The "Inception" Thread

[innerSpaceman]

Originally Posted by mousepod

... and iSm: the scenes where Cobb does not appear (in my opinion) should be taken as clues to who the 'dreamer' is.

Then what about the scenes where Arthur does not appear? Or where neither of them do?

[Alex]

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

Then what about the scenes where Arthur does not appear? Or where neither of them do?

If we assume the dreamer has to be present (which there's no reason to actually assume, Arthur is presented as the dreamer of the Hotel Level and so it is the scenes with Cobb and other people where Arthur isn't presented that have to be explained within the presented framework of the movie).

You just have to have a frequent transfer of who the controlling dreamer is.

There are scenes without Cobb (add to the list the first scene of Fischer and his dad on his deathbed; the other only crew member present for that is Eames).
There are scenes where Cobb is alone (of the top of my head) with Ariadne (late night bull session), his father (when he goes to get a new architect), Eames (the bar where we first meet him), and Arthur (the hotel room in Kyoto).

There is nobody who is present for every scene of the "reality" level.

[mousepod]

Originally Posted by Alex

If we assume the dreamer has to be present (which there's no reason to actually assume, Arthur is presented as the dreamer of the Hotel Level and so it is the scenes with Cobb and other people where Arthur isn't presented that have to be explained within the presented framework of the movie).

Good point. I completely forgot about that. So the absence of Cobb from any scene isn't a plot hole at all. Nice.

There are scenes where Cobb is alone (of the top of my head) with Ariadne (late night bull session), his father (when he goes to get a new architect), Eames (the bar where we first meet him), and Arthur (the hotel room in Kyoto).

I'm fairly certain that they present Miles as Mal's father, not Cobb's. Perhaps he's the one who is trying to get Cobb to admit that he performed inception on his daughter.

What if Mal isn't dead, but in some kind of permanent dream state? If she was the dreamer, that might explain why Cobb uses her totem - and why her "secret" was the totem itself.