365 Writing Prompts - Day 44

[schadenfreude]

February 13, 2017 - Inception

It's me rambling again. This movie never fails to suck me in hook, line, and sinker.

Dreams have fascinated me for as long as I've had conscious thought. I have dozens of books on dream interpretation, lucid dreaming, dreams as divination, you name it.

Many aboriginal cultures around the world have / had Dreamwalkers, shamans who are able to enter the dreams of others to give advice or spiritual guidance. I suppose this is where Christopher Nolan came up with the basis for his story.

Inception has it all - "extractors" who use experimental technology to infiltrate the subconscious of their target and extract information through a shared dream world. The dreams are layered, one on top of another. There are architects who construct each level, a chemist who created a sedative to induce the levels, a con man who can manipulate the target into seeing someone they know and trust. It's mind bending.

What makes my heart ache, every single time, is the ending. Once the mission is completed, our protagonist has been cleared of any wrong-doing in his wife's death and is finally reunited with this children. We see his totem, the top, is still spinning, letting us know he's only dreaming.

Okay, on to lighter fare - something involving cute animals or Melissa McCarthy as Sean Spicer!