Analysing 'Inception' in relation to narrative theorists

I feel that the film inception can be applied closest to Claude-Levi Strauss' theory of binary opposites. Inception is based around dreams, also known as being in limbo. The film focuses this dream world compared with reality and how easy it is to become confused over what reality is.

Reality and 'limbo' or dreaming are the binary opposites seen in this film and this theme is followed throughout. The viewer, especially in the opening sequence of the film, also experiences the confusion between was is reality within the film and what is in a dream. So through Levi's theory its not just the characters within the film that interact and are familiar with these binary opposites it is the audience as well.

As a result of this confusion felt by the audience the film also has a slight sense of mystery to it and this leads me onto Rolande Barthes' theory and his Enigma Code. This code is a mystery to be revealed, and as well as the mystery felt throughout the film, a particular example of the Enigma Code seen here is right at the very end of the film where the main male character, Dom, leaves his totem spinning on the table. The totem is the indicator to whether he is in reality or limbo, if it stops spinning he is in real life, however the audience never gets to see whether or not this happens at the end of the film so it is left a mystery until a possible Inception 2 is released.

Todorov's theory and Propp's theory are slightly more difficult to be applied to this film as they are quite specific in their requirments and usually are applied to the traditional, more typical film, unlike inception.