Applying Carl Jung's Individuation In The Movie Inception

Yesterday, I decided to watch the movie Inception together with my wife regardless of my reluctance. Why? I do know that this film is quite complex yet interesting and requires one to fully comprehend every uttered word. But, my copy has no decent audio and subtitles. Thus, recognizing the movie’s transition was a feat for me. Nonetheless, I still handled the situation effectively –by putting my ears on the speakers, literally. Anyway, if you have had watched the movie Inception, you’ll certainly understand why I’m writing this down. At the same time, I know that you’re still wondering about the true meaning behind the ending of the movie. Don’t worry; we’re on the same page. However, I still managed to pull out, at least, some significant symbols in the movie that could somehow address the movie’s ambiguity.

The Inception Movie

A glimpse of the the world inside their dreams

Basically, we all know that at the latter part, Dom Cobb, portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio, is left in the limbo despite Ariadne’s (Ellen Page) encouragement to leave Mal (Marion Cotillar) behind. Unfortunately, due to Cobb’s refusal, we perceive Ariadne, Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), Eames (Tom Hardy), Yusuf (Dileep Rao), Mr. Fischer (Cillian Murphy) and the lawyer, Tom Berenger (Browning) as the only survivors. Hence, it is not a question that Cobb and Saito are the only ones left in the Limbo. Before we go further, we need to acknowledge what the latter is. Technically, Limbo is an expansion of infinite raw subconscious; a dream realm where reality is not existing. Personally, I do know the significance of Limbo because I had encountered the term during the creation of my college thesis. In fact, a noted individual in the realm of dreams and psychology, Carl Jung, made some references to the word and how it plays a big role in this line of expertise. Going back to the movie Inception, we now can embrace the truth behind Mal–Dobb’s wife who is having a REAL hard time configuring the difference between reality and dream. Actually, all of this happened due to Cobb injecting the notion between the two terms, which is evidently seen in the part where Dobb, Ariadne and Mal meet up.

According to Carl Jung, dream is a small door in the deepest yet most intimate chamber of one’s soul.

“It opens to that primeval cosmic night that was soul long before there was conscious ego and will be soul far beyond what a conscious ego could ever reach.” – Carl Jung (1875-1875)


An Effort To Apply Individuation

If you’ll devour further on Cobb’s distinction, you can clearly apply Jung’s theory about individuation. It is the psychological process of integrating the opposites; this is where the conscious and the unconscious enter. I know this is quite complicated and I’m even having a hard time explaining this little synthesized of mine. Nonetheless, let me go ahead and elaborate it on a subtle way. Literally, Dom Cobb is experiencing a labyrinth between reality (conscious) and dream (unconscious)–that is, fantasy –as the movie progresses. If we’re able to exercise the individuation theory, we’ll be able to process the central human development of Dom Cobb. Although it’s totally different from an actual application because in the movie the characters are able to immense into someone’s subconscious, the theory is still lethal. Jung believes that the human psyche is in nature religious or in layman’s term, full of symbolizations. And through dream analysis, we can decipher these given symbols.

Others who have entered the Limbo never came back

In the movie Inception, we can say that while they are dreaming, a mere submergence into the subconscious or the unconscious is evident. However, this submergence is disturbed when the dreamer (Extractors) or the conscious level is agitated. See how they come back to reality or, at least, to the previous level when water and/or other variable (bombing or loud noise) trouble them. Technically, the conscious and the unconscious, regardless of their distinctions, are interconnected and complement each other.




The Role of Individuation in the Movie's Ending

Through this, we are presented with the fact that Individuation is applied. But, is it a big deal if individuation is utilized? Or, would that answer the ambiguity of the movie’s ending? YES and NO. Yes, because through individuation we can now conceive the idea of what the ending is. However, it’s a NO because individuation and dream analysis can’t promise an exact template of what the subconscious and/or the symbols mean when applied in reality. Yet, this process can somehow pacify and value a person’s present dealings or actions (which are there because of the influence of past experiences like traumas, sufferings, etc.). One way or another, we can get a picture of why Dom Cobb is acting peculiar in the movie Inception. The truth behind the death of his wife, Mal, is the key answer. First, he admits that Mal’s death is, by any means, his fault.


Reality VS Dream

 “That the idea, which questions your reality, came from me. The reason I knew Inception’s possible was because I did it to her first. I did it to my own wife”

First, I apologize if I’m not exact with my quotations above and what the following phrases would be; my movie copy is really giving me a headache. Nonetheless, this is where we can ferret out Cobb’s guilt; the reason why her wife committed suicide was because of him. In the movie, we can witness Cobb and Mal gradually dreaming their selves into Limbo; they were as if gods to a perfect environment they have had created. In the long run, the couple started fabricating memories, making it hard for them to grasp the distinction between reality and dream. Thus, this is where conflicts began to arise. Cobb is slowly feeling dissatisfied–knowing that it is not real. Nevertheless, we can discern that Cobb still has that grip of reality despite the underlying influence of the new-found world. Sadly, her wife, Mal, is not in the same page. She continues to struggle and ultimately accepts it as her reality. Regardless of Cobb’s efforts to pacify the situation, it is too late for Mal. In here, Jung’s explanation of the human psyche’s ability to conjure images from the unconscious (or, the subconscious) and influence one’s conscious state is seen. And, this acknowledgment of dream as a reality could be the inevitable result from past experiences that are sullen and Mal, the devoured individual, found sanctuary in the form of Limbo. I can’t exactly say that it’s totally present in the movie, though, because there are only clips of that in the film. Now, Cobb acts as the mediator between MaI’s reality and dream. He tries to convince her of which is which, but to no avail. Thus, he is forced to exercise Inception to her while planting in her mind the idea that this world is not real. We can then see both Cobb and Mal in train tracks as they try to kill their selves to wake up. Unfortunately, Mal is overwhelmingly fueled to believe that she’s still dreaming and the only way to comprehend this is through “waking up”–committing suicide, that is.

If we’ll base it on Jung’s study, we can sense that Mal is indeed having trouble distinguishing reality from dream. According to him, our subconscious harness recurring images from our past experiences and, believe it or not, our past entity–the past human form we have–is also a factor. The subconscious is like a door, slightly open, where it lets out images to our conscious state despite our repressions and shunning. In Mal’s perspective, this recognition of dream as reality could be due to her past experience which helped her decide or accept in a conscious state. Confuse? Let me elaborate it: In the movie Inception, it’s clearly justifiable that the dream they built together is perfect–precisely perfect. The number of scenes where Cobb constantly remembers his moments with her wife is a proof. But, each of them has a different response or recognition with the current world they’re in. For Mal, she depicts it as the reality–a categorization different from Cobb. Why’s this? Somehow, perhaps in the past life of Mal, she went through a series of ghastly experiences. With this, her longing to eradicate or, at least, visualize what her world should be is amplified in the Limbo. Hence, she compromises with their situation; making a justification that she’s indeed in the real world when in fact it’s not; unconsciously, she’s accepting it that no matter how Cobb tries to convince her, she’s fixed. This is how our subconscious can influence our conscious state based past life –either we are aware or eaten by our self-made comprehensions. With or without Jung’s theory, we can say that the resulting effect on our mental state, when on this Limbo or dream, is very difficult to overcome; not to mention the difference of each world’s timeline where a 5 minutes in the real world can be an hour or so in the dream level (see how many activities the Extractor has done before the van totally splashed into the water). 

The Other Significant Symbol

Saito, "The Tourist"

On the other hand, one of the symbols that made this approach of mine fair is the French language song. Before I jumped into a conclusion about this musical piece, which signals the Extractors or dream team members to move to another dream level, I researched sites that links my queries about the Inception’s ending. And, as what I expected, I was informed that the French language song is Edith’s Piaf’s “Non, je ne regretted rien” or in English context, “No, I Regret Nothing.” Certainly, this is considered to be an essential symbol in the whole of the movie, Inception. Although the phrase would mean that there’s nothing to be remorseful of, we can collate that regret has something to do with the movie. Or, it could be that they (Extractors) have no regrets in pursuing the dream level. Inversely, we can suffice it from Cobb’s remorseful dealings because of what have had happened to his wife. So, what would be the significance of REGRETS in the movie Inception? Simple: This is a key factor to why Cobb is still struggling with his wife’s death. As I’ve discussed, the unconscious contains or thrusts images that we repressed for reasons that we don’t want to remember them. But, just like a door left ajar, these repressed images slowly find its way up to our conscious state; this stands as a reason for us to continue linger in our pasts. 

The Underlying Conclusion

In a nutshell, the movie Inception is really interesting in a way that there a number of approaches that can be used to fully understand the movie. I prefer using Jung’s theory and/or the psychological approach, though. Although I can’t totally reside on the conclusion that Cobb is still dreaming after that conversation with the 90-year old Saito and reunion with his kids, there are still other factors that can attribute to the real ending of the movie. One of these is when Cobb and Saito meet. As a matter of fact, they have both been stuck in the Limbo. However, they managed to recognize each other’s distinction despite their dilapidation in the Limbo’s time line. Eventually, we can see that Saito grabs his gun and the next transition happens, Cobb wakes up in the plane. My initial verdict is that both of them died in the Limbo and everything at the end is just a dream. The top, which is also a very significant symbol and distinction between reality and dream, never stops or, at least, wobbles yet still turns. Well, I guess, only Christopher Nolan can help us out from this underlying void. Nonetheless, with the presentation of facts and evidences, I can say that individuation is indeed applicable to somehow gather probabilities. Yes, probabilities of what the ending might be and/or what’s the real story behind the movie, Inception. With this, it completely makes the film merely interesting and a must-watch; it is really that interesting to a point where I am able to write this lengthy article. Trust me.