A Movie About Loss

I don't normally encourage the blog to use more than two entries on one topic. However, there are sometimes when it is necessary. For all of our non-readers out there, please be aware that this is serious. That's right, Inceptiongate is threatening to tear the blog right apart.

As I said in my previous post, the e-mail was just the straw that broke the camel's back. I have always had an issue in my mind about Inception but could never express it. Apparently I am not the only one. The Internet Movie Database lists Inception as the eighth highest rated movie of all time. That is number eight! The movie beats out Dr. Strangelove and Casablanca! What the hell is this? The time has come to set the record straight and I shall do so in responding to Doc's thoughts

Doc's best argument is that the film is about loss. Indeed, to an extent it is. However, and this is the point, no one is seeing the movie to watch a character study about loss. They are using the ideas of loss as an excuse to have some really cool action scenes. This was the point of my previous post. Movies about loss do not include over ten minutes of fighting, they just don't. This is because the movie is trying to focus on the emotions and intellectual development of the character. Case in point is the film Everything is Illuminated. I purposely selected this film because it is not only about loss. It is about a man whose grandmother dies and he is, thus, inspired to travel to where his grandparents grew up and learn about their lives. Here, we find no action scenes. We see a lot of dialogue and pensive moments for the main character as he tries to adjust his life and understand why he made this trip to Europe. The movie contains elements of comedy at time, although this decreases as the film goes on, but all of this comedy stems from the main character dealing with loss. No rooms spinning, no cars flying off bridges, just characters dealing with their emotions.

I do not believe that it is a film with brains, but a film that gives the illusion of brains while showing some neat action scenes. Doc's statement even makes this clear: "(The action scenes) were absolutely NOT pointless and all served a purpose. I also can't remember the last time I was so blown away by a scene as I was during the hallway fight scene." If Doc was to say that the movies was great because of its innovative use of action and that not all movies need to have a direct point, some can just be visually stunning, then I could not argue with him. If anything, I am being a snob by claiming that all movies have to have some meaning. It is an interesting argument to see if a movie needs meaning or can just exist as visual stimuli. However, that is not the argument at hand.

"I guess if there are no muppets or Disney characters dropping pianos on each other it is "pointless." - Doc

Yeah, I do enjoy Disney films and muppet films. Some of which have a lot of meaning and some which do not. First, it is wrong to imply that just because a movie is marketed for children that it has no meaning. Second, this argument is more for the debate on if a movie has to have a lot of meaning to be a good movie. We are here to show that Inception was meaningless and just an excuse to have action scenes. Which, again, could be argued as being fine if one would try to go this route.

Doc's Robert Fischer argument was fair. While I do not agree with it, I can not deny that he has a point. I am not sure how much of this was a driving force behind the movie or not, but still his point is well taken. However, I feel like we should compare how much time was spent on this versus the action scenes to judge how meaningful it was. As I said, Everything is Illuminated spends most of its time with such emotional issues.

I wonder if Inceptiongate is over or not. Will Doc respond again? Is Dos, as usual, beating a dead horse? Will anyone ever read and comment on the blog just to ask us to shut up about Inception? Does Inception have the power to destroy the blog? Find out on the next episode of The 3184 Blog.