Self-Deception and the Labyrinth of the Mind: Nolan’s Introspective Labyrinth Myth
Christopher Nolan’s 2010 film Inception retells a collection of myths surrounding the Cretan Labyrinth. There are elements of the original myths present in the film, however they are morphed to form a new story, and many of the characters are representations of multiple Labyrinth related characters. Nolan does this intentionally as he appropriates different characters and stories only to the extent that he requires thematically. He presents a single character, Dom Cobb, taking the place of multiple mythological characters in order to discuss self-deception and love.
Nolan uses a sci-fi fantasy setting to retell the story of the Labyrinth. Instead of being a physical location in Crete as it is in mythology, Nolan uses an unexplained technology to create the Labyrinth (The Editors, Daedalus). This technology creates a shared dream state; one person is the host and can architect the dream, while others are subject to the world the dreamer creates (Nolan).
While there are many Labyrinth-like dreams that are created throughout the film, the true representation of the Labyrinth is the world in which Cobb lives. Because of experimentation that he has done with his deceased wife, Cobb is not longer confident that the world he is experiencing is real. He and his wife continually formed “dreams within dreams” until they entered a place called limbo, the deepest dream state. At this point Cobb begins to intentionally blur reality with the dream world he has created. He attempts to make his dream indistinguishable from reality and intentionally invalidates any method he might use to discern which is which (Nolan). In this way, he is much like Ovid’s Daedalus who “was puzzled how to find/ The secret ways of what himself design’d” (Ovid). However, unlike Ovid’s Daedalus, Cobb intentionally traps himself and now must escape, so he may reunite with his children. In this plot point, Nolan begins to mix characters from multiple myths to further serve his story.
Comparing the characters in Inception with those found in mythology can be difficult. The Ariadne of the film for example, only takes on part of the role her analogue in mythology occupies. Cobb on the other hand, take on the roles of multiple characters. Here we will examine the characters in the film and determine to what extent they occupy the role suggested by mythology.
Cobb’s character has clear motivations that at times both agree and conflict with his mythological analogues. Cobb can be viewed as a representation of Daedalus as he is the architect of the Labyrinth as discussed earlier. He also can be viewed as Theseus. He must enter a labyrinth, accomplish some task and return, despite unlikely odds (The Editors, Theseus). In this manner, Ariadne of the film is much like Ariadne of the myth. She assists Cobb in creating the different dream worlds he will use to accomplish his task and ensure that he can escape the organization that is chasing him, just as the Ariadne of the myth helps Theseus escape the Labyrinth (The Editors, Ariadne). However, that is the end of film Ariadne’s relation to the Ariadne of myth as there is no feigned love or abandonment, though manipulation is hinted at in a conversation that Cobb has with Michael Cain’s character, professor Miles. In fact, this abandonment is reversed, as Ariadne abandons Cobb in limbo near the end of the film (Nolan).
Other characters in the film only vaguely resemble characters found in the myth. Nolan likely didn’t bother to create accurate representations of many auxiliary mythological characters because he could accomplish what he wanted to thematically without them. His focus is strictly introspective and therefore his story would only become muddled by any extraneous plot or character details. Although there is another character analogue worth mentioning.
Cobb is commissioned by Mr. Saito to construct a dream state that would deceive Robert Fischer, who in this case would be the minotaur (Nolan). Although Robert Fischer’s similarity to the minotaur is faint it does serve to strengthen the themes of familial reconciliation that Nolan presents. Instead of endeavoring to somehow defeat Fischer, Cobb enters a labyrinth to reconcile Fischer with his late father. This poor relationship between minotaur and father is similar to the myth, however it differs from the myth in that Robert Fischer’s arc serves to mirror and support Cobb’s. Both Fischer and Cobb experience self-deception in different aspects of their lives and through this connection Nolan creates, in Fischer’s arc, a microcosm of Cobb’s
Fischer’s self-deception is in the way he understands his father’s opinion of him. Fischer is characterized as being distant with his father, who was always too busy with business to spend time with his son. Because of this upbringing, Fischer thinks that his father doesn’t love him and is disappointed in him. As he travels through the different levels of Cobb’s ruse, he learns to see his father in a new light. Fischer decides to believe that his father did love him. He decides to believe that his father wasn’t disappointed because Fischer wasn’t like him, but that he was disappointed because Fischer thought he needed to be. Fischer now believes that his father wanted him to be his own man, and Fischer can then admire and feel comforted by his much more charitable view of his father. Here Nolan comments on subjective reality. Is Fischer’s new conception of his father correct? Does it matter? Nolan suggests that we all deceive ourselves, but it is better to perceive kindness than malice. It is better to reach of goodness than to wallow in contempt.
Cobb has deceived himself in many ways. His self-deception begins with his blending reality with the dream world. He abandons the real world, maybe because he sees no value in the real world, or because he is seduced by the control he has over his dream world. If his Labyrinth is the world in which he lives, then his escape is when he finally sees his children again. Throughout the film Cobb spins a top, a tool called a totem he uses to determine what is real and what is a dream, despite his actions which invalidate his results. The idea is that a totem is some object with a property that only the individual knows, a weighted die is used as an example. Arthur warns Ariadne against revealing the property of her totem in case she should be fooled into thinking a dream is reality. Despite this warning, Cobb freely shares the function of his totem, claiming that in a dream his top never falls. Because he has invalidated the purpose of his totem, checking the top is Cobb’s act of self-deception; it is only at the end of the film, when Cobb decides to abandon the totem to embrace his children that he is finally escapes the Labyrinth. Cobb’s self-deception is thinking that it matters whether or not he is in a dream; he decides at the end of the film that it doesn’t matter, what matters is being as present for his children as he can be. Nolan posits that there are many things we may choose to be important. But he claims that those things may distract us from the truly important things in life. If we seek truth or wealth or success above being close to the ones we love, we will become lost in the labyrinth of our lives.
While Nolan isn’t especially faithful to the original story, he selectively uses and alters the parts of the Labyrinth myth that he feels are most salient to a modern audience. Forgoing almost entirely the themes of the original story, Nolan crafts a message about the self. He explores his oft repeated motifs of absent fathers (see The Prestige, Batman Begins, and Interstellar) and convoluted chronology (see Memento, Interstellar, and Dunkirk) with the lens of Greek and Roman mythology. Crafting a deeply personal story, and a true reimagining of ancient myth.
Works Cited
Inception. Dir. Christopher Nolan. 2010.
Ovid. Metamorphoses. Trans. Samuel Garth and John Dryden. 1 AD.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. Ariadne. 16 February 2018. <https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ariadne-Greek-mythology>.
— . Daedalus. 15 February 2018. <https://www.britannica.com/topic/Daedalus-Greek-mythology>.
— . Theseus. 06 August 2019. <https://www.britannica.com/topic/Theseus-Greek-hero>.
Image: originally-uploaded version by User:Blleininger, current version by AnonMoos — originally-uploaded version vectorized from File:Classical_7-Circuit_Labyrinth.jpg by JamesJenCurrent , https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11891550
