Notebook
Everything has been a dream: The inception of Inception and the construction of the definitive mindgame film.
Published 2013-01-01
Keywords
- Mind-game film,
- dislocated narratives,
- Inception,
- dreams,
- influences
- Jorge Luis Borges,
- Paprika,
- Yasutaka Tsutsui ...More
How to Cite
Revert, J. (2013). Everything has been a dream: The inception of Inception and the construction of the definitive mindgame film. L’Atalante. Journal of Film Studies, (15), 50–57. https://doi.org/10.63700/42
Abstract
In 2010, Christopher Nolan’s Inception became that year’s worldwide fourth highest-grossing film, and a phenomenon that set passionate discussions between audiences and critics, about its originality and complexity. Nolan’s film, about the perfect heist by a group of sophisticated thieves acting inside dreams —thus setting a heist film’s plot within a mind context—, became the ultimate and perfect expression of the terminology mind-game film, coined by Thomas Elsaesser, of which its grounds were tested in a plot taking place in different mind levels. The purpose of this essay is to figure out the way Nolan’s film fits or obliges to revise the theories uphold by Elsaesser, and at the same time to look for the sources of the project, which brings us to Yasutaka Tsutsui’s Paprika and the Satoshi Kon’s film adaptation, or Jorge Luis Borges’ dislocated and labyrinthic narratives.Downloads
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References
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BORGES, Jorge Luis (1943). El milagro secreto. Literatura.us. Recuperado de: http://www.literatura.us/borges/milagro.html.
BORGES, Jorge Luis (1949). La casa de Asterión. Literatura.us. Recuperado de: http://www.literatura.us/borges/lacasa.html.
BORGES, Jorge Luis (1975). El otro. La máquina del tiempo. Una revista de literatura. Recuperada de: http://www.lamaquinadeltiempo.com/prosas/borges01.htm.
BROX, Óscar (2011). La máquina de soñar. Détour, 2. Recuperado de: http://www.detour.es/cosas/brox-paprika-suenos-tsutsui-kon.htm.
ELSAESSER, Thomas (2009). The Mindgame film. Recuperado de: http://media.johnwiley.com.au/product_data/excerpt/17/14051686/1405168617-2.pdf.
ITZKOFF, Dave (2010). A Man and His Dream: Christopher Nolan and ‘Inception’. The New York Times. Recuperado de: http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/30/aman-and-his-dream-christopher-nolan-andinception/.
BORGES, Jorge Luis (1943). El milagro secreto. Literatura.us. Recuperado de: http://www.literatura.us/borges/milagro.html.
BORGES, Jorge Luis (1949). La casa de Asterión. Literatura.us. Recuperado de: http://www.literatura.us/borges/lacasa.html.
BORGES, Jorge Luis (1975). El otro. La máquina del tiempo. Una revista de literatura. Recuperada de: http://www.lamaquinadeltiempo.com/prosas/borges01.htm.
BROX, Óscar (2011). La máquina de soñar. Détour, 2. Recuperado de: http://www.detour.es/cosas/brox-paprika-suenos-tsutsui-kon.htm.
ELSAESSER, Thomas (2009). The Mindgame film. Recuperado de: http://media.johnwiley.com.au/product_data/excerpt/17/14051686/1405168617-2.pdf.
ITZKOFF, Dave (2010). A Man and His Dream: Christopher Nolan and ‘Inception’. The New York Times. Recuperado de: http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/30/aman-and-his-dream-christopher-nolan-andinception/.