I recently was fortunate enough to come across some in depth & quite detailed quotes from Nolan’s most recent movie Inception.  I’ve dropped a couple of the more interesting ones here for your perusal.  If you have ones that might be helpful to your understanding of the movie just hollar and I’ll see if I can get that one as well…

Arthur - “So wants we’ve made the plant, how do we get out?  I’m hoping you have something more elegant in mind than shooting me in the head.”
Cobb – “A kick.”
Ariadne – “What’s a kick?”
Eames – “This, Ariadne, would be a kick…” tips Arthur’s chair
Cobb – “It’s that feeling of falling you get that jolts you awake.  Snaps you out of the dream.”
Arthur – “Are we going to feel a kick with this kind of sedation?”
Yusuf – “That’s the clever part, I customized the sedative to leave inner ear function unimpaired.  That way, however deep the sleep, the sleeper still feels falling.  Or tipping.”
Cobb – “The trick is to synchronize a kick that can penetrate all three levels.”
Arthur – “We could use the musical countdown to synchronize the kicks.”

Cobb:  “How’s he doing?”
Ariadne: “He’s in a lot of pain.”
Cobb:  “When we get down to the lower levels the pain will be less intense.”
Ariadne:  “And if he dies?”
Cobb:  “Worst case scenerio, when he wakes up his mind is completely gone.”
Saito:  “I Will still honor the arrangement.”
Cobb:  “I appreciate that but when you wake up you won’t even remember we had an arrangement.  Limbo’s going to become your reality.  You are going to be lost done there so long you are going to become an old man…”
Saito:  “Filled with regret”
Cobb:  “Waiting to die alone”
Saito:  “No, I will come back and we will be together again.”

A quick path to Limbo…

Cobb:  “Let me ask you a question – why the hell were we ambushed, those weren’t normal projections they’ve been trained for god’s sake.”
Arthur:  “Yer right.”
Ariadne:  “How could they be trained?
Arthur:  “Fischer’s had an extractor teach his subconcious to defend itself so his subconcious is militarized.  It should have shown in the research I’m sorry.”
Cobb:  “So why the hell didn’t it?”
Arthur:  “Calm down.”
Cobb:  “Don’t tell me to CALM DOWN.  This was your job God Damnit.  This was your responsibility.  You were meant to check Fischer’s background thoroughly. We are not prepared for this type of engagement”
Arthur: “We’ve dealt with this kind of security before we’ll be a little bit more careful and we’re going to be fine.”
Cobb:  “This was not a part of the plan, he’s dying for god’s sake.”
Eames:  “I’m going to put him out of his misery.”
Cobb:  “Don’t do that. Don’t do that.”
Eames:  “He’s in agony I’m waking him up.”
Cobb:  “It won’t wake him up.”
Eames: “What do you mean it won’t wake him up?”
Cobb:  “It won’t wake him up.  
Eames: “When we die in a dream we wake up.”
Yosuf: “Not from this.  We’re too heavily sedated to wake up that way.”
Eames: “Right, so what happens when we die?”
Cobb: “We drop into limbo.”
Arthur: “Are you serious?”
Ariadne: “Limbo?”
Arthur: “Unconstructed dream space.”
Ariadne: “Well what the hell is down there?
Arthur: “Just raw infinite subconcious, nothing is down there.  Except for whatever might have been left behind by anyone sharing the dream who’s been trapped down there before.  Which in our case, is you.”  (looking at Cobb).
Ariadne:  “Well, how long could we be stuck there?”
Yosuf: “Don’t even think about trying to escape until the sedation…”
Eames: “How LONG?!” 
Yosuf: “Years, decades, I don’t know, it could be inifinte, I don’t know, ask him!  He’s the one that’s been there.”
Arthur: “Just get him upstairs.”
Eames: “Great.  Thank you.  So, now we’re trapped in Fischer’s mind battling his own private army and if we get killed we’ll be lost in limbo until our brains turn to scrambled egg, eh?

Ariadne: “When were you in limbo?  You might have the rest of the team convinced to carry on with this job, but they don’t know the truth.”
Cobb:  “Truth?  What truth?
Ariadne: “That at any minute you might bring a freight train through the wall.  The truth that Mal is bursting through your subconcious.  And the truth that, as we go deeper into Fischer we are also going deeper into you.  And I’m not sure we are going to like what we find.” 
Cobb:  “We were working together, we were exploring the concept of a dream within a dream.  I kept pushing things.  I wanted to go deeper and deeper, I wanted to go… further.  I just didn’t understand the concept that hours could turn into years down there.  That we could get trapped so deep that when we wound up on the shore of our own subconcious we lost sight of what was real. We created, we built the world for ourselves.  We did that for years.  We built our own world.”
Mal:  “How long were you stuck down there?”
Cobb:  “Something like 50 years.”
Ariadne:  “Geeze, how could you stand it? 
Cobb:  “Wasn’t so bad at first…”

Ariadne:  “How are we going to bring Fischer back?”
Cobb:   “We are going to have to come up with some kind of a kick.”
Ariadne:  “What?”
Cobb:  “I’m going to improvise.  Listen there’s something you should know about me.  About inception.  An idea is like a virus.  Resiliant.  Highly contagious.  The smallest seed of an idea can grow.  It can grow to define or destroy you.” 
Mal:  “The smallest idea such as, your world is not real.  Simple little thought that changes everything.  So certain of your world, of what’s real – do you think he is?  Or do you think he’s as lost as I was?”
Cobb:  “I know what’s real Mal.”
Mal:  “No creeping doubts?  Not feeling persecuted Dom?  Chased around the globe by anonymous corporations and police forces.  The way the projections persecute the dreamer.  Admit it.  You don’t believe in one reality any more.  So choose.  Choose to be here.  Choose me.”
Cobb:  “You know what I have to do, I have to get back to my children because you left them.  Because you left us.”
Mal:  “You’re wrong.”
Cobb:  “I’m not wrong.”
Mal:  “You’re confused.  Our children are here and you’d like to see their faces again wouldn’t you?”
Cobb:  “Yes, but I’m going to see them up above Mal.”
Mal:  “Up above?  Listen to yourself.  These are our children, watch – James, Phillipa…”
Cobb:  “Don’t do this Mal, please, those aren’t my children.”
Mal:  “You keep telling yourself that but you don’t believe it.”
Cobb:  “No, I know it.”
Mal:  “And what if you’re wrong? What if I’m what’s real?  You keep telling yourself what you know but what do you believe?  What do you feel?”
Cobb:  “Guilt. I feel guilt Mal, and no matter what I do, no matter how hopeless I am, no matter how confused, that guilt is always there reminding me the truth.”
Mal:  “What truth?”
Cobb:  “That the idea that caused you to question your reality came from me.”
Mal:  “You planted the idea in my mind?”
Ariadne:  “What is she talking about?”
Cobb: “The reason I knew inception was possible was because I did it to her first.  I did it to my own wife.”
Ariadne: “Why?”
Cobb:  “We were lost in here and I knew we needed to escape but she wouldn’t accept it. She had locked something away, something deep inside, a truth she had once known but chose to forget. And she couldn’t break free.  So I decided to search for it. I went deep into the recess of her mind and found that secret place.  And I broke in and I planted an idea. A simple little idea that would change everything. That her world wasn’t real.”
Mal:  “That death was the only escape.”
Cobb:  “You’re waiting for a train.  A train that will take you far away.  You know where you hope that this train will take you.  But you can’t know for sure.  Yet it doesn’t matter. Now tell me why!”
Mal:  “Because we’ll be together!”
Cobb:  “Yet I never knew that that idea would grow in her mind like cancer, that even after she woke, that even after you came back from reality that you continued to believe that your world wasn’t real.  That death was the only escape.”
Mal:  “You infected my mind.”
Cobb:  “I was trying to save you.”
Mal: “You betrayed me, but you can make amends.  You can still keep your promise.  We can still be together right here.  In the world we built together.” 
Cobb:  “If I stay here will you let him go?”

FastCompany just released a winner for their Inception infographic contest and this entry is really really good.  I’ve personally been struggling with the task of trying to understand how all the kicks and jumps work on the way back up to the surface.  My initial dream layer map was even highlighted out an MTV blog even.

But this infographic for me was solving a different problem.  This problem was, how’d everyone migrate downstream and then how did each member kick back to the surface?  Originally had something finished but just didn’t think it popped – so I trashed it.  Being a design geek as well I’m just as much about getting the design right as I am about getting the information right.  So I will continue to work this graphic until I think it works.

But for now I wanted to share this nice graphic your way in case you haven’t seen it yet.  Again, this was created out at a FastCompany competition.  First though lets take a peek at his initial drafts that looks to be done on a napkin of all things.

One major beef I have with this graphic is that it doesn’t explain how Ariadne & Fischer kicked out of Limbo #1.  It doesn’t explain how Cobb and Saito kicked out of Limbo #2.  It doesn’t show whether or not Cobb is dreaming or not… it assumes he isn’t actually.  But there are tons of things that I love about this – especially the skewing of time as the layers go deeper.  Very very cleverly done.

]]> http://taylorholmes.com/2010/08/19/new-inception-infographic/feed/ 0 http://taylorholmes.com/2010/08/11/10-inception-questions/ http://taylorholmes.com/2010/08/11/10-inception-questions/#comments Thu, 12 Aug 2010 06:02:30 +0000 Taylor http://taylorholmes.com/?p=553
Over the past several weeks I have found myself in the middle of numerous discussions surrounding Christopher Nolan’s wonderful movie Inception.  I’ve discussed the various totems within the movie and how they work.  The numerous dream layers and their possible meanings.  I’ve discussed various infographics and debated the best infographics online.  And I’ve even charted the various totems used throughout the movie.  All this to say, we’ve had a great time discussing this movie in its entirety.

So after all this chatter and theorizing I thought I’d assemble the most interesting and intriguing questions about the movie right here in one easy to read post.  Obviously – I’m open to including the questions and answers you think are the most beguiling.  All you have to do is list them below and I’ll pull them together for a round two.  So with all that said – let us away and start with Question #1…

What are the dreaming rules within Inception?

[ANSWER] – There are very specific rules surrounding how the world of the dream works.  Rules as to how you enter and leave a dream.  Rules surrounding Limbo and also for leaving Limbo too.  Basically they amount to:

1. Dying in dream is a kick & wakes you up, one layer anyway.
2. Dying in a deep dream sends you to limbo
3. Dreaming in too many layers too deeply sends you to limbo
4. Dying in limbo wakes you up totally

Obviously these different rules fold back in on themselves as the situation becomes more complex and the location of the dreamer becomes in question.  Some of these will come up later on in the list here – but for now this is a good basic framework to work with.

What exactly is Limbo?

[Answer] – Limbo is defined within the movie as “Unstructured Dream Space”.  The only way Limbo is filled is if there was previous inhabitants who filled it from previous visits.  Which, of course, Cobb was the last visitor there.  So it has been filled with Mal’s disintegrating city and it is that city we see falling into the ocean upon Ariadne & Cobb’s arrival.

Who dreams each of the 6 various dream layers detailed in your dream diagram?

[Answer]- The dream within the dream within a dream business can get pretty confusing really very fast.  And even some of the characters within the movie even comment on it – like when Ariadne objected – “Wait, who’s dream exactly are we going into?”  So, in an effort to clarify the various layers and their dream spaces here is a list of the dreamers for each.  And please make sure, if you get confused, to consult the 7 layer dream diagram I created.

- Level One – Reality – Dreamer: No one

- Level Two – Inception’s “Reality” – Dreamer: Cobb

- Level Three - Van Chase – Dreamer:  Yusaf’s

- Layer Four - Hotel/Bar – Dreamer: Arthur

- Layer Five - Snow Fortress – Dreamer: Fischer Jr.

- Layer Six - Cobb’s Limbo – Dreamer: Ariadne?

- Layer Seven - Saito’s Limbo – Dreamer: Saito

Obviously it is unclear which of the two, Ariadne or Cobb actually execute the dream when leaving the Snow Fortress – so this is unclear.  Others have argued that neither Limbo locations have a dreamer as they are shared dream space.  Which very well could be true.  Which leads us to our next question.

How does Ariadne & Cobb get to Limbo?  And how does Cobb transport himself after Saito?

[Answer] – Think back to the Snow Fortress.  There on the floor as Ariadne begins to posit how they could salvage the entire mission – they could dream down another layer, find him, and kick back all the way to the surface with everyone else.  We saw a dream machine on the floor.  They basically intimated that they didn’t commit suicide to get down to Limbo (which is possible) they actually dreamed down another layer into Limbo.

Now as for the Saito bit – that is a little more complicated.  There are three different possibilities here and it basically depends on how you think Limbo works as to which one is the correct answer.  But ultimately either Cobb shot himself, Dove another dream layer deeper or hoofed it on foot to find him.  Cobb’s shooting himself makes zero sense if Cobb really is in Limbo and not in a dream state.  We just watched Ariadne jump and wake up in the Van Chase layer.  So this option can’t be right.  Cobb’s dreaming himself another layer deeper is very plausible, but we don’t see a dream machine near by like we did in the Snow Fortress.  Cobb’s hiking himself around Limbo until he found him is a bit of a stretch.  The walk-about option suffers dramatically in that we actually see Cobb get spat up on the beach of Saito’s Limbo layer at the beginning of the movie.

So, with that said, now you know why in my dream layer map I went with the second option.  Even though we don’t see a dream machine its the only option that really makes any sense.  Cobb must have dreamed down one more layer to get Saito back.  Definitely open to hearing other theories here, but it makes the most sense to me.

When multiple people are sharing a dream, what happens to the other dreamers when the main dreamer wakes up?  Or also, when the Mark wakes up as well?

[Answer] -You would think that either everyone would wake up, or that everything populated by the dreamer’s brain would disappear.  But what happens is a little different.  Basically the dream begins to unravel and it takes more sedative to try and keep the mark under.  Remember the initial dream sequences at the beginning of the movie?  Two layers, one was the architect, the other was Arthur.  But Cobb cuts his time in his own dream short with a bullet to the head.  This sends him up a layer.  But that then means that the dream gets unpredictable and all wobbly-like.  And Arthur goes running to Saito while he was dreaming in an attempt to juice him up a bit more and keep him under.

The second bit of the question is brought to us by Coexist – and its quite a bit more theoretical than the previous answer.  Because we never saw the Mark wake up first everything we posit here will be conjecture.  But my guess is that it would be exactly like when the team went to inspect a dream space?  They walked the streets of the dream and there was no one there.  The Mark enters the dream and fills it with his psyche & projections.  If he were to awaken, the team would be left standing there with an empty architected dream space on their hands and no one to bamboozle.

How do the totems work?

[Answer] - This is such a huge question I wrote an entire blog to discuss the various Totems throughout inception.  But, since brevity is the soul of wit, and tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes, I will be brief.  Totems were created by Mal as a way to keep track of when you were in someone else’s dream and when you were in reality.  Because dreaming was so realistic it became possible that you maybe getting manipulated by a dreamer and you would never know.  Without a totem that is.  The various totems identified in the movie:

Mal – Spinning Top

Eames - Poker Chips

Ariadne – Chess Bishop Piece

Arthur – Loaded Dice

Cobb – Mal’s Top

One thing you must note.  Many people get this wrong.  Totems do not tell you whether you are in your own dream or not.  They only tell you if you are in someone else’s dream.

What caused Cobb and Saito to “wake-up” when Saito presumably remembered that he was sleeping?

[Answer] – Quincy brought us this question over on the 7 Layers blog – and its a good one that delves into those pesky dream rules.  So, lets review Question #1′s answer above.  What are the rules on which the dream layers are governed?  The final rule being that death in a dream layer causes one to wake up.  Sow with that in mind, my assumption has always been Cobb killed Saito then himself. Or vice versa. The rules on moving between layers and into limbo are pretty complicated and contradictory at times.  But remember the head on the track business?  Definitely their only way back to the surface was by killing themselves.  So unless Cobb and Saito chose to build a train in Saito’s living room and lay on the tracks… I’m guessing the gun was the kick back to reality.

Why is Saito so much older than Cobb in the final dream level?

[Answer] - There are two potential explanations for this.  The first is that Cobb took a while to find Saito.  And it was during this time where Saito aged 10 times faster every layer you go deeper.  If you don’t believe that Saito’s world is a sub-layer of Limbo, then the only other option is that Saito had forgotten he was in Limbo and therefore he aged while Cobb held on to the truth of where they were and subsequently he did not age.  Actually another option now that I’m sitting here staring at this one – is that since we are seeing all this from Cobb’s perspective, his vision of himself could have been of himself as a young man.  So I guess there are THREE potential explanations here.

How do Mal & Cobb end up in Limbo the first time?

[Answer] - The only evidence we have here is Cobb’s explanation of how he came to need an inception.  Basically he tells us that Mal & he jointly experimented on the various ways to fully utilize the dream machine.  They continued to push the limits of the dreamstates and ultimately ended up going too far.  Either they used extremely deep sedatives and then killed themselves intending to kick back up a layer or they pushed too deeply and lost perspective.  But I would argue that the movie seems to suggest that going too deep is how Ariadne & Cobb arrived in Limbo after going to find Fischer Jr.  So it was most likely that they just went too deep and completely lost track of all reality while they were there.

If the whole thing is a dream – and let’s just say the top keeps spinning at the end of the movie – then why didn’t it keep spinning earlier in the film when he tried it?

[Answer] - This question is the whole crux of my entire argument for blog 1 & blog 2 so it is really near and dear to my heart.  Its the premise upon which I got so fixated with this entire movie.  But its also the question that has alienated me from my friends, my family and roaming street salesmen.  If the movie’s a dream – then why the heck does the totem stop spinning two separate times in the movie?  COUNT THEM – TWO!

Well, this is actually easier than it would seem to explain.  But within my dream layer map I show the top layer to be Cobb’s dream – which is the whole Inception Movie. The reason for this is simple.  Although I found that thinking of Cobb being trapped in Mal’s dream more romantic and gorgeous a though – it was not supportable as his dream would have been WAY WAY unstable.  And Mal would have had to work to keep him a sleep – and in fact she is working for the opposite so this made no sense.  But Cobb being adrift in his own dream is elegant in many ways.

But, basically because your totem only tells you when you are in someone else’s dream, not when you are in your own dream Cobb wouldn’t know if he were stuck in his own dream state.  By why did it specifically STOP spinning in his dream, and continue to spin in dream?  Well, that is explained by the fact that its his dream, it’ll do whatever he thinks it should do.  Remember when Cobb asks Mal, “Well, if this is a dream, why can’t I control you?”  What was Mal’s response?  “BECAUSE YOU DON’T KNOW YOU ARE DREAMING.”  Right?  Same with the top.  His brain just tells it to do what he thinks it ought to be doing.

So therefore, if you ascribe to this theory, that all of Inception is a dream – like I vehemently do – then you believe that Cobb has lossed grasp of reality with all his various dream-comings-and-goings.  Mal continues to wait for him in the upper most reality layer and Cobb’s mind continues to weave fascinating tableux’s for our summer box office amusement.  Can’t wait to see what Cobb’s mind weaves for us for the sequel!  If you have others to add to this post – don’t hesitate to drop them in below and as we define their answers as canon I’ll add them here.  Thanks!

First and foremost – this is a spoiler ridden discussion of the intricacies surrounding the new movie – Inception.  Secondly, let me give you a heads up – I have written a blog on the Top 10 Trick Inception Questions you have to check out if you haven’t already.  And now that we have that behind us – let us away.

When I wrote my first post on Inception (seen here) a number of people couldn’t make heads or tales of my interpretation because of the fact that inside this quaint – happy ending of a movie – we have a totem that tells us when Cobb was dreaming and when he was awake.  Right?  A small medal top especially designed, with no other purpose than to tell the viewer the quintessential answer to unlock the meaning of this movie.   And speak forth it does.  Several times during the movie (two to be exact) we see Mr. Dom Cobb spin this beguiling little child’s toy in hopes of getting his bearings.  And twice we watched as the top quit spinning and fell to a complete stop.

And granted, that is the  number one question challenging the “It’s All a Dream” theory I profess to believe in.  What of that top? So, to that end, I thought I would walk through all the totems in the movie and try to explain each one.  Then, after we have that groundwork behind us we can attack the various interpretations behind Cobb’s top stopping throughout the movie.

Cobb’s Totem – The Top

Early on in the movie Cobb asked to see Ariadne’s new totem and after demuring stated that she thought it an elegent solution for keeping track of reality. It was then that we learn that the entire idea of the totem was actually Mal’s. 

Mal came up with the idea out of necessity to help differentiate between the dream world and the real world.  To that end, there were several rules to be observed with the totems – never let someone else handle your totem so as to keep them from controlling your perspective of reality by duplicating your totem perfectly.  The totem was also to be something small and intimate to you for reasons of portability.

Cobb’s totem is the top.  Basically as he describes it, it works fairly simply.  If the top stops spinning he is not in a dream.  If it continues spinning, he is dreaming.  Easy enough.  NEXT!

Arthur’s Totem – The Dice

Arthur – Ariadne’s guide through her beginning dream training – shows Ariadne his totem after she asks about them.  “Loaded Dice” he explains.  In reality they will come up as I expect them to.  In the world of dreams they will come up as anything but.  Arthur then explains that Cobb’s totem isn’t his at all, but Mal’s.  Mal is the one that came up with the device and after she died Cobb took them as his own.

Ariadne’s Totem – The Bishop

Soon before the Inception reverse-heist begins we see Ariadne milling something.  A golden Bishop.  Cobb takes an interest to the totem and asks if he can see it.  Ariadne demures and Cobb is impressed she is learning so well.  Never let another person handle your totem.  It is your only way to be sure no one has tampered with your perception and grasp on reality.  And with that little lesson tucked away we never see Ariadne’s totem again.

Eames’ Totem – The Poker Chips

Our first encounter with Eames is at the Poker Table.  Cobb greets him with a hearty, “You won’t make them breed no matter how hard you rub them together”.  This is obviously a bit of a stretch, but it would make sense that Eames’ totem are his poker chips.  I’ve even heard it conjectured that in Dream World one poker chip will turn into two and back to one again.  Seems a bit of a stretch, but it is a dream, why not?  And now that brings us the most important totem of them all:

Mal’s Totem – The Top

Not fair!  I hear you crying.  You already did that one.  But, wait dear friends… no other totem is more important than this one.  This is the totem that began them all.  Mal is the creator of the idea of the totem.  She has need of a device that will keep her faltering belief in reality in check.  And so she devises a simple mechanism to inform her of her whereabouts.  A top.

A top that she cast aside when all her preparations for the final kick have been put in place and are ready.   The three psychologist’s signed witness statements a testing to her sanity are ready and waiting.  She’s pinned the blame squarely on Cobb for her murder by informing her lawyer of the threats he’s made against her.  All in order to get Cobb to jump with her and to head up to their children that are there and waiting for them to awaken.

As a recent Wired article so eloquently stated, all great literature is left open to the reader.  Similarly, all great movies are left open to the viewer.  Mr. Nolan has brilliantly weighted the evidence for and against the dream world conclusion so perfectly neither faction will ultimately know the answer.  But the evidence definitely is pointedly in favor of the dream world solution and here is why.

The totem is lying to Cobb.  It tells him what he wants to hear.

It is his dream after all.  Everything else is controlled in this movie by Cobb’s psyche.  Even in other people’s dreams it is Cobb that dominates the dream with his head space and his perspective.  Runaway train in Level Two (more about the levels) – Layer one of the inception attempt?  All Cobb.  Ariadne sabotaging the inception attempt and basically dragging Cobb further down into the mire of dream layers?  All Cobb.  Limbo dream world?  Obviously all Cobb.  These dreams reek of our protagonist’s mental instability.  It seems odd we would think anything other than at least one more layer of dreams summoned by Cobb and controlled primarily by him.

And as others have noted elsewhere more eloquently than I ever could… why would you believe that a totem would work in the first place?  In a dream either your mind tells the top to continue spinning or your mind tells the top to stop spinning.  Its as simple as that.

I do believe that Nolan has conjured a very eloquent and tactile solution to the problem.  The interwebs are a buzz with discussions about what your totem would be.  (For the record, mine would be a modified heavier British Pound or a Poker Chip like Eames’.  Have you felt the brilliant heft of a nice clay poker chip – or a pound sterling?  Enough said.)  And well they should.  It is instantly recognizable and personal for every viewer of the movie.  But outside of a clever prop, I don’t believe that the totems work a lick.  Sad, but true.

The entirety of this movie is a dream.  A dream within a dream within a dream (seven total, at least).  And while that may tend to make most American viewers upset, I believe Nolan has stayed true to his artistic vision basically because, whether the epiphany is a dream or not – its still just as overwhelming and important as if it weren’t.  Having a cathartic awakening with your father as Fischer Junior did at Senior’s death bed?  Awe inspiringly real.  The rapturous feelings Cobb felt while waiting on the train track with his beloved – headed somewhere, though they don’t know where – enrapturing.  The walks shared in Limbo?  Precious.  That chats while building their childhood homes?  Treasured.  Cobb even says so much in answer to Ariadne, even if misguided.  “Why is it so important to Dream?”  Cobb replies, “Because in my dreams we are together.”

And ultimately Nolan’s metaphor of the dream is basically a thinly veiled allusion to the movie screen – to this huge techno-color canvass.  The movie is where we collectively share a common dream.  Where we shut down our logic cortex’s and visually succumb to the picture painted before us all.  And for that I tip my hat to Nolan for sharing his dream with us and causing us all to partake in this grand vision of collective catharsis.  Because I don’t know about you, but I was not right for several days after watching this movie.  My center of balance was thrown off and my perspective on reality was dumped upside down.  It was a great feat Mr. Nolan accomplished here and I am a better person for it.  Looking forward to the pleasant arguments below!  And remember that this post will make more sense if you read the Top 10 Inception Questions and the post that started it all, the 7 Dream Layers of Inception.

Initial Reaction
Memento could easily be chalked up to a gimmick. Take a basic film noir story, toss in a brain injury as an excuse, shake vigorously until the extremely mundane storyline is unrecognizable to anyone and voila you have an Oscar nominee. This would be a viable reading of the movie if it weren’t for the fact that most critics & reviewers that came to this conclusion failed to even comprehend the ‘basic’ storyline. In my opinion for a critic to come to this conclusion requires them to actually comprehend the ins and outs of the storyline before they dismantle it and discard it as basic noir tripe.

And yet even if you were to cut the movie in the correct order and ‘straighten’ out the chronology², it is my opinion that Memento still out performs other movies in its own genre. Just the simple inversion of the hero/mystery investigator into a dubious half breed of good guy, bad guy makes it reason enough to fall in love with this movie. Memento takes the noir genre places it’s never been before.

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¹ If you are looking for a non-spoiler filled review of the movie I’m certain that another google search will yield you the results you are looking for.
² Which Nolan actually did do eventually – he placed it on a DVD hidden as an easter egg.  But its like hiring Picasso for a museum showing to repaint each of his paintings in the show minus that little thing called cubism. The original IS the point… not what it would look like in normal mode.
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Riddles
It seems as though this movie has been haunting me from my first very encounter with it. Riddles wrapped within riddles – mazes set inside mazes. It almost seems as if Christopher Nolan shot a coherent storyline and then allowed a chimp into the editing room to finalize the order of events. It’s almost too much for the senses to handle. Interspersed sections of black-and-white footage trip in and out amongst the larger color story that seems to be running in juxtaposition to its monochrome counterpart. Memento is enough to make even Tarantino¹ drop into a double handed head clutch wondering what in the world is going on.

The question I have been working on for the past few weeks and months has been whether or not it is possible to make any sense out of the entire jumble of techno color celluloid. From how I see it, understanding the chronology and untying the knots is just the first step to understanding the larger picture that Nolan has set before us. Reading review after review and discussing the movie with almost any poor sap that was unlucky enough to cross my path I have tried to get a handle on not only the events of the actual movie itself, but also its back story. It was actually a surprise to find out that most people, although they enjoyed the movie very much, were quite content with being completely and irrevocably confused². Which is why I have contented myself with the fact that this review will be hated far and wide – this is actually my final step in a 10 step program to rid myself of the monkey on my back that is Memento – I’d do just about anything to pull that little full gainer off.

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¹ Terantino’s Pulp Fiction is still one of the great examples of dramatic film edits that upend the chronology of the basic story to both intrigue and highlight the story from a different perspective.
² After thinking about it a bit more, maybe these are the wise individuals amongst us? How many brain cells did I fry trying to run the gambit of possibilities and weed out the various ‘unacceptable’ explanations? And yet I can’t shake the idea there has got to be an intense study in human behavior here somewhere that could be used for some Sociology Masters program that would eat this stuff up.
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Memento Character Refresher Course
For those of you who haven’t seen the movie in a little while I have included a quick walk through of each of the major characters¹. I am certain that I have missed a few², but these are the main individuals that interact with Lenny anyway.

Leonard Shelby – (Guy Pierce) is a former insurance investigator who apparently has anterograde amnesia – which is a condition that keeps Lenny from creating long-term memories. The mental trauma was caused by an attack on him and his wife. Lenny can remember everything prior to the attack with at least some degree of reliability, including the attack itself but his new memories don’t usually last more than in 15 minute sections.

Mrs. Shelby – (Jorja Fox) it is unclear whether Lenny’s wife was killed in the attack that caused his anterograde amnesia or not.

J.G. – Potentially the initials of one of a possible two attackers that broke in to Lenny’s house, raped his wife and cracked Lenny’s skull. It appears that Lenny killed one of the attackers before ‘John G.’ could escape.

Teddy – (Joe Pantoliano) One of the original cops that investigated the attack on Lenny and his wife. Teddy seems to have taken an interest in Lenny for some reason or another. It is Teddy’s monologue towards the end (beginning) of the movie that gives us the largest amount of information regarding Lenny and his life before the accident.

Natalie – (Carrie-Anne Moss) Supposedly Jimmie’s girlfriend and eventual love interest to Lenny. It is Natalie that shows us more than anyone else that we aren’t in Kansas anymore. The connections between her, Dodd and Teddy intricately define Memento’s plot line.

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¹ For the Memento gods out there, don’t take offense. Think of this as the mental stretches before an intense cerebral workout – or more appropriately, the quiet before the storm.
² Like the tattoo person – who, I might add is the only individual I noticed that didn’t take advantage of Lenny’s mental state³.
³ Nah, I am certain she charged him for two tattoos – she must have.
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Jimmie Grantz – (Larry Holden) The drug dealer Lenny kills at the beginning (end) of the film in his attempt at avenging the death of his wife.

Dodd – (Callum Keith Rennie) Jimmie’s boss, who Lenny beats up and is run out of town because Lenny believes Dodd is beating Natalie up.

Sammy Jankis – (Stephen Tobolowsky) Lenny has a tattoo that says ‘Remember Sammy’ to remind him of the Sammy Jankis claim which he supposedly investigated before he and his wife were attacked. Apparently Sammy also had anterograde amnesia and eventually ended up accidentally killing his wife when she tested him by continually telling him it was time for her insulin shot. Teddy brings this story into question by saying Lenny is actually Sammy and that Lenny is the one that killed his wife accidentally.

Mrs. Jankis – (Harriet Sansom Harris) She is either the woman that Sammy Jankis accidentally kills with insulin or she is a fictional character that is actually Leonard’s wife depending on who you believe. Teddy says that Sammy is single and Lenny firmly remembers Sammy as having a wife that tested him.

The Chronology
I know that there are pockets of people who believe that Memento is a complete sham that has been cobbled together out of car parts that don’t work together. Turn the ignition and nothing happens. It is also widely held that Memento runs from the end of the events that took place back through to the beginning – in a word – backwards. This is not necessarily true. Nolan has taken extreme care to write a story that works as you assemble the pieces back together again¹.

You will notice that through out Memento there are scenes that are in color and scenes that are in black-and-white. These two separate threads in the movie are actually running away from each other. Interestingly enough they both begin with the first scene of the movie, which you will notice is in both black-and-white and also in color². The color fades in as Lenny is watching the picture to appear within the Polaroid he has just taken.

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¹ I am not speaking of the back story at this point – that is a completely different matter that I will get to soon.
² I first learned of these juxtaposed threads in a Salon article by Andy Klein entitled ‘Everything you wanted to know about Memento’. This is the first article that I have found to describe the chronology in an easily understandable and completely accurate way.
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As Andy Klein puts it ‘So, if you want to look at the story as it would actually transpire chronologically, rather than the disjointed way Nolan presents it – you would watch the black-and-white scenes in the same order (1 to 21), followed by the black-and-white/color transition scene (22/A). You would then have to watch the remaining color scenes in reverse order.’¹ Klein has beautifully explained what we all felt innately as we watched. The black-and-white forward scenes give a wonderful respite to the chaos of the continual backwardness within the color scenes. It is his connecting of the scenes at the last scene of the movie that is so brilliant. I never truly understood how we managed to travel forwards and backwards without grinding serious number of gears and eventually throwing a rod through the hood of the car.

Memento Untangled
With the help of a DVD player, and a well-exercised thumb², I was up for the challenge ahead of me. Walking through the steps described above I was able to verify Klein’s reordering of events as he described it should work out. With that in mind, I thought I would lay out the story as I saw it with my remote in one hand and a notebook in the other³.

1. Opens with Lenny in a motel room talking with Teddy on the phone – telling him about Sammy Jankis and his mental condition.

2. Teddy tells Lenny that Jimmy (supposedly the man who killed his wife, actually he is a drug dealer that Teddy wants to get rid of) will be at an abandoned building.

3. Lenny kills Jimmy and takes his clothes and his Jaguar (which has $200,000 in the trunk). Teddy tells him that Jimmy was not the killer – and that he has already killed the killer. Lenny decides Teddy is now on his bad list and writes down his license number.

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¹ Klein even goes so far as to give a road map to putting the movie back together again – using his schema (black-and-white scenes are granted numbers 1-22, while the color scenes are lettered A-V) the movie in its original form looks something like ’1, V, 2, U, 3, T, 4, S, … 20, C, 21, B and 22/A’. The untangled version would run something like ’1, 2, 3, 4, … 20, 21, 22/A, B,C, … T, U, V’
² From years of Super Mario (the original mind you) on the Nintendo
³ Yeah, yeah, I am sure you all have this bit sorted out and memorized but it is still good to have it all out in the open. Keep in mind that the real serious Think-Tank work happens after this is over and it is all between the lines.
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4. Lenny heads to the Tattoo parlor to get the license tattooed to his thigh. Teddy shows up and tries to get the keys to the jaguar. Lenny gets away.

5. Lenny finds the note in his (Jimmy’s suit) pocket and heads for Ferdy’s bar to meet someone named Natalie. Natalie tests the validity of his anterograde amnesia and then takes him to her house.

6. Natalie leaves and then returns and hides all the pens and pencils in her house. After which she provokes Leonard into hitting her. Natalie leaves, only to return minutes later crying about someone named Dodd having beaten her.

7. Lenny promises to defend Natalie. Leaving to go after Dodd he encounters Teddy that tells him not to trust Natalie and suggests he get a room at the Discount Inn¹.

8. In room Lenny calls for an escort to recreate the night of his wife’s supposed death. He then goes out and burns the items that once used to belong to his wife.

9. Leaving the site, Dodd spots him and he makes a run for it. Lenny ends up in Dodd’s hotel room². When Dodd returns Lenny mistakes him for an intruder and beats him up and then calls Teddy.

10. Teddy and Lenny send Dodd packing and then Teddy tries to get access to the Jaguar’s keys once again. Checking his notes he realizes Dodd had something to do with Natalie, whom he then goes to see.

11. Natalie calms him down and agrees to help him find who the owner of the license plate is. In the morning she goes to find out about the license plate number and Teddy runs into Lenny and they have lunch.

12. Returning to the Discount Inn he finds the note he is supposed to meet Natalie for lunch and he also realizes he is being charged for two rooms. Rushing to meet Natalie he finds out that the license plate number is registered to Teddy³.

13. Lenny calls Teddy and they go back to the abandoned building where the movie ends (starts). Lenny shoots Teddy (this is the scene we saw actually run backwards in the opening).

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¹ Lenny’d been given the room number by Natalie and he believed it was his own)
² Humorously, Lenny gets a second room there
³ Just as Lenny had planned that he would discover
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I must say that if this isn’t helping you out any – many apologies – but from where I’m sitting I figure this 10-step stuff might just work. Now I know that the chronology is just the bare bones of this movie upon which the real heavy lifting is done. Take for example the Sammy Jankis scene where Teddy explains that Sammy doesn’t exist, that Lenny was the one that actually killed his own wife. Do we believe Teddy? Here are two frames of the Lenny – Sammy metamorphosis to remind you of this scene’s goodness:

Or do we assume that she died due to complications in the attack some time later? We are confronted with dozens of conflicts similar to this one.

Another question that hits us early on is whether or not there are two attackers or not? If there was a J.G., did he die in the attack on Lenny and his wife? Or changing gears, consider the most controversial scene by far in the movie. Towards the end of the movie¹ after Lenny kills Jimmy; Lenny has a flash² where he has the ‘I Did It’ tattoo on his chest and he is with his wife smiling and laughing on a bed. This one moment throws many fans into a dither when you bring it up. It is this latitude, which we are allowed to think within and rationalize for ourselves, that makes this movie such an awesome experience even long after you’ve walked out of the theater.

Various Theories
There are many different theories within the Memento community that range from the asinine to the epiphanic that attempt to answer many of these questions. Each theory is interesting in its own right. It is through developing and weeding out these theories that we get closer and closer to an acceptable meta-theory for Memento. Below, I have given a précis of the most prominent theories I have heard discussed in various places around the net.

Theory 1 – ‘The Disney – Happily Ever After – Theory’
The Disney Theory³ states that Leonard’s wife doesn’t die, but he himself does end up in a mental institution for some unknown reason. Eventually he escapes from the institution, either by himself or, more likely, with the help of Teddy, who has realized what a great weapon Lenny can be. Teddy convinces Lenny that his wife died and assists him in seeking out revenge. Teddy gives Leonard the police file with the crucial pages missing. Teddy’s monster killing machine eventually turns on Teddy, and kills him. Eventually Leonard learns his wife is still alive and is reunited and voila, we have the confusing ‘I Did It’ scene with smiling wife present.

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¹ The beginning of the chronology
² The big question here is whether it’s backwards, forwards or neither.
³ Sometimes better known as the ‘Happily Ever After Theory’
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Disney Deconstructed
The only minor problem with this theory is that the official Memento Web site clearly and unambiguously states that Lenny’s wife definitely died. It is on a psychiatric report, apparently from early 1998, that first refers to her as having passed away – but, interestingly enough it suggests that Leonard thinks she’s still alive. Outside of that little snafu this theory parallels the movie perfectly.

Theory 2 – ‘The Literal Theory’
This theory pretty much takes the evidence given to the viewer at face value. One attacker (or the one attacker, either way) escapes and Lenny’s wife passes away. Sammy is only there as a reminder to live his life more intelligently than Sammy did. Eventually, knowing a good thing when he sees it, Teddy begins using Lenny for his own means. Eventually Teddy gets tired of retelling Lenny everything that happens – snaps – and tells Lenny the truth. Bad idea. Lenny writes down on Teddy’s Polaroid ‘Don’t Believe His Lies’. The rest is history.

Literal Theory Deconstructed
The two major questions I have for this concept is what do we do with the metamorphosis scene where Sammy morphs into Lenny while Teddy is talking. The second is the ever-tricky ‘I Did It’ scene. Both of these snippets of the movie would have to be explained by saying they are errant memories of Lenny I would guess.

Theory 3 – ‘The Verbal Kint theory’
The ‘Verbal Kint Theory’ is an intriguing one that does a Borg-job on several of the various ideas out there. The cornerstone to this theory is that there is only one attacker that rapes and beats Lenny’s wife. This single attacker then dies from the wounds inflicted upon him by Lenny during the attack². Sammy Jankis doesn’t actually exist at all in this theory, it is Lenny who kills his wife with an insulin overdose³.

Verbal Kint Deconstructed
The ‘I Did It’ scene is the only question that isn’t answered by this argument. This theory is probably the strongest argument I have heard so far. The thing that is brilliant about the ‘Verbal Kint Theory’ is the fact that Sammy Jankis is just a scapegoat, the killer is just a scapegoat and Lenny is far from admitting to himself he might be his own worst enemy.

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¹ The term was coined in an enthralling discussion out on www.eaforums.com – which is a great bulletin board that you should definitely check out if you get a chance.
² Thus there really isn’t anyone for Lenny to point his anger and revenge against.
³ Potential Usual Suspects spoiler: similar to Verbal Kint’s creation of Keyser Soze
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Conclusion
I am sure I have spent too much time playing with the various intricacies of this movie. And yet at the same time the sheer potential there for this type of mental exercise speaks volumes about how intricately designed Memento is. I don’t want you to think for a moment that I believe these theories are the end all – actually I think that they don’t even scratch the surface¹. My whole point in undergoing this exercise was to provide a springboard for some who haven’t taken the time to think deeply about the movie and see how wonderful it truly is.

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¹ I read an extremely thorough argument linking Sammy’s wife to actually being Lenny’s wife based upon the sheer basis of Sammy’s wife’s wrist watch and Lenny’s wife’s alarm clock. The alarm clock being one of Lenny’s final possessions of his wife. To be honest my head swam at the detail and the inferred implications.
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When I first walked out of the theater – I was pretty clueless. I was still coming down from the euphoria that I’m sure washes over most any normal viewer:

“Awww, he got back to his kids. How fantastic is that?”

“Oh, But what was that one bit – and why did that happen – and how the heck did he… “

And eventually as I continued to ponder the movie more and more the walls came tumbling down. I mean, really, this is a Nolan movie after all. What was I expecting? So this is just one man’s opinion of what actually might have happened right in front of our eyes. The layer below the layer, if you will. And to walk you through it the most succinct way possible let’s go down to the bottom dream layer and work our way back up to the “top”. From the deepest dream all the way back up to the very “realest” reality experienced.

After dying, Saito goes adrift in his own limbo world

I can hear you now. “SEVEN? What the HECK?!” Trust me. It’ll make sense soon enough. But yes, I believe there are seven (not counting the splinter levels that run parallel to the main dream layers we see mind you. Like the two initial dream layers we see with Saito, etc.) stacked levels of Inception goodness piled one upon the other. I could actually argue for a couple more without much effort, but I’ll stick with the ones I know I can easily prove with facts laid out from the movie.

So, remember with me for a second. Saito gets shot in layer 1 of the inception gig. Right? He’s hurt pretty badly. The lower he goes in the dreams the less impact it has on him… but none the less, he’s not in good shape. Then comes the final stand in the Inception gig’s level 3 – the Alps fortress. He tosses the hand grenade down the ventilator shaft and dies. From there we are told that those who die that deeply sedated go into a limbo world potentially never to return and their minds turn to mush. Cobb knows that he either needs to get Saito back from Limbo or he will spend the rest of his life in jail for killing his wife.

The reason I believe this dream layer is a completely different layer than layer 6 – “Cobb & Mal’s Limbo layer” because it is the same dream layer that we see earlier (both sequentially and chronologically) in the movie that is within Saito’s dream. And even though the movie states that Limbo is a shared void populated by the last inhabitant (Cobb) I still think that we’ve crossed over into Saito’s own dream-limbo world somehow. Visually it is very clear that this is the same location we visited earlier.

Level 6, Mal & Cobb's Crumbling Dream World

Level Six is a fascinating world. We catch glimpses of it on and off throughout the duration of the movie. But its only at the end we learn the true reality surrounding what happened in this place. Ariadne and Cobb dive down one more layer in the hopes of finding Saito before slipping off to never-never land. They encounter Mal – and she implores Cobb to wake up. To come back to the world of reality. Cobb dismisses her as a projection of himself. A shade of a memory that he is unable to do justice to.

And remember the very sad truth we learn here? Cobb knows inception is possible because he’s done it before. Right? He’s done it to Mal. And that idea festered there in her brain until she finally agrees to take the train to anywhere – as long as they were together. So, after getting the kick, they arrive at the “real” world – but Mal for some odd reason is still plagued with the idea that it isn’t the real world BECAUSE IT ACTUALLY ISN’T. Cobb watches his wife go insane only because his implanted idea is working – they have not woken up and she knows a truth that even he isn’t aware of. She can’t take it anymore and she seemingly jumps to her death – but in fact this is just her kick – her escape to the very real world awaiting them above.

Level 5 - The Final Inception Dream Layer where the idea is implanted.

This level is pretty straight forward. Well, as straight forward as anything in a Christopher Nolan storyline anyway. The final goal here was to implant the idea in Robert Fischer Jr.’s mind – that his father actually did love him. That he was only disappointed in the fact that he worked so doggedly to follow in his own footsteps. The team successfully accomplishes the goal – with the final scene there in the vault with Fischer’s father dying and recreating everything Jr. understands about himself.

The only thing I would like to add here is the fact that Fischer Jr.’s catharsis in the vault is about as real as it gets. Its no less real if he were dreaming – no less real if Cobb is dreaming. Jr. comes to an awareness and to a reality that leaves him absolutely changed. That is the overriding theme in this movie – catharsis and change. To be moved to a new understanding and to a new perspective that was misunderstood before. I believe this is Nolan’s one true goal for everyone in this movie – and Cobb is the only individual that hasn’t come to this much needed catharsis – this grand awakening.

Level 4 - Inception Layer 2 the gambit doubles back on itself

Definitely one of the coolest Dream Layers in all of Inception. This is the one we see so much of in all the trailers. The fight scene in the hall way of the hotel as the van is falling off the bridge sends everything into a gravitation-less state. Zero Gravity high-jinks ensue including a bucket load of dynamite and an elevator shaft. This layer complicated matters in that this is where they told Robert Fischer Jr outright that they were in his dream and only they could protect him.

Level 3 - Inception Layer 1 where the heist begins all wrong.

“WHO PUT THAT THERE!” Cobb yells wondering why the heck there was a train barreling down through the center of downtown LA. Thus begins the beginning of the most ambitious plot yet, to deposit an idea into the victim’s mind and get out without alerting him to their presence.

The movie – or Christopher Nolan rather – leads us to believe throughout the course of this movie that this layer is the true awake state reality. We are given clues that it is in fact that by seeing Cobb’s totem stop spinning as well as other corroborating details as we return time and again. But think about it a little more carefully and you’ll realize that things in this layer are off.

But don’t dreams seem logical and common sensical while dreaming them but they don’t add up afterwards? What about the chase scene where Cobb barely squeezes through the collapsing alleyway? Or the fact that Cobb’s children are still wearing the same clothes as the last time he saw them? Remember Cobb’s father’s impassioned plea? “Wake up Cobb! Come back to reality.” And what about the vagueness of this dream-technology that allows people to share dream-states? The only explanation we are given is that it was created by the military to create a place for training. Other than that its completely fanciful idea. But when we wake up it just doesn’t seem right. And what about his being an “extractor” at all. Don’t forget that in dreams we experience exciting and truly exceptional things – like Cobb’s being the best extractor in the world who is so good he could not only steal ideas, but he could also implant them as well.

Nolan places absolutely everything in his movies for very specific reasons. If you have any doubt of this then please go and watch Nolan’s movie The Prestige. And if you have already seen this masterful work of art and haven’t had your AHA! moment, then feel free to have your mind altered here. Or if The Prestige doesn’t grab you – then feel free to get messed with by Nolan’s Memento. Then come back and read my review here. But without further delay – let’s move on to the man behind the curtain – Layer #1!

Level1 - The Truly Real World

And here we have the final dream layer. This is without a doubt the saddest and most troubling layer of them all. In Cobb’s TRUE dream world – the top continues to spin… and he chooses to walk off into the sunset with his children instead. And while Mal stuck in this dream state Mal is by Cobb’s bedside pleading with him to wake up from the dream that is going on within her own mind. This explains how she was able to intercede occasionally and plead with him to come back to her. This isn’t Cobb projecting his memories – this is really Mal pursuing him. If it was his own projection would it be telling him to kill himself – really? No, this is Mol desperate to get her husband of 100′s of years (elapsed dream time anyway) back and convince him of his errors.

Regardless of how you view the Inception or whatever your theory might be… it is a fantastic movie. The only slight ding I would give it is that the entire movie is a falsehood. The quest to deposit an idea in the mark’s brain – dream. The attempt to save Saito from the limbo world – dream. His reunion with his father, mother and children – dream. Normally when heist movies pull this one on us (the painting was stolen before the movie began) I cry foul and pan the movie. But this time, it seems right. Sad, but right. Really? International dream thief? I mean, really?

And all the while, the only constant in this ever-shifting world is Mal. Everything she did was justified, if a bit extreme. She wasn’t the silent saboteur of Cobb’s dreams. She was the true friend and consistent love of his life. She wanted nothing more than to be by his side again and have him come out from inside this dream of hers they were having together. So at the end of the day – this isn’t a summer blockbuster movie… this is a love story. Its a story of madness and loss. All deep and dark refrains that the Academy should reward – though their memory is fairly short and their vision fair too myopic. Would love to hear your thoughts or arguments to the contrary! If this left you wanting more do check out my Top 10 List as well as my Totems Discussion.

]]> http://taylorholmes.com/2010/07/20/7-layers-of-inception/feed/ 78 http://taylorholmes.com/2010/05/19/this-picture-changed-my-life/ http://taylorholmes.com/2010/05/19/this-picture-changed-my-life/#comments Wed, 19 May 2010 22:50:22 +0000 Taylor http://taylorholmes.com/2010/05/19/this-picture-changed-my-life/

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TAP TAP TAP?!  Anybody have an spare invites they want to throw my way?  ANYONE, anyone, anyone?  Like I said – this is a brazen and glaringly uncouth play for admittance into the cool kid’s club.  You were warned in advance, I don’t want to hear it.