Inception versus Extraction

It’s the last day of class before the exam, and I promise my students at the very beginning that we will get all the way to their adulthoods … and end with the film Inception. I pretend to myself that they care – that they think “no way, Professor Blum won’t possibly make it to Inception or find a way to work it into the class.” Of course, many of them haven’t seen the film. Most of them don’t care what I promise or don’t promise. But for me, it’s fun. And, to me, Inception is the place to end, because it emphasizes three critical points about the contemporary age.

First is the information age. The film is all about information. The characters are trying to steal information from various global companies by any means necessary (even if it means entering dream worlds or destroying emotional connections people have at the subconscious level). Information is hidden, stolen, sought after, and killed for. It is information that powers, deceives, and leads the characters on their journeys.

Second is the instability of reality. In the film, the lead character Dom Cobb (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) never really knows when or where reality is. He has entered so many dreams, gone down so deeply into them, and created so many new worlds just from his imagination that he is unsure where the real world ends and this one begins. And characters in the film question the very nature of reality. Who is to say the dream world is not the real world? The question easily applies to the digital age. Who is to say that Facebook friends aren’t real friends? Who is to say that the World of Warcraft isn’t a literal world? In the dream world, one character (a forger) is able to transform himself into any number of guises. Sometimes he’s an older man; sometimes he’s a young, beautiful woman. In the modern world of cosmetic surgeries, of digital avatars, of performance-enhancing drugs, and of airbrushed photography, this character speaks to the ever-changing ability of the human body. Unlike The Matrix where there is one reality of real life and another of fake computer-generated life, Inception delves into the possibilities of levels of unreality with no real reality at all.

Third is the problem and deep profundity of extraction. Sure, the film is about inception – literally planting an idea in another’s mind and having it grow organically. But the characters are much better at extraction – at taking information. Extraction can also be a key to another reality. While humans of the late twentieth and early twenty first century have become adept at making various new realities, they have built it upon extreme extraction and transformation of the natural environment. The extraction of fossil fuels, of metals, of minerals, of woods and grasses and soils. Major Problems has an excellent essay from the Sierra Club, but it probably needs to do a better job with the environment (or perhaps battles over global warming). The modern age is built upon a deep and profound transformation of the natural environment. The characters in Inception can change their worlds dramatically (build castles, temples, and roads instantly), but when they do the world of the dreamer realizes it and feels pain. The dreamer dislikes another force changing her atmosphere and topography. There is an environmental change – one contingent upon extraction – that makes the inception of new digital and dream worlds possible.

And this brings me to a new initiative by Coca-Cola. They have recently started a drive to donate funds to the World Wildlife Federation from purchases of special Coke cans. Proceeds will go to support a habitat for polar bears. So – to help the polar bears, one can purchase a cola product (of course, you could just donate directly). The bigger point is this: through entertainment and consumption, even environmental issues have become part and parcel of the extraction industry. This is the game of inception, I would argue, the game that Christopher Nolan is trying to unmask for us. Movies, commercials, advertisements – they’re all elements of inception where ideas are planted into our minds, but to fully stick we must come to think they are self generated or valuable to reconciling us to others and the world.

14 thoughts on “Inception versus Extraction

  1. The document that I am bringing up is “Sierra Club Attacks the President’s Policy, 1988”. I really just have a question. Why is it that part of the conservative agenda seems to be so anti-environment? Is it as simple as conservatives being so pro-industry that these issues are dismissed?

  2. This post is really interesting to me. Technology has come so far when you think about it. I don’t think they could have ever made a movie like Inception 50 years ago. I have watched Inception and I just stop watching because I get confused in what is going on! I can never keep up with the storyline even when friends are explaining it to me. On the topic of technology though, it also brings me to Article 1 in Chapter 16 titled A Unionist Blasts the Exports of Jobs, 1987.” This article is dealing with technology taking over jobs. He specifically talks about airlines and how they shop their tickets to Barbados in which they do the work for less than half the price. This just reminds me of everything happening today. I work at a bank and I always overhear the customers asking the tellers about how ATMS work and how the ATM basically does the same thing as the teller. Now you can deposit a check in an ATM and it will read the check, make your deposit, and even print out a receipt with a check image. Back in the day, everything done at a bank was done with paper and a pen. But now, looking at technology today and changes in the future, people can probably assume that banks will pop up that are completely computerized with no one working there but machines and ATMs. It’s just all so crazy!

    -Nadin T.

  3. Genius post. I loved that movie and now I know why! I most especially loved that they don’t show you whether or not the top stops spinning at the end. We’re in a suspended reality, and we feel like the characters do, which is just slightly more aware of the contingency of it all than normal.

    Do you show clips?

  4. Jordan Kirchberg-
    I love this post because the movie inception is awesome and also it definitely gets you thinking about what is real and what isn’t. In the news these days we seem to only see the negatives to life to the point where it almost seems impossible for peace to ever occur. Reality can now be questioned with pictures or videos since people can manipulate what actually happened and what they want to happen. And I like how you compared the movie with the environment when mentioning if people made too many changes to the environment, that people would get angry. Technology is getting so far advanced that this idea of extraction in dreams could possibly become a reality

  5. The document I am discussing is the 1st document in chapter sixteen (End of the Cold War, Terrorism, and Globalization) of Major Problems entitled A Unionist Blasts the Export of Jobs, 1987.

    It always seemed like new technology and the information age had benefited our country and society. Everything seemed to become faster and more accessible with technology. This document brought up a view that I had never thought about before. The unionist explains how the US has been dealing with the problem of jobs leaving our country. Even though the legislation has tried to solve this problem technology has made it easier for jobs to leave this country because labor is cheaper in other countries. For example, American Airlines has keypunch operators working in the US at $8-$10 an hour. But now they fly a plane to Barbados, drop off the tickets and pay workers in Barbados $2 an hour. All in all, I can’t believe how much cheaper labor is in these other countries. Although, this process is more profitable for companies it seems like it’s been hurting our country and economy as a whole. I would have never thought that new technology could hurt our economy.

    So my question is, is this a problem that our legislation can even solve? Or will this cause unemployment to keep rising?

  6. A part of “extraction” I think is important that you failed to mention was that information is being extracted in real life forever. The Patriot Act, which the ACLU argues against in Major Problems, is exactly that. They are extracting information from the digital environment (computers, cell phones, etc) in order to protect us in reality. What’s really amazing is that wars are now being fought almost completely in the digital field. Iran is claiming to have disabled one of the United States drones (which is controlled with video game like controls) by infecting it with a computer virus! Just like Independence Day.

    As an aside, while I know this is US History since Reconstruction, I can never think about the Patriot Act without remembering a quote from Benjamin Franklin. “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”

  7. I found your segment about what separates reality from these so called dream worlds intriguing. Especially the part where you involved the film “The Matrix”. In this film the dream world antagonists, the agents, are all exactly the same. I think that this may possibly be symbolism for the fact that people and personalities in the dream world aren’t necessarily all the same, but they are all not real personalities. This is much different from the film “Inception” in that the dream world characters in the latter can be any person imaginable.
    Shane P. Hist 110

  8. The document I am discussing is the fourth document from chapter 16 titled, ‘Two Workers Flee the Inferno in the Twin Towers, 2001′”. I have never read a personal story from someone who was in the towers at the time, and it absolutely shocked me. The first male, Mike, was blind and remained so calm and focused being lead by his guide dog. The descriptions of the stairways being organized somewhat surprised me for I would have imagined people running and everything being way more chaotic. The second male, David, described seeing images of females being carried down with “third degree burns” and “skin flapping and falling off” of her arms and face. Seeing that would probably make me panic even more. It made me realize the composure and calmness people were forced to obtain. The fact that firefighters walked anywhere from floors in the 30s to the 90s, while carrying at least 75 pounds of added gear, seems insane to me. This article made me question how many firefighters lost their lives saving people?

  9. The document I am discussing is from Chapter 16, it is called “A Unionist Blasts the Export of Jobs, 1987.” In this document, a union organizer expresses concern about the growing export of American, from the result of new technologies. The fact that the invention of satellite communications and computers have risen, it makes it easier now for employees to move new technology and capital around the world. Companies now would prefer to pay people for a less cost, than to pay people here in America for a pricier wage. An example provided in this document is on American Airlines which used to pay $8-10 to American workers, but instead now hired people in Barbados to do it for $2. This is about 1/4 or 1/5 the price of the U.S wage level, which is big decrease. American Airlines realized if the same job can be done in both places, they will end up taking the better deal, instead of the pricier one. Also, I like this blog post on Inception, I have always loved the movie but could not pinpoint directly why I loved it so much. This blog does a great job on covering all the underlying key ideas in Inception that most people sometimes fail to see.

  10. Scott Cooper Said…
    The document I am discussing is from chapter 16, it is called “A Unionist Blasts the Export of Jobs,1987”. In this document it is explained how American jobs are being lost due to companies moving their production departments to different countries. The example that was specifically used was on American Airlines how they moved their keypunch department to Barbados and paid their employees one fourth of what they used to pay the employees in America to do the same job. I find this very interesting because it is disturbing to see fellow Americans loose their jobs because companies are willing to move operations to foreign counties to save money. The question I have about this article is if people keep getting laid off what is going to happen to our economy? We already have a high unemployment rate and companies are willing to do anything to save a dollar. I fear globalization may really bite America in the but someday.

  11. It is funny to end the semester with such a thing like the movie Inception. I had seen the movie much earlier and found it very good; with all the different crazy things going on and the way it dug into your mind while you tried to pull your head around what was really going on. Especially with its marvelous ending of the tipping but not falling spin top. The ending leaving me purely unsatisfied, because an end would never be black and white, only shades of gray. Normally I am not the type of person to connect the unspoken problems of today with movies of our generation; yet when the connection was made during class it definitely opened my eyes. How is it that a movie so complicated and what seemed to be only for mental pleasure, really have so much to do with today’s issues. Professor Blum states that it hits the three points of the information age booming, the greying of reality, and then the idea of extraction. It’s hard for me to believe that a movie would usually have such underlying meanings, but these connections made the most of sense. All the world is today is technology and information, it surrounds us in every aspect, even at this very second as I read and post on this blog. Reality is hard for us to fully comprehend when there are so many different influences trying to attain information from us, trying to talk us into buying their products, or even out of others. Lastly the idea of extraction is insane and reminds me most of how when you are online and you will see ads that are on the side screens aimed directly at your interests. If one day I was to be shopping for shoes online through sites, I would then see more ads of shoes pop up on other sites; as if being followed and trying to be persuaded. So as crazy as it may seem that we are ending with this movie, I am very happy as well. Mostly because I now can see the importance of looker deeper into a movie to see what they are really talking about under the surface.

  12. The document I will be discussing is from chapter 16 document 1, “A Unionist Blasts the Export of Jobs, 1987.”

    This man is angry about globalization because American jobs have been taken away and given to people in other countries. The unions were trying to appeal to these companies that had exported their factories but with the increase in technology it just become cheaper and more efficient to use people outside of America. He says, “American Airlines, which historically used keypunch operators earning between $8 and $10 an hour… is now being done in Barbados for $2 an hour!” The profits for the airline have skyrocketed due to not having to pay for their workers but now many Americans are out of work. This is just one example of the many companies that have exported their jobs. Did anyone every think there would be negative effects to depriving Americans of work?
    Kelsey Rodocker

  13. The document I am discussing is from chapter 16 titled, ‘Two Workers Flee the Inferno in the Twin Towers, 2001.’

    It is two different men’s accounts of the day they had on 9/11. The way they described what they saw made me realize that people probably thought they were living in some terrible dream world. Seeing flesh falling off people as they walked by and seeing everything else they saw would have made me believe that it all had to be unreal – thats where it ties into inception.

    How those firefighters carried that much weight on them is another things that shocked me. First of all, with how hot it was in that building it must have been horrible to deal with the extra weight, not to mention some of them carried people out as well. Those men were amazing heroes, but I still feel like so many people involved, or present that day would have been thinking that none of it was real-in shock so much that they thought they were in a terrible dream. Thats how it would have been for me.

  14. As we read in HIST 538 (Lofton’s “Oprah: The Gospel on an Icon”), spirituality has taken on the form of consumer capitalism and consumption. To learn the “truth” all we need to do is buy the latest guru’s book. This capitalism mixed with the multiculturalism as discussed in Eck’s “A New Religious America” lead us to believe that all paths to the divine are equal, if we can afford to learn “the truth”. Our quest to learn spiritual truth is not all that different from the truth the characters are trying to decipher in “Inception”.

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