History Film / Inception

* SharedDream: This is the goal of Cobb and his crew, only the shared dream is a scheme to plant an idea in the mind of a powerful executive.
-->''"What's the most resilient parasite? A bacteria? A virus? An intestinal worm? [...] An idea. Resilient, highly contagious. Once an idea has taken hold in the brain, it's almost impossible to eradicate. An idea that is fully formed, fully understood? That sticks."''

** As the chemist, tasked with concocting all of the sedatives and sleeping agents to put the team under, Yusuf can be thought of as TheSmartGuy, but narratively he's much less definable given his limited screentime and interaction with the rest of the team members.

* YouHaveFailedMe: Never get hired to do corporate espionage for Cobol Corp.

** [[spoiler:Cobb incepting the idea in Mal's head that their reality isn't real and that they need to kill themselves to wake up while they were in Limbo. Incepting that idea is the direct cause of Mal killing herself and [[NeverSuicide framing her suicide as a murder]] in order to [[DrivenToSuicide drive him to kill himself and join her.]]

** Ariadne is [[TheChick the only woman in the group]] and based on her team role as the Architect, i.e. the imaginative one who is tasked with building the complex world of the dreams, she can be TheSmartGuy. But narratively, she serves as TheLancer: she is the only one to see just how bad Cobb's [[spoiler:Mal projection]] has gotten and the only one to push Cobb on the issue rather than silently acquiesce and since Cobb used to be an Architect, she is a {{Foil}} for him.

* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: The technology to enter another person's dreamscape is only used by a small number of people. When talking to the professor, Cobb mentions that there are legitimate uses for it, but he hasn't really been able to find honest work after [[spoiler:being accused of killing his wife.]]

** On the team, Arthur is TheLancer as he often serves as Cobb's second in command; he was the only one Cobb didn't have to recruit because he was already with Cobb. Narratively, however, he plays much more like TheSmartGuy, given the particularity he has over words, his sharp dress, his MrExposition role regarding Ariadne, and for his ThoseTwoGuys relationship he has with...
** Eames, who as the GentlemanThief with [[TheGadfly a big personality]] that brings the [[{{BFG}} big guns]] and takes on an entire team of mook single-handedly, is a BoisterousBruiser version of TheBigGuy. He and Arthur are contrasted before they are even shown on screen with each other, with Eames ridiculing Arthur's lack of imagination, and the two share a [[VitriolicBestFriends playful and rivalrous back-and-forth]] for the majority of the film.

** Arthur: On the team, he's TheLancer as he often serves as Cobb's second in command; he was the only one Cobb didn't have to recruit because he was already with Cobb. Narratively, however, he plays much more like TheSmartGuy, given the particularity he has over words, his sharp dress, his MrExposition role regarding Ariadne, and for his ThoseTwoGuys relationship he has with...
** Eames, who as the GentlemanThief with a big personality that brings the [[BFG big guns]], is closest to a BoisterousBruiser version of TheBigGuy. He and Arthur are contrasted before they are even shown on screen with each other, with Eames ridiculing Arthur's lack of imagination, and the two share a [[VitriolicBestFriends playful and rivalrous back-and-forth]] for the majority of the film.

* LackOfImagination: Eames mentions that Arthur has no imagination, which is why he believes inception is impossible; notably, unlike the others on the team whose roles are based on creativity (Ariadne the architect, Yusuf the chemist, Eames the {{shapeshifting}} forger), Arthur serves as more of a facilitator, doing ground work in the real world. Which doesn't stop him being a fierce fighter in the [[DreamLand dream world]] when he needs to be.

* NinetyPercentOfYourBrain: Cobb tells Ariadne that when awake, people use only "a fraction" of their brains, but when sleeping, their whole subconscious is unlocked. This makes sense, to a degree. When you are conscious, immense resources are used to process sensory data. When dreaming these resources are known to be co-opted for other purposes.

** Ties into the ending: [[spoiler: In a 2015 [[http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/inception-ending-christopher-nolan-finally-discusses-the-meaning-behind-that-spinning-top-10294480.html graduation speech at Princeton]], Nolan explained his view that dreams are a subset of reality. So when Cobb is meeting his kids at the end of the film and the camera cuts to black on the wobbling top, it's to highlight that ambiguity; whatever the facts, Cobb believes it's real enough and is prepared to accept a happy ending.]]

* TheConWithinACon: Well, if you view "incepting" and "extracting" as cons then Fischer is basically conned by being tricked into attempting to extract information from Browning.

* GenreThrowback: To 90's {{Cyberpunk}}[=/=]PostCyberpunk movies that had the PlatonicCave idea and {{Cyberspace}}. Similar to movies like: ''Film/TheMatrix'', ''Film/TheThirteenthFloor'', ''Film/StrangeDays'' and ''Film/{{eXistenZ}}''.

* GenreThrowback: To 90's {{Cyberpunk}}/ PostCyberpunk movies that had the PlatonicCave idea and {{Cyberspace}}. Similar to movies like: ''Film/TheMatrix'', ''Film/TheThirteenthFloor'', ''Film/StrangeDays'' and ''Film/{{eXistenZ}}''.

* {{Hellevator}}: Cobb has constructed such an elevator for himself in his dreams. On top levels it is beautiful and peaceful (the beach) and hellish at the bottom (Mal screaming at Ariadne)

* MoreThanMindControl: In order for inception to work, it's necessary to manipulate the subject into finding the idea that is to be implanted emotionally appealing on a subconscious level - otherwise the mind will reject it.

* RealityWarper: The whole point of having an Architect on the team (in this case, Ariadne).

-->'''Cobb''': You're on, you've got an hour.
-->'''Eames''': I was supposed to have all night to crack this!
-->'''Cobb''': [[spoiler: And Saito wasn't supposed to be shot in the chest.]]

-->'''Arthur:''' But you'd have to buy out the entire cabin. And the first class flight crew.\\

--> '''Arthur:''' But you'd have to buy out the entire cabin [of a 747]. And the first-class flight attendant...
--> '''Saito:''' [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney I bought the airline.]]

* YourMindMakesItReal: They manage to avert actually uttering the line, but they come darn close. Totally subverted when it is shown that dying is actually the easiest way to escape from a dream. Unless you're too heavily sedated to wake up, in which case [[AndIMustScream you are doomed to dream for near-eternity]]. Played straight with pain, for it is a function of the mind anyway.

* WorldOfCardboardSpeech: Dom gives one in his final confrontation with Mal. [[spoiler: He admits that he wished things didn't happen the way they did and regrets manipulating her with an inception, but explains that trying to keep any "promises" to Mal by growing old together in the dream world is irrelevant. Despite all his imagination the dream Mal is a fragment of the real Mal and he even chastises himself for not being able to do better]].

* PinchMe: Averted. Even if you are aware you're in a dream, you can't leave it unless you're given a "kick" in the real world or if you die in the dream world. The very basis is averted too, as you can still feel pain in a dream. Extreme pain, as we learn early on.

* FirstNameBasis: We never find out the surnames of Arthur, Ariadne, Yusuf or Saito.

** This action has a second layer of importance in that while she was drawing the mazes on the '' lined'' sheets, she was using the lines as guides to structure the maze on; by using the cardboard (which doesn't have any printing on it) she's issuing her non' verbal BadassBoast while simultaneously demonstrating her ability to improvise and think quickly and out of the box.