he suceeds he gets off the plane, escapes limbo, Saito diales the number and he returns to his kids. In his dreams he could not see his kids faces. This implies that this is reality because he finally sees his kids faces accept..... his totem is still spinning. I watched that dam thing, wanting it to fall over. Just fall over so their won't be any confusion. It starts to wobble and fades to black like Lost. The theater erupted in outrage and then their was almost applause. Okay so was it real? Was it all a dream? I'll get into my own take later. First I want to compare this to LOST which is the whole point since it is a Lost website.

LOST and Inception Some Similarities

- Limbo. I can say without a doubt now that I believe that the FS was in fact limbo. I know I'm an idiot for stating the obivious but I was still sort of confused with the FS and the series Finale. Everyone in the FS universe did not know that everything around them was not real. This is like Inception did Dom not know that he was in Limbo? Was he in Limbo the whole entire movie and was the so called antagonist Mal attempting to wake Dom up? I'll get to this later. Its funny how both shows by the end make you question your own reality. I guess in the end I like how both shows displayed limbo. Limbo in Inception was staying in a form of suspended animation for Eternity. Some people say why didn't Dom age in Limbo? Well first I believe he was not their as long compared to Saito? He also looked older in the limbo reality with the very aged Saito. That opening like some sort of confusing Lost opening already started the similarities to Lost. I mean Inception opened with a FS I found that cool. Halfway through the movie I knew the plot was working toward that scene. Okay so beside the numerous tangents Lost limbo is a place very similar to our own except some notable differences based upon being good and evil. Sawyer was not very noteworthy in change hence why he still had the same issues in the FS. Ben changed significantly so he had a better standing in the FS universe. Whats noteworthy about Limbo is this. Limbo in Lost meant your dead. Not in some sort of vegative coma like Lost but dead! Its almost like each part of Lost focused on transcedence to a higher state of existence like levels. I'll call this Jacob's ladder. A ladder to heaven made possible by Jacob. This has all sorts of Biblical interpretations so I kind've find that idea cool. Their is the Real World, The Island (a world that was the closest to hell or the afterlife/ the unreal. Maybe the island was above the Real World), the FS another place to work out the final pieces of negative karma or unresolved issues and finally heaven. Inception did not follow this so called level theory it seemed to go in the opposite direction. Their was reality, dream world, another dream world below that, another dream world underneath that and finally just Limbo. If you die in a lower level your are trapped in Limbo. Saito was shot and died in level three so he was scured. He went to Limbo. Fisher was shot by Mal and went to Limbo. A lot of people think Leo and Ariadne went to Limbo in Cobb's dream world. I do not think that was limbo just a world close to it. Regardless both limbos of each show/movie seemed to be in opposite directions. Finally, with the Limbo speal Jack was aware that he was dead and moved on. As for Dom he spun the totem but didn't seem to care if he was dreaming or not in the movies end scene. He did not care if he was stuck in limbo. Its possible that Dom is not awake and still needs time to figure everything out. Regardless, this is just the surface of the so called contrasting limbos of Lost and Inception.

Wife and Daddy issues

- Funny how both movies dealt with wife and daddy issues. Both Jack and Dom are not the most likeable people in their respective universes. Dom, Like Jack had his random acts of anger. Both contemplated taking their own lives in random acts in the movie. Jack was ready to jump off a bridge. Dom was going to shoot himself in the head. He was randomly spinning his totem in the real reality contemplating if he was dreaming the whole thing. Both characters follow the whole notion of the tragic hero. Both characters completely Lost it and put everyone else in Jeopardy. However, the biggest similarity between the two probably deals with their family issues. With Jack it was his Dad. He randomly appeared on the island and sometimes Jack hallucinated him off the island. Yes, I know that Christian was the smoke monster or M.I.B. but that does not account for Jack seeing his dead father off the Island. He indirectly killed his father like Dom. Dom indirectly killed his wife by planting the idea of Inception within her mind. In order to make her realize that they were in a dream. The Inception went farther then Dom thought and Mal believed reality was a dream and she killed herself. Also, she framed Dom in the process which does not really help. I kind've turns you into a fugitive or a dream thief. Dom like Jack was haunted by a family member. Mal seemed to do more than the off island Christian she started to appear in his dream. Mal (means evil for people who did not know that) she acted like an infection. As she appeared more frequently it meant that Dom was losing control and becoming possibly more unstable/batty. She basically put Dom's mission in Jeopardy. If he fails the mission, Dom gets arrested off the plane. Mal most likely represents Dom's guilt or the shadow archetype. However, both characters came to terms with their own guilt. Jack made peace with his father and Dom made peace with his own manifestation of fake Mal. Hah its sort of like Flocke

Also, I almost thought that Eames reminded me of Sawyer in a lot of ways. I think Eames (Tom Hardy) should be James Bond and Nolan should direct it.

Okay so finally the endings of both shows. I'll start with Lost.

Lost

- I think its more straightforward. Most of the characters managed to get to heaven or finally got up Jacob's ladder. They saved the cork, some lived longer then others and they all died. Interestingly enough their was no element in time in Lost's limbo. Time seemed to mean a lot more in Inception's limbo or the dream levels. I think Lost's limbo is more straightforward compared to Inception's.

-Inception's ending is more ambigious. Is it a dream or was it not a dream? Here are some possible ideas.

-It was a dream. Maybe the whole movie was in fact Dom's dream. Maybe Mal had in fact awakened, went back to reality and was trying to get her husband out of limbo and back into reality.

- Why is it a dream? The key has to do with the kids. The kids did not age and appeared exactly the same throughout the whole movie. Dom talks to them on the phone and they sound older. Also, their was a grandmother and where was she when Dom arrived? Something hidden in subtle had to do with Dom's wedding ring. In reality he had the wedding ring and in his dreams he did not have it. People have been saying this so I do not know if this so called wedding ring idea is true. Its like the confusion in the Season 6 opener of Lost with Desmond having a wedding ring. Also, their were two different actors playing each of Dom's kids. Minus Dom everyone else acted like projections. However, people are mad about Dom taking his wife totem. Wouldn't this throw off Dom's conception of what was real and not real? His totem should be his own and not felt by anyone else. Also, people seem to be talking about the convenience of Saito knowing Dom's exact location in Morroco. Notice how Dom squeezed himself threw the wall. That whole escaping and trying to fit through a wall/or door does in fact happen in dreams. Okay so let me do the whole idea of it being Dom's dream. What about the characters? What are they? This comes from Cinemablend if you want more analsis or are curiosu about this. Its also possible that the characters in Inception represented different aspects of Dom's personality Ariadne anima/feminine side, Eames the trickster, Saito the father, Michael Caine the old man, Mal the shadow and Arthur the hero archetype. This would explain Dom dreaming the whole thing. Now for it was not a dream.

It was not a dream.

- The totem was wobbling before the credits. It was going to fall over. This is just Nolan messing with our minds. Just like how Lost messes with our minds and make us overthink things. Lost's answers were far less complex and easier to understand then anyone imagined. The statue broke because of the black rock and the whispers were ghosts who had not moved on. This seems to support that the island was in fact a reality closer to the FS universe or at least above our reality. Maybe this explains why Jack could not function in life because his destiny was not only not fullfilled but possibly because he had went down a level. Would this be agaisnt or rules? Is this why John Locke said that was not suppose to happen? Possibly the island was the closest place to limbo or death. Anyways back to Inception Dom is in limbo with Saito. Dom convinces Saito that they are in limbo because he has his totem. Dom may know he is limbo because he has been their before with Mal. Saito appears to be convinced he reaches for his gun. Saito most likely shot Dom and then himself causing them to ride up the multiple kicks back to reality. Since time is different in every level. Okay Dom wakes up. Saito looks like he has been in one place for hundreds of years. Explaining why he looks delirious and maybe exhausted. However, Saito is probably friends with Dom due to their little conversation in limbo and makes the phone call. Okay they should be congratulating each other and saying well done dream team, A Team or Ocean's Eleven Dream team? No! Cillian Murphy is still on the plane and they are not supposed to know each other. If they talk about it Cillian starts to remember what happened. Okay so it plays out like that. As for the age kid difference do we honsetly know how long he was gone. It could've been a year or possibly months. Their was no you have been gone for years Dom from his kids. They asked when are you coming back? Probably if Dom was gone awhile (like years) why would they bother calling him?

Okay so my interpretation. This comes from someone else on some website. I think it was screenrant or cinemablend. Dom was dreaming but not in the way you expect. He had succeded with his Inception woke up on the plane and went back to sleep. Dom can now dream in peace he is dreaming about meeting his kids. (Its possible that Dom just planted Inception into his own mind to convince himself that the Dream world was in fact real. As in the reverse of what he did with Mal.) However, Ill go with the first idea. He does this ending dream and then wakes up from his dream and finally meet his older kids. That's it. I like this idea because at least its a happy ending.
- Maybe Dom could not believe he had actually succeeded. To him it was playing out like a dream. This isn't to far off the mark really. Their are some parts of our life where we can't possibly believe that something is happening. Look at Jack when he found his name etched on the Lighthouse.
- Inception may have oneupped Lost. Their are loads of questions about the movie after the credits. Their are four narratives occuring simultaneously at one point. Their are plenty of holy sh*t moments like Lost. People who have seen Inception know what I'm talking about with the four narratives. A la zero gravity sequences, the slow mo car fall, the train, the Paris explosion scene, the folding of Paris over itself, the crazy car chase, the destruction of Dom's dream world and the snow battle. It is an event like Lost that needs to be seen multiple times for understanding. I think I can say that if Lost had a kid it would be Inception. At least Damon Lindelof liked it. Go see it! If you spoiled yourself or see it again if you liked it!