If you were to boil down the cultural footprint Christopher Nolan‘s Inception left on popular culture, you’re likely going to get three answers: the loud brass-heavy soundtrack that pops up in almost every action movie trailer these days, people going “oh that’s that dream movie”, and endless debates and requests for answers on the film’s final ending scene with the spinning top.
Speaking of popular movies, the GOAT team dive deep into the MCU on ‘It’s Been A Big Day For…’ below:
The question of whether Leonardo DiCaprio‘s character, Dom Cobb. was still dreaming or not during the final scene of Inception has sparked many conversations in the years since the film’s 2010 release, and the buzz has only intensified since Christopher Nolan refused to explain or give any straight answer as to its meaning.
We eventually did get a pretty definitive answer about Inception‘s spinning top ending courtesy of Michael Caine many years later. But the thing most people missed is that the answer for the final scene was in front of us the entire time. And surprisingly, it actually has nothing to do with the spinning top.
While everyone is to busy focusing on the spinning top – and keeping track of what exactly is going on – throughout Inception, the thing most people fail to keep an eye on is Dom’s wedding ring.
You see, Dom’s wedding ring disappears and reappears depending on whether he’s in a dream. In real-life, he’s not wearing the ring. But in a dream, he’s always wearing one because his ex-wife, Mal, still haunts his dreams and he still thinks they’re married due to the guilt he feels over her death.
If you keep an eye on Dom’s ring finger during the ending of Inception, you’ll notice that he’s not wearing a ring, which is a pretty clear-cut answer that his reunion with his children is real and not a dream.
Having said all that. all this debate for answers about Inception‘s ending ultimately misses the entire point of the film’s final scene anyway.
As much as we want to know whether that spinning top falls over or keeps going in the final moments of Inception, Leonardo DiCaprio’s character doesn’t care about whether he’s in a dream or not anymore because he’s just happy to be with his children and is finally able to walk away from the guilt of his wife’s death. Symbolism amirite?
But hey, some people just want to know if Leo is still dreaming or not at the end of Inception so here’s your TL:DR answer to that question: no he’s not dreaming but you’re missing the point of the final scene if you’re asking this question.
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