Question

What is the narrative (story) structure of the film Inception ?

Answer 1

Inception 's narrative focuses on the awareness of plot and audience rather than the development of individual character goals, although not entirely lacking in them. Ariadne, for example, is a novice character whose main purpose is as a plot device that will help the audience explain the rules of dreaming. Before this character, the description of the initiation act and the dreaming laws can appear above the top and produce a disjointed sense of narrative. Kristin Thompson comments on the lack of clear cut character goals as she writes that Ariadne does not return the starting team because of a particular goal or feature

Nevertheless, three of the seven main characters also have explicitly specified objectives of each character, while Cobb's team members all have the plot objective of initiating. Cobb himself has the overriding aim of visiting his children back in the USA, which is constantly portrayed throughout the film in glimpsed flashbacks. To achieve that goal, he must clear his name of an unrevealed crime, of which the audience at this point in the film is unsure of his guilt. It links with the objective of the businessman Saito to break the hegemony of his rival through the use of innovation, as revealed in the helicopter during the scene.

Fischer 's goal is exposed late in the film when he talks with his dying father in the final dream sheet. Nolan reveals that Fischer feels unloved by his family, while at the same time telling Fischer 's audience about his father's willingness to win respect. Character goals by and wide are not a focal point of the Inception plot but they help form the context in which a story like this will take place.

The use of parallel action and successful cross-cutting reveals the viewer that the action takes place concurrently, but at different places. This difference between dream layers and locations is exemplified by Nolan's use of slow motion, musical indications and set design to show the audience clearly what they see. The characters often continually talk about what dream layer they 're in at the moment, and how much time they've left in each dimension. The use of omniscient narrative by Nolan relates to the New Hollywood style of narration, whereas if the film were presented in a restricted narrative it would be much more inclined towards the tendency of European Art Cinema to confuse the audience.

The elements of Inception's 'Transmedia storytelling' appeal to today's multimedia society while allusions to past films and recognizable genres such as heist films and film noir provide the incredibly complex storyline grounding in familiar notions of time constraints and characterization. Incorporating elements from almost every style of cinematic storytelling while keeping the plot focused in a relatable yet thrilling setting, has made Christopher Nolan 's Inception both critically and commercially an extremely appealing and profitable film.