Inception: MindGames
Warning: the following post contains potential spoilers for Inception and Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty.
In a future where men can share dreams and explore them with their conscious mind, a team of expert dream explorers is trying to plant an idea in the mind of the heir of a big corporation. It’s a long shot: according to many, planting an original thought in someone else’s mind is impossible. But Cobb, the main character or the movie, played by Leonardo Di Caprio, needs this mission to work to go back home to his kids. He needs to design a plan and create a world to make it work. This is the main plot behind one the best movies made in recent memory. It’s also a concept that, as pointed out in this excellent review on Kotaku, could sound very familiar to anyone who ever played a video game.
The whole first hour of Inception is dedicated to explaining the rules of the dream world, and the details of the plan thought by Cobb’s team. In most movies a straight hour of exposition would kill the narrative momentum, but this one is an exception. Part of the reason behind this is the astounding talent of director/writer Christopher Nolan, and his belief in the fact that in heist movies, exposition is actually interesting. But we are also entertained because the way this dream worlds works and the way the characters connect with them are very similar to the way we deal with fictional worlds and stories. As Ariadne, the young girl hired as the architect of the team, learns how to trick the subconscious in believing that her designs are real places, we start recognizing ourself while interacting with fictional worlds. And while with most media we are passive spectators, with video games we can explore what the designers created.
Game design is part narrative, part architecture, part improvised acting. The designer has to build a believable world and create believable characters while being able to anticipate the reactions the player will have to them. The one thing that Cobb stresses the most is the idea of making the dream world a believable one. This is a metaphor for narrative in general, but it’s extra important in the case of game design. The player, like the dreamers, has the power to break free in the virtual world, and the designer needs to make sure that he or her won’t feel its boundaries, the infamous “invisible walls”. If this is accomplished, the player can believe in the most incredible things. Gravity can go crazy, but we can still work through its twists and turns, just like in Super Mario Galaxy. Staircases can collapse and transform while flat surfaces become three-dimensional and bend, like in Crush.
As close as Inception is to the structure of video games, it’s ulikely that Nolan ever intended to create this connection in the first place. He built a world and its mechanics the way a game designer does, but coming from a different place, a very deep fascination with the way we perceive reality and how we can twist it to empower or damage others. In a way, this movie is proof that the process of making and playing games can be a very deep and powerful experience, a way to connect designers with players and share a dialogue between their ideas. It’s an experience that, when properly done, can make us think about the way we perceive reality in the first place. And the limits of control.
Just like in The Prestige and The Dark Knight, the main characters in Inception want to build controlled environments so that the dream world they enter in can be tamed to their own will. Needless to say, this doesn’t happen: accidents and mistakes make for a crazy and out of control ride, where the only weapon becomes pure instinct. A good game is one who respects the gamer and lets him or her be part of its world by showing the best possible path rather than forcing it into one that feels arbitrary. Cobb breaks this rule with his wife Mal, hoping to guide her. He plants a story in her head, deceiving her. It’s his ultimate downfall. Cobb learns that inception can only be done if the idea planted reinforces the mark, so that he or her can feel empowered by the experience. Mal came out of Cobb’s infection fearful, and doubtful. Anyone who played a badly designer game can relate to that. It’s a fine line between inspiration and manipulation, something a responsible filmmaker like Nolan understands very well.
Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari, said that the appeal of video games comes from the fact that people like “predictable worlds with predictable outcomes”. Truth is, the best games are the ones that subtly push us to transcend its rules, to explore unexplained possibilities. They force us to think differently, to find new solutions, to be better. The best example might be the last part of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. As our guide in the game reveals itself to be an artificial intelligence, the game literally breaks in front of us, the conventions that we used to give for granted fall apart, and we start not only to question the reality of the game, but also the way we perceive our own. It’s an extremely emotional experience, at the same time scary and mindbending. It’s breaking the rules of the game to allow us to step back and look inside ourselves, it’s a way for the people who made the game to communicate with us.
Inception is a movie about ideas and the importance of emotions. The movie achieves to entertain and thrill is spite of its complexity, by managing to turn complexity into fun. And allowing us to focus on what’s important. All art relates to the dream world, all kinds of communication tools try to reach our subconscious to give us something deep and real. For all its focus on layers and mechanics, at the end of the story is not important to understand if what we have seen is real or not: what’s important is that the emotional journey is complete. For Cobb, and for us.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011 at 4:33 am
BION I’m impreseds! Cool post!