Narrative Theory - Inception

After watching the film Inception it can been seen that the theory which fits it best would be Claude Lévi-Strauss's narrative theory or his "Binary Theory". Lévi-Strauss's theory depicts that the world is full of opposites, e.g. light/dark, and this is transferred into structuring texts in films, plays and novels.

Inception is a film based on the concept of how do we know what is a dream and what is a reality, as our dreams feel so life like and vivid and when we are dreaming we often can't tell it's a dream. This relates to this narrative theory as the binary opposites are the dreamworld where Cobb "extracts" the dreams and the form of reality where everything appears normal. This increases the confusion amongst the audience as they cannot easily define what is the dream and what is reality.

The "Enigma Code" theory by Rolande Barthes also has some relation to the film as the theory suggests there is a mystery or a hook that leave the audience wanting to know what happened or will happen next. It is commonly seen in the "come back next week" technique or in film trailers. It can be applied to Inception, as in the final scene, Cobb's totem is seen continously spinning. The totem is a symbol of whether he is in the dream world or in reality. If the totem keeps spinning he is dreaming, if it falls over, he is in reality. The effect of keeping the totem spinning is it keeps the audience wondering whether the whole film and Cobb's life is meant to be seen as a dream or whether it is a twist they will never figure out.

Inception