Thursday, June 20, 2019

"Inception": exegesis

YouTube channel New Rockstars has an interesting unpacking of Christopher Nolan's 2010 "Inception." This is probably of more interest to "Inception" fan Charles than it is to me:


I was much more fascinated by NR's exploration of "The Matrix":






3 comments:

Charles said...

That was a good Inception breakdown. I had heard some of it before, such as the film being a metaphor for film making, and most of the symbolism in the film itself I had already gotten, but there was enough new stuff in there to keep me interested, and I like how he put everything together.

(One thing I only noticed while watching this video: When Arthur is tumbling around the hotel hallway, you can see the floor number in the background next to the elevator... 5.)

I'll watch the Matrix one, too, when I get the chance. This guy seems to be pretty legit.

Kevin Kim said...

I learned a lot from the "Inception" video, mainly since I've seen the movie only once and haven't thought deeply about it. Learned a bit less from the "Matrix" video, given that I used to be all over that movie for its philosophical and religious references. As you said about the "Inception" vid, though, the "Matrix" video did have some new ideas for me to think about. I might need to watch it again so as to digest it better.

It makes for an interesting cultural-anthropology issue, though: this whole subclass of film nerds who serve as exegetes of pop culture, explaining the "text" of films in a way the hoi polloi can understand. Film nerd as interpreter of the Word.

Charles said...

Yep. Just watched the Matrix video, and I definitely learned less from that, having read a lot (and even written) about the philosophical themes. Still, I found it quite enjoyable.

And it is indeed an interesting cultural anthropology issue. It bleeds over into the "video essay" genre as well. At some point I want to do a deeper dive into YouTube for a paper on digital folklore--once I finish the million other things I need to do before that.