I' d like to see which ending people want to be true. Here are your options : 1 - Cobb is in the real world. 2 - Cobb is stuck in limbo. 3 - I just can' t say for sure. Additionally, and this is the reason I didn' t put any poll in this thread, I' d like you to say whether you' re theist or atheist, I wonder if a correlation will arise. Not that I could jump to any conclusion if there was, but I' m curious nonetheless. The Inception wikipedia page says Nolan noticed that people who have kids tend to pick 1. I' ll start : 3 - I just can' t say for sure. Atheist.
3- I just can't say for sure. Atheist. That ending . . . could have gone either way. I know the top seemed like it was going to go on spinning, but just at the end it seemed to start to topple. Would it be nice if he was in the real world? Yes. Though the length of time in which his totem kept spinning makes me think he was still "inside" Either way, it was a fantastic ending, and one of the greatest i've ever seen.
1: Cobb is in the Real World Theist I'd say he's in the real world since throughout the movie we know that he always has the dream of his kids, but he never quite sees their faces. As well as when he puts the top on the table and spins it, just before it goes off screen, you can see the top about to fall; only slightly, but it is losing its balance.
3. I just can't say for sure. Theist. Though I would very much like to believe Cobb is in the real world at the ending, the way that totem just continued spinning... To me, it could have gone either way. Either he's dreamed of his kids so much, dreamed for an end to all the running, that he began to believe limbo was his reality. Then again, on the other hand, the totem was indeed beginning to topple. Either it was Cobb's subconsciousness wanting to believe it was reality so bad that the totem started to shake, or that maybe, maybe he was back, that it was the real world. Since nobody knows if it had gone down or not, I guess it's safe to say anything could have happened. Either way, awesome movie, with an awesome soundtrack.
3. Being objective I can't say, but I really want it to be 1. Though 2 would also be nice, in a deliciously tragic sort of way. Theist.
On a side note I noticed a few details that give it weight, besides the ambiguous lines at the beginning : in the last shot his kids wear exactly the same clothes as when he left them, and the topple is actually his wife' s totem, not his. However I think the point is that Cobb doesn' t even look at the topple anymore, he doesn' t want to know. Maybe I should have added "I don' t want to know" as a fourth option. ^^''
I noticed that it wasn't his, and I've always made the assumption that he didn't want to know, but I never noticed that his kids were the same as when he left. I love how it doesn't tell you, and there are arguments to be made for both sides. Nolan plays on our instinct to want the best for sympathetic characters, most of us assumed that Cobb was in reality, yet as you said there are things that give the opposite argument weight as well. When we come to realize that it is just as possible that he is in limbo, it's somewhat grim in an almost eerie sort of way. The fact that he may not be in reality, and what is taking place in the scene where the question is given, it's somewhat unsettling to think that it may not be real. I have to wonder what Nolan himself thinks, though I doubt he will ever tell.
3 month necro. Frowny face. But since this came back anyway 1. Cobb is in the real world His totem is actually never stated to be the top he carries; that's simply what Mal used. Hell, Cobb never even claims the top is his totem. What many fans theorize, and I agree with the theory, is that Cobb's real totem is not the top; its his wedding ring. Which he's wearing in scenes where he's awake, including the final scenes. Theist.
1. Thiest I don't really have a reason I just love happy endings and I feel that he deserves it. I like Haya's idea about the wedding ring and it makes sense and although his kids aren't any older it never really explicitly states how long Cobb is gone for (well, I can't remember). I think it doesn't really matter in the end because he gets to live his life with his kids- he's happy. It could link to him repeating Mal's mistake of "choosing to forget" when he turns his back on the totem.
Can I just say "YOU'RE MISSING THE POINT" and leave? No? Sh#%. If Nolan wanted you to know whether Cobb was still dreaming or not - if there was even an answer to that question - it wouldn't have ended the way it did. The ambiguity IS the answer. The point of the film is that Cobb is being wracked by phantoms from his past, whether he's dreaming or awake. The final scene is not simply him reuniting with his kids, but him overcoming the guilt that kept him from going back to them when they were waiting there all along. It's his maturation, the completion of his journey. We shouldn't be concerned with whether he's in limbo or not, because he isn't concerned with it in the slightest. Also, neither. :L
Wasn't the uncertainty a huge part of the point of it? Prior to that there were ideas thrown around about what separates one dream from another, or a dream from reality. Then at the end he spins the top, but before waiting to see if it falls or not he runs off to play with his kids, showing that he no longer cares if it is a dream or reality, he is happy with the life in front of him. All that being said, I'm obviously in the 3 camp but if forced to guess I would say 2. And I am a theist
I believe I mentionned it myself earlier, but whatever. I' ll take your answer as a 4.Even if you do realize there' s no way to know for sure it doesn' t mean you can' t or don' t have a position of belief. For instance I' m an agnostic atheist. I do not think we have sufficient evidence to know if a god exists, but I reject theistic claims (I do not believe in any god). Also, death of the author says hi. As for your claim that you' re neither theist nor atheist ... not sure if serious.
The way I define those words, yes, they are : if, when asked if you believe in a god, your answer is yes then you' re a theist. Any other answer makes you an atheist. When defined that way it is a true dichotomy, same as the guilty/not guilty dichotomy used in tribunals, there' s no third possibility. You might define those words differently, idk, but ultimately what matters is the way you define your position, not how you label it.
Wow, I'm sparking this argument all over the forums lately! Stop trying to split people into two groups. It's self-serving and inane. I am spiritual. I believe in unseen forces acting on our world in ways we don't fully understand, akin to the spirit; but I am undecided on the origin of these forces, god or not. Theists and atheists both have claims to me, but I want nothing to do with that dichotomy, or the battle associated with it. If you are only capable of thinking in terms of that duality, please keep it to yourself. I have no need of your labels.
