DIRECTOR'S CUT: INCEPTION and the Psychology of Dreams
Added 2023-10-09 15:00:07 +0000 UTCHow do the dream world and real world affect each other? What kinds of dreams have you experienced?
Licensed therapist Jonathan Decker and filmmaker Alan Seawright are diving into the psychology of dreams in Inception. There’s so much to look at, from therapeutic concept of dreams to the incredible filmmaking. Jonathan talks about the psychology of dreams and what Inceptions gets right and wrong. Like time dilation and physical sensations in dreams. Alan talks about how Inception is just Christopher Nolan talking about making movies… you won’t be able to unthink it! He explains how Inception can be so complicated but keep the audience entertained and invested in the story. And they answer the big question... does the top fall?
Comments
The love story in this movie gets me so hard….😂
Capt. Reynolds
2025-01-07 07:54:35 +0000 UTCYou should do one of the Prestige. I think you could cover the psychology obsession
Nataniel Massoth
2024-07-18 16:53:56 +0000 UTCEven as someone who has had sleep paralysis a lot, I still get extremely scared when I have them. The worst one I had was when I saw an extremely creepy version of me staring down at me. Creepy smile and all. I still get anxious when I think about that other version of me. And, as always, excellent editing work from the team. I came here from the roasting video and was NOT disappointed with the hard slip 😂. That was handled so well by both Alan and the editing team.
SaucyJTD
2024-04-11 15:32:38 +0000 UTCThis one was edited by Trevor!
Cinema Therapy
2024-03-18 14:04:40 +0000 UTCWow, your friends/editors had a good time with you on this one, Jono. Who edited this one? :) Sorry guys, don't think that top falls. He's wishful dreaming. But that's just the 911 background talking. Joseph Gordon-Levitt's fight scene in the hotel was my favorite movie trickery in Inception. It felt so strange and cool. I love his acting. Did you ever see him in The Lookout? His character just breaks your heart.
Melissa
2024-03-16 19:36:29 +0000 UTCRealistically, this IS probably Nolan's magnum opus, but to me personally, it will always be Memento. 😍 Seeing how much you liked this film, I highly recommend Paprika if you haven't seen it already! (It's on YouTube rn even). I can't confirm, but I'd be surprised if Paprika wasn't one of Nolan's biggest influences for Inception. There are scenes in Inception that are straight out of Paprika.
Kambria
2024-02-26 19:00:38 +0000 UTCI know that the entire cast is pretty stacked in terms of talent and recognition, but can we just talk about how great Pete Postlethwaite is as Maurice Fisher. The role itself is small in terms of screen time (maybe also in terms of importance to the story), but he still put in an amazing, extremely affective performance, all while he was dying of pancreatic cancer. He’s truly one of my favorite actors who ever lived, and I’ve only seen a handful of his movies. If you want to seem him at his best, I highly recommend anything he did in the nineties, but especially In The Name of The Father (which also stars Daniel Day-Lewis, if you need another reason to watch it).
Catherine Ginn
2024-01-03 00:32:44 +0000 UTCI once had a layered dream, where i fell asleep and dreamt in my dream (this dream becoming layer 2) then i remember that layer 2 was a nightmare, that i woke up to layer 1 from, and texted my girlfriend at the time, about it. then layer 1 started escalating and my girlfriend acted weird, which made me fully wake up. but when i did i could not tell what was real and what was dream.
Creepz
2023-11-28 20:17:48 +0000 UTCThis is one of my favorite movies for so many reasons. On hypnic jerks, I almost never have them when I am in bed or laying down, but when I fall asleep in my chair at work I think it happens every time. It's always right before I go into deep sleep.
Amber
2023-11-09 16:03:57 +0000 UTCI feel like I don’t remember a lot of my dreams. I did relate to the inability to run in dreams. However, I recently had a dream where I was lost and running around. Also, the inability to scream. Then sleep paralysis is worse ugh 😩 I can’t scream and it feels like something is around my neck, and I can’t move. One time I did get it when I was sleeping on my side. I was facing away from the door, so I was paralyzed but I think my eyes were open. Then I had this horrible feeling something was behind me, so what did I do? I closed my eyes, and waited to wake up. I was afraid I would make up a demon or something. I don’t like my brain sometimes.
Hannah Rose 🥀🎵
2023-11-09 03:05:33 +0000 UTCI just rewatched this movie because of this episode. I think you guys missed an opportunity to talk about "dreams" that aren't possible but keep us stuck (Cobb's need to keep Molly alive). I have my own that need to be let go of but I can't. However, I really did enjoy this episode and your thoughts on healing subconsiously. Can we do inception part 2?
Sadie
2023-10-21 03:35:07 +0000 UTCThe edits are BOSS. I die!
jeneskew
2023-10-18 01:32:34 +0000 UTCThe editing in this for cut-aways and effects are so awesome. Bravo 👏👏👏👏 What a fantastic episode!
Angie
2023-10-16 01:48:41 +0000 UTCI generally assume that Sophie is responsible for the funny edits.
Hannah Vaughn
2023-10-15 12:41:38 +0000 UTCThat movie messes with your head so much - I agree!
Nova Villmark
2023-10-12 06:13:25 +0000 UTCYou guys figured out how to make the captions work! I had a reoccurring nightmare that lasted for literally decades. From about age 7 to my late 20's. I didn't like thinking about it. So one day I had it again, and I finally sat down and journaled every single aspect of it, faced every part of it, and then it never returned. Funnily enough I remember the nightmare but not what my realization was. What I DID learn was that when I have a nightmare, I should always face it, and they won't come back.
Nova Villmark
2023-10-12 06:12:47 +0000 UTCHonestly, we need an editor reveal. I cackled several times because of the hilarious edits!
Susanna Italiano
2023-10-11 18:36:49 +0000 UTCI'm so sorry for your loss. I relate so much to your beautiful dream and the relief it brought. - Jono
Cinema Therapy
2023-10-11 16:29:07 +0000 UTCI will never live this down, lol. - Jono
Cinema Therapy
2023-10-11 16:27:59 +0000 UTCDream journals are GREAT tools. - Jono
Cinema Therapy
2023-10-11 16:27:41 +0000 UTCSo cool. You are powerful!
Cinema Therapy
2023-10-11 16:27:23 +0000 UTCHoly crap! As a recovering arachnophobe, that's horrifying! - Jono
Cinema Therapy
2023-10-11 16:26:55 +0000 UTCThere's definitely evidence for that.
Cinema Therapy
2023-10-11 16:25:55 +0000 UTCWe are kindred spirits. - Jono
Cinema Therapy
2023-10-11 16:25:04 +0000 UTCYay?
Cinema Therapy
2023-10-11 16:24:02 +0000 UTCJono here. Love that movie so much. That's a wild story, btw. Dreams affect us so much.
Cinema Therapy
2023-10-11 16:23:45 +0000 UTCYikes! That's intense. - Jono
Cinema Therapy
2023-10-11 16:23:11 +0000 UTCThat's wild!
Cinema Therapy
2023-10-11 16:22:36 +0000 UTCJono here. I would LOVE that.
Cinema Therapy
2023-10-11 16:22:10 +0000 UTCMost of my dreams I never remember, or if I do they are so convoluted that I remember just a bit here or there for maybe 5 minutes. Except one. It was one where I realized in the dream that I was dreaming and it was the first time I dreamed about my son after he passed. And even though I wanted to stay in the dream, as soon as I realized that I was dreaming, I woke up. But I'm glad I still remember it.
Kathy Wood
2023-10-11 16:15:53 +0000 UTCThis got me hard. In the brains. (Seriously though this was great!)
Pam Jackson
2023-10-11 08:20:47 +0000 UTCAmazing episode! I wish I remembered my dreams more. I think I might not be sleeping enough hours, to be honest, but that's my fault. When I do however remember my dreams, they're so interesting. Anyone here has a dream journal? I used to have one and I stopped using it after a while, mostly because I could not remember much from my dreams. I should try to restart writing them and see what happens.
Marie-Soleil Cha
2023-10-11 06:31:01 +0000 UTCA cool thing always happens to me where I know I'm awake and just trying to relax, but it's like I'm daydreaming and not having any control of it as if it's a full on dream and that's when I know I'm minutes away from sleep. Just hearing my ceiling fan while also seeing myself cruise down my mind palace highway. There was one time I think I've ever kinda lucid dreamed and it was the most optimal moment. I was in a pretty hairy situation in this dream and thought to myself "Alright, this is getting me pretty anxious, I think I'll wake up now." And I did! Forever impressed with myself on that one.
Haley Caulfield
2023-10-11 06:23:34 +0000 UTCI had one Sleep Paralysis experience when I was in my early 30s. I woke up one of the many times per night I tend to, and although I was awake and could see my dim room around me, I could not move. On my chest, there sat an ENORMOUS spider. This Spider was red and black, and it was about the size of my whole chest. I could feel its weight on me, and it would occasionally shift position, and I could feel that too. It looked absolutely real to me. I could even see my face reflected in the many eyes staring at me. I just felt terrified and sure that this thing was malevolent and meant me harm. This lasted for a good 10 minutes or so, when my Dog (gone 7 years at this point) leapt onto my bed, grabbed the spider in her jaws with a horrid crunch, and yanked it off me before jumping back to the floor with it. I heard her crunching it some more, then she jumped back onto the bed, curled up beside me, and stared daggers out into the room as if she was daring anything else to come for me. I was still immobilized, but I felt relieved enough I went to sleep. When I woke up in the morning, no dog, no dead demon-spider. I knew what had happened since a friend had regular bouts of Sleep Paralysis, and I knew this was a pretty typical presentation, with the exception of conjuring a protector to scare it all away. I know it wasn't a real experience, but it felt totally real at the time, and it lingered.
Michael Jones
2023-10-11 04:26:49 +0000 UTClove this movie, though i do disagree on one thing. The top never falls. his children are the same age and the same scene of them plays every time he thinks of them. he may have finally came to terms with what happened to him and his wife, but i think he did it too late, and in the end was unable to escape limbo.
Lance Carmack
2023-10-11 00:42:26 +0000 UTCHe's an amazing actor. Doesn't matter what character he's playing! -alan
Cinema Therapy
2023-10-11 00:17:35 +0000 UTCLove @birbigs! Been a fan of his for a LONG time. Never got a chance to see Sleepwalk With Me live though. -alan
Cinema Therapy
2023-10-11 00:16:58 +0000 UTCThere is an anime film called Paprika that had the plot of using shared dreaming as a theraputic tool.
Serafina Pekkala
2023-10-10 22:25:53 +0000 UTCYeeeees I need the Prestige breakdown!
Arlynad
2023-10-10 21:18:18 +0000 UTCI grew up pretty sheltered and now as an adult I often accidentally say dirty things but I don't realize it's dirty until someone points it out. Jono, your the best!! Glad I'm not the only one who does that! 😂😂
Dan D. Lion
2023-10-10 20:12:23 +0000 UTCOur editors are the BEST! ❤️ We'll be sure to pass on your message to our edit team.
Cinema Therapy
2023-10-10 19:43:36 +0000 UTCEvery time I watch a CT episode, I always have this thought and never bother to say it, it goes "I LOVE the editor(s)." They go WAY above and beyond what is needed and it adds so much. It's also very much my ADHD referencial type of humor and I appreciate it so much. Y'all are wonderful, thank-you for being awesome. Everyone else who works on this is good too.
Lightning Dragon Master
2023-10-10 18:34:52 +0000 UTCI've noted that internet commenting can be a lot like how this film depicts shared dreaming: the original commenter, asking for relationship or parenting advice, say, creates an initial layout, but all other commenters come in and populate it with subconscious projections of their own relationships rather than investigating the original relationship, or at least providing possible alternatives if the situation the original commenter is dealing with isn't as toxic or as hopeful or as dismal or as ..... as their was.
Brandon
2023-10-10 16:54:44 +0000 UTCThank y'all for respecting Elliot Page's identity while discussing a feminine role they've played, that made me so happy to hear!
Dylan Mancy
2023-10-10 16:23:50 +0000 UTCAchievement Unlocked: Sleep Paralysis
Kasen Rogers
2023-10-10 01:49:05 +0000 UTCSLEEP PARALYSIS! Mike Birbiglia has a show (Sleepwalk With Me) about his LACK of sleep paralysis.
Deb
2023-10-09 23:47:07 +0000 UTCYES YES YES! You must do an episode on the Prestige! Please! It's a masterpiece! And on dreams that feel real and effect you for the rest of the day. I remember in Highschool I had a dream that my parents had been killed in a car accident and the police came to tell me. And then the next day they had been gone for appointments and were late coming home. I had started to panic because I wondered if my dream was coming true. This film is a masterpiece and I love seeing you guys break it down.
Kate Larson
2023-10-09 20:01:39 +0000 UTCInteresting thing that people say (including this film) never happens but actually did happen to me - one of the few dreams I've remembered long after I had it. I died in a dream and yet stayed in the dream after my death. I still remember it very vividly, the moment of death (though I don't remember what happened leading up to it). I was being chased by some kind of madman with a gun, and I had a young girl with me. And when the killer raised the weapon, I wrapped my arms and body around the girl to shield her and I was shot in the left side of my lower back four times. I remember the searing pain and bleeding to death. My spirit or ghost or what have you saw that the girl I sacrificed myself for was saved after I died. When I woke, my lower back ached for hours.
Jennifer Sherman
2023-10-09 17:46:33 +0000 UTCI’ve also had lucid dreams and lots of dreams about flying, but instead of the free feeling you’d expect, I nearly always fly as if I’m swimming through pudding. I remember one dream where I was trying to escape an assailant by flying away and they just grabbed my ankle and pulled me back down because I was so slow 😂 -Erin
Stefan and Erin S
2023-10-09 15:50:47 +0000 UTCI used to get sleep paralysis when I was smoking a lot of weed in college, lol. I was also very much like “oh, this is sleep paralysis” and thankfully never experienced the kind of fear I heard other people describe when it happened to them. After I grew up and had some kids I also started to experience sleepwalking in the first couple years after our daughter was born. I distinctly remember putting my sleeping baby (who was in my arms) into the crib to rescue *her* from where I was witnessing her crawl across the top of the door frame. I had my arms up in the air trying to catch this precious baby when I finally woke up and was like “wtf am I doing?” My second baby slept like a rock so I didn’t have nearly the same level of sleep disturbance with him, but I guess I’m just really prone to that sort of sleep issue. Makes me want to be more careful and make sure I’m taking care of myself and my sleep so I don’t find myself in a dangerous situation (like the time I was sleepwalking and tried to physically rip a light fixture out of the ceiling 😬) -Erin (not Stefan, it’s a shared account lol)
Stefan and Erin S
2023-10-09 15:48:45 +0000 UTCGreat episode! I have a new appreciation for this movie now! I hope somewhere down the line, you two cover Blade Runner and help answer my favorite debate of whether or not Deckard’s a replicant!
Sean Goettsche
2023-10-09 15:24:44 +0000 UTC
