Here's the homework: a continuance of our conversation today. State who you believe the hero in Inception is, considering the part of the film we've watched. Back up your statement with examples from what we've discussed in class. The entire thing should be 100-200 words.
Thanks,
Jimmy Peterson
I would say that there are multiple heroes in inception, but I would also say that the most important hero is Cobb for basically no other reason than the fact that he is the main character. Yes, there are several other possible heroes (chiefly Ariadne), but the movie focuses on him the most and I have never read a story or seen a movie where the hero is a secondary character. I have seen the movie and I don’t want to give anything away, but Cobb definitively goes on the hero’s journey during the movie. We saw some of this today. I think some of the confusion as to what exactly Cobb’s hero’s journey is comes from the fact that he is going on two hero’s journeys. The first one is his journey trying to get over Mal, and this one is kind of hard to follow because it starts in the middle of it at the beginning of the movie. I know this because Mal’s death (and some other important stuff) happens some time before the beginning of the movie. His other hero’s journey is the same journey that every other possible hero in the movie takes. It is the plot of the movie. Basically it is going into the dream with Mr. Fisher’s son and doing all of the stuff they do to get him to do away with his father’s corporation. This hero’s journey is slightly different for Cobb because it does not culminate when the objective of the dream is achieved. The end of Cobb’s journey comes when he gets to go home. To summarize: Cobb is the hero because he is the main character, because his hero’s journeys are more developed than the hero’s journeys of others, and because his hero’s journeys are unique from those of others.
ReplyDeleteWhile Cobb and Ariadne are both heroes, I think Cobb is supposed to be the hero in Inception. Ariadne is not introduced until 20 minutes into the movie, and Cobb is the first face we see. Ariadne is introduced because of Cobb, while without Cobb the whole first part of the movie would not exist. The maker's of this film purposely set it up this way because Cobb is supposed to be the main hero, and identifying him first allows the reader to automatically associate him with being the main hero figure. I mean, there is a reason he's front and center on the cover.
ReplyDeleteI think that Cobb is the potential hero in this story. He is of course the “main character”, but also I think he’s the one that faces the most issues and through the film is trying to over come them or struggling to over come them. In the eye of the Hero’s Journey it’s obvious to me that he is the hero. He is a guy that must face many trials that weaken him in a way to eventually get to his goal of getting back home to his children. He has many mentor figures such as Arthur and probably the most important one, which is Ariandne. I say she isn’t the hero because she fits more into the mentor position than a hero. I think being the mentor she has some very heroic qualities and does some heroic things but her path through the film is to help out Cobb through his journey, which I see as a more mentor thing to do. Also a factor that is convincing that Cobb is the hero is the topic of the hero’s journey of something that weakens you that is the part of Cobb that can’t let go of his wife Mal which is obviously creating a huge issue for him and creating a very big trail that he must overcome as a hero.
ReplyDeleteI think that Cobb is the hero. At this point in the movie we have already started to see that there is a main plot but also many subplots. The main plot is focused on Cobb and his team trying to plant an idea in someone's head, but one of the subplots focuses on Cobb's crippling inability to let go of his deceased wife. I have never seen the movie before, but I feel like this subplot will continue to play an important role in the larger plot of the film. I also feel like it has the potential to force Cobb to through the hero's journey in an effort to preserve his sanity.
ReplyDeleteI think Cobb is the main hero in inception, but he is not the only one. Cobb has a rather obvious goal, going home to see his children. He must overcome several challenges in the beginning such as being chased by men trying to kill him. His main challenge and goal is to do inception on someone’s mind. Cobb’s aid may be Ariadne the Architect who is helping him complete the goal, and at the same time helping him overcome his internal struggles. Cobb’s call to adventure would be the helicopter scene where he is asked to do the job. We have yet to see the end to his journey, but Cobb is already the best choice for the movie's hero.
ReplyDeleteI feel, that like I said in class, Ariadne may be a hero and go through the hero’s journey, but Cobb is definitely The hero of Inception. For one, he is the first thing we see, aside from the spinning top thing, and the person we are supposed to identify with. For the identify part, a main part of the plot so far, is being able too see what goes on in his mind. Though we know barely anything about him in the beginning, and I thought he was almost on the same level as Arthur, we learn more as the film continues. We don’t really have that connection to the other characters, Arthur we know nothing about, except he’s pessimistic about inception. Ariadne, we only know that she think Cobb is not fit for the job and wants to find out what’s messed up in his subconscious. He also is the only one who believes in inception, except for the guy that hired him. In the hero’s journey, a major part of the descent into the underworld and the call to adventure, is that the hero is connected to something weird. And everyone else rejects this weird aspect. For inception, it is his belief that inception is possible. And separates him from everyone else, until he explains it.
ReplyDeleteWhile Ariadne seems to have a solid fit to the heroes journey formula so far, I still think that the main hero is Cobb. This is because he has a lot more connection to the quest. Cobb has to achieve inception to get the murder of his wife off of his hands, so that he can go back to his kids. I think that it is possible for both of them to be heroes. For Ariadne the arrival of Cobb is the Call to Adventure and the Supernatural Aid rolled into one and the first threshold is when she messes with the dream. Cobb's call to adventure is the rich Asian guy who wants to do inception on the heir to the power company and his Supernatural aid is the old guy in the school (his father I think). Cobb's first threshold is getting his team together. The Belly of the Beast for both of them is when they are in the plane, entering the young heir's dreams.
ReplyDeleteI would say that Cobb is the main hero in Inception. While Ariadne is introduced to the dream world and changes more in that perspective, Cobb is the one with the trials of his wife and the job to get back to his kids. Cobb already had experience with the dream world, but his journey into the unknown is when he starts experimenting with inception which was previously thought to be impossible. His ego is already stripped because of his incident with his wife that humiliated him, but his ego has to be stripped even further by Ariadne to get rid of the little pride he had left by keeping his wife in his dreams. She makes him confront his inner demons. Based on the title and plot of the story, the main goal is inception, and Cobb is the one with the help of the others who has to achieve it. Ultimately, he is the only one who has to enlighten himself to be able to come back to a better world with his kids.
ReplyDeleteI think there are two heroes in Inception namely Ariadne and Cobb, but I think that Cobb is the character that the writers had intended to be the hero. I think Cobb is the hero because the plot follows him more deeply, and it seems to me he has more character depth than Ariadne does. Cobb’s journey is to get back to his children, while Ariadne’s journey is to piece together what the dream world is and figure out Cobb’s past. It seems to me that Ariadne and the person watching the movie are similar because her journey is what the person watching movie is doing while watching the movie. So basically I think Cobb is the hero because he is the central character, and so far he seems to go through all the parts of the journey a hero is supposed to do.
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ReplyDeleteI agree with all the comments before mine that Cobb is the hero. The most obvious proof of this is that he is the main character – the character with the most visible journey and struggle. He is the focus of the movie and the leader of the team of supporting characters. So far, he has experienced a call to adventure when he was asked to do a job by the powerful kind-of-old guy with the accent. He crossed a threshold by deciding to attempt Inception and by meeting a second time with the boss guy. He has a clear goal: to return to his children in the US. He will definitely undergo more trials, and the main dangers so far have come from his wife, within his own subconscious. He will cross the final threshold when he puts the dream-crime victim to sleep. - Logan
ReplyDeleteI don't necessarily believe that the central character in any type of story is the heroic figure, but I do think that it's pretty clear that Cobb is the most obvious hero of Inception even though Ariadne and Arthur (Joseph Gordon Levitt?) also show promising qualities of a hero. His call to adventure is when the Asian guy (sorry I don't know his character's name) challenges Cobb to make "inception" happen. Throughout his journey so far and possibly as a whole, Cobb is faced with the trials of getting back to his children and the death of his wife, Mal, whose memory Cobb must work to overcome on his hero's journey.
ReplyDeleteIt’s difficult to call anybody a hero in this film. The journey really isn’t about saving anybody. You could count Saito on his quest to save his company (by getting rid of competition). Or I guess saving the world from a company getting a monopoly on energy… Because the adventure in itself is not exactly noble, I would say that Cobb is the hero. He’s trying to get his life back and be there for his kids, and I suppose that is heroic in a way. Also, he is clearly the main protagonist. He’s the one everyone is rooting for. The other characters may go on journeys that draw parallels with that of a hero, but they are not the main focus, and they are not really saving anything.
ReplyDeleteYou could argue for both Cobb and Ariadne for this movie. They both have quests and have aspects of a hero but I'm going to have to pick Ariadne. First, I see more aspects of the Hero's Journey in her quest more than Cobb's. We never see a call to adventure for Cobb but that happens to Ariadne when she is introduced to the dream world. Cobb has no mentor(while his father could have been a mentor, he would be a mentor in a prequel when the father is introducing Cobb to the dream world) while Cobb's team could be Ariadne's mentor because they know about the dream world and she is new to it. They both have a belly of the beast when Cobb excepts Sido's job and when Ariadne goes down in the dream with them despite the dangers. Ariadne has more aspects of the Hero's journey. Looking at it not from the Hero's Journey the audience is always with Ariadne. We are with Ariadne as she goes into Cobb's dream to see what's going on; we are not with Cobb watching Ariadne coming down into his dream. All of these aspects make her the obvious hero.
ReplyDeleteI think that Cobb is the hero because he has the goal of wanting to go back to his children to drive him on his journey. He also has deep personal issues that I assume he will get over or work through by the end of the movie. This essentially the odyssey to me because he is starting away from home and he is performing difficult tasks and overcoming challenges so he can go home. It seams at this point that he will get some type of closure with his issues pertaining to his life. His character has a definite heroic journey lined up for him to go through. Ariana seems like a background character who was used to introduce Cobb's issues. She is like the goddess figure that is meant to guide the hero and aid him on his journey home. She also gives what I call the secondary call to adventure when she tells Cobb that he needs to work through his issues. Arian sets up the subplot of the film. While she does not undergo her own heroic journey, she plays a key role in Cobb's
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