Inception

(background:#e3eBec)[''(align:"=><=")[ Welcome!]'' The following choose-your-own-adventure story walks you through an example of the beginning stages of working on the Research Project for Humanities Core. * Read the story and make decisions along the way of what to do next. The story will change according to the decisions you make. * There are no right or wrong answers. Each choice you make will take you to a different part of the story, but all paths will eventually lead to a conclusion. * The entire story should take about 10-15 minutes. * Parts of the story will lead you through using some research tools. Feel free to open up another window or tab and try these techniques out along the way. * At the end of the story, you will be prompted to complete a short reflection on the exercise. Your seminar instructor will provide instructions about if and how to submit this reflection for participation credit. (align:"=><=")+(box:"==XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX===")[[Let's Go!|Scenario]] * <a href="pdf/HumCoreInceptionSim.pdf" target="blank">PDF Version of the Tutorial </a> * <a href="https://www.lib.uci.edu/accessibility" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Accessibility Needs </a> ]

(background:#e3eBec)[ You were hanging out with your friends over the weekend and you ended up watching the movie //Inception// (2010) for the first time. While you were watching, you thought… could this be a good primary source for your Humanities Core project? <img src="images/Inception-poster.jpg" width="233" height="334" alt="poster of the film Inception foregrounds six people in a city that seems to be folding in on itself"/> You remember that the primary source is supposed to relate to worldbuilding, and your initial thought is that this film definitely fits. Science fiction, literally building worlds within dreams, questions about reality… surely you’ll be able to find something in here for your paper. When you get home, you think - you weren’t really paying that much attention to the film when you were watching it with your friends, so it might be a good idea to just watch it again and take good notes. Or maybe you should just start with some basic background research about the film first. What do you want to do next? * [[Re-watch the film and take notes|Rewatch]] * [[Do some background research first|Background]] ]

(background:#e3eBec)[ ''You decide to re-watch the film.'' Before renting the movie on Amazon, you check to see if the library has it for free - and it’s your lucky day, because <a href="https://uci.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01CDL_IRV_INST/1go3t9q/alma991035080410704701" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">''they do''</a>! You also find a <a href="https://imsdb.com/scripts/Inception.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">''script of the film online'',</a>, and that might be helpful later. <img src="images/UCLS-Inception.png" alt="UC Library Search result displays online availability of film Inception"/> You decide to take notes while you watch. Mosly, you are on the lookout for thematic elements and maybe things that might relate to worldbuilding. When you’re done watching the movie, you have a page or so of notes, along with some questions about parts that confused you. You aren’t really sure what to do next. Maybe you could organize your notes into a mind map or something. Or maybe this is a good time to see if there are good reviews that can give you hints on how to interpret this film. What do you want to do? * [[Make a Mind Map|Map]] * [[Look up some reviews|Reviews]] ]

(background:#e3eBec)[ ''You decide that you want to do a little bit of preliminary research on Inception before you really invest more time into re-watching the film.'' Because it’s really early on in the process, you decide to just do a simple internet search. The first thing you see is a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inception" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">''Wikipedia article about Inception''</a> (despite your high school teachers telling you to not use Wikipedia, this seems like a reasonable first step). The article is pretty robust, and has a lot of information about the making of the film, and also discusses some themes. One section called "Reality and Dreams" references an article that discusses how Inception relates to the works of Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guttari. This sounds like it would be a scholarly article. Maybe you can look that up. Or maybe you should watch the film again and take some notes. What do you want to do next? * [[Look up the scholarly article|Background-Scholarly]] * [[Rewatch the film and take notes|Rewatch]] ]

(background:#e3eBec)[ ''You choose to make a mind map.'' You take a look at your notes and put them all on a separate sheet of paper, into a loose mind map to explore if certain themes or elements might be connected. The process is interesting. While you create the map, you start to fill it in with various ideas and questions from the film. You start to make some connections. After a few rounds of playing with the map, you arrive at something like this: <img src="images/map.png" alt="Mindmap that demonstrates a brainstorming strategy by noting important characters and theme" /> <a href="images/map.png" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">''Click to open image above full-size in new window''</a> This was more fruitful than you thought it would be. You find that you have a lot of questions based on your mind map, and a few clusters begin to emerge. You’re not sure how it all connects yet, but maybe you can start to explore one of these clusters. Two that stand out to you as having concrete things to research further are (1) the cluster around dreams and the subconscious, and (2) the cluster around Ariadne. What do you want to explore next? * [[Ariadne and her role|Ariadne]] * [[The idea of dreams/subconscious|Dreams]] ]

(background:#e3eBec)[ ''You decide to look up some film reviews.'' You find reviews like <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/16/movies/16inception.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">''this one from the NY Times''</a>, that were written in 2010 when the film was released. It occurs to you that these reviews were probably intended for people trying to decide whether they want to see the film. You scroll further in your results list and find <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/7/18/21328590/inception-review-rec-still-slaps-ten-years-later" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">''this one on Vox''</a>, which then links to <a href="https://slate.com/culture/2010/07/five-ways-of-looking-at-inception.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">''this other article on Slate''</a>, which has interesting theories, including one about the entire film being a metaphor for the “dreamlike” quality of filmmaking. You decide to bookmark that article for later. You’re not sure what to do next. Should you go back through your notes from the film, and then maybe brainstorm next steps? Or maybe you’re missing something. Maybe you want to make an appointment with a librarian? What do you want to do next? * [[Brainstorm next steps|map4]] * [[Talk to a librarian|Librarian]] ]

(background:#e3eBec)[ ''You decide to look up the scholarly article.'' You look at the references section of the Wikipedia article and find this article, which seems promising: Paul, Ian Alan. “Desiring-Machines in American Cinema: What Inception tells us about our experience of reality and film,” //Senses of Cinema//, Issue 56, October 2010, <a href="http://www.sensesofcinema.com/2010/feature-articles/desiring-machines-in-american-cinema-what-inception-tells-us-about-our-experience-of-reality-and-film/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">www.sensesofcinema.com/2010/feature-articles/desiring-machines-in-american-cinema-what-inception-tells-us-about-our-experience-of-reality-and-film/</a>. You skim the article, but it is difficult to understand. Several sections seem to bring up other films and scholars or philosophers that you aren’t familiar with. The only part you think you understand is a section that talks about the main character, Cobb, and his trauma and guilt surrounding his wife’s suicide. The article says something about this meaning Cobb is an unreliable narrator, but you’re not sure you follow the reasoning yet. Looking up this particular article wasn’t as helpful as you thought it might be. What should you do next? * [[Go back and rewatch the film now and take notes|Rewatch]] * [[Try to look up different scholarly articles on Inception|Background-Scholarly-2]] ]

(background:#e3eBec)[ ''You decide to look up more scholarly articles'' You look on the <a href="https://guides.lib.uci.edu/humcore/home" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">''Humanities Core Research Guide''</a>, and based on the descriptions of various databases, you figure you should just start with <a href="https://uci.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?vid=01CDL_IRV_INST:UCI&sortby=rank" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">''UC Library Search''</a>, because it says it will search all of the UC libraries and will find books as well as journal articles. You don’t really know what to search for, so you type in “Inception.” <img src="images/UCLS-Inception-book.png" alt="UC Library Search result displays online availability of book //Inception// by David Carter" /> You’re lucky! One of your first results is an online book about the film that has several chapters, including a chapter about “Dream and Cinema,” and another chapter called that seems to explore myth in the film. Which of these chapters do you want to look into? * [[Dreams and Cinema|Dreams and Cinema]] * [[Myth|Myth]] ]

(background:#e3eBec)[ ''You skim the chapter on “Dreams and Cinema.”'' While you don’t entirely follow the argument at first glance, there are a few ideas that seem like good leads. One term is “oneiric film theory,” which apparently has to do with dreams or dreamlike qualities in film, including how film itself can be seen as dreamlike. Another idea is to pursue aspects of dream theory from Freud and Jung - the article mentions concepts like “Projections” and “Symbolism” and “Archetypes” in dreams, and how these concepts might function in the film. You make a note to look further into these ideas, but for now, you feel like you need to watch the film again and actually take some notes before some of these scholarly articles make sense. [[Rewatch the film|Rewatch2]] ]

(background:#e3eBec)[ ''You skim the chapter called “Further Lines of Inquiry,” which discusses myth. '' The chapter talks about the myth of Theseus and Ariadne as well as the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. In the film, Ariadne is a character - the architect who joins the team to build the worlds where the “inception” will take place. In myth, Ariadne was the daughter of King Minos, who had Athenian youths sent to his labyrinth (built by Daedalus) every 9 years to be eaten by a Minotaur. Ariadne helped one of these boys, Theseus, escape the labyrinth by giving him some thread. In the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, Orpheus falls in love with Eurydice, who dies and is sent to Hades. Orpheus goes down to Hades to find Eurydice, and Hades agrees to let Eurydice go only as long as Orpheus never turns around to check to see if she’s following him. Of course, he does turn around, and she is trapped in Hades forever. It seems very interesting to you that these myths might be at play in the film, but you honestly think you need to re-watch the film to remember things… [[Rewatch the film|Rewatch3]] ]

(background:#e3eBec)[ ''You decide to explore the role of Ariadne in the film.'' Ariadne is interesting because you recognize the name from Greek myths that you learned about when you were a kid. You Google “Ariadne in Greek mythology” and find a few pages to jog your memory. Ariadne was the daughter of King Minos, who had Athenian youths sent to his labyrinth (built by Daedalus) every 9 years to be eaten by a Minotaur. Ariadne helped one of these boys, Theseus, escape the labyrinth by giving him some thread. She is later abandoned by Theseus on the island Naxos, and she eventually marries the god Dionysus. In the film, Ariadne is an architect, and she is “discovered” for her ability to create complex mazes in a short amount of time. Cobb does a lot of explaining to her about how dreams work in the introductory scenes with Ariadne - to the point where Ariadne is supposedly learning about dreams, but so is the audience (she has an extradiegetic function). You also noticed that there were only two women characters in the film - Ariadne (the architect) and Mal (Cobb’s deceased wife, but also his nemesis in a way). Ariadne is the only person who follows Cobb to his deeper subconscious where Mal “lives.” You wonder if there is any research already done on Ariadne in Inception. [[Continue|Ariadne-Research]] ]

(background:#e3eBec)[ ''You want to explore how dreams or the subconscious work in //Inception//.'' In order to do this, you think you need to get a better understanding of the idea of dreams or the subconscious in general. You do a general Google search about dreams and subconscious, but it seems like most current psychologists no longer follow the works of Freud or Jung, who were early theorists in dream interpretation. However, when you add the word “film” to your searches, you see something interesting. It seems like there are some conversations happening around the idea of dreams and film, sometimes using the term “oneiric film theory,” which apparently has to do with dreams or dreamlike qualities in film, including how film itself can be seen as dreamlike. There also seems to be a conversation about dream symbolism in film. There is another set of conversations happening around psychoanalysis and film. What do you want to look up next? * [[Dreams and film|Dreams-film]] * [[Psychoanalysis and film|Psych-film]] ]

(background:#e3eBec)[ ''You decide to look into this idea of dreams and film more closely, exploring some secondary sources.'' You remind yourself of how to organize keywords for databases using the <a href="https://sites.google.com/uci.edu/humcore-research/secondary-source-toolkit/keywords" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">''Humanities Core Research Tutorial''</a> site. You think one concept idea here is “dreams.” You wonder whether or not you should also include words like “subconscious” or “unconscious,” but you decide to wait The second concept is “film,” and you decide to also include the word “cinema” or maybe even the word “movie.” You aren’t really sure where to start, so you take a quick look at the <a href="https://guides.lib.uci.edu/humcore/home" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">''Humanities Core Research Guide''</a> for some descriptions of various databases. You notice that if you want to search for books and articles at the same time, you should use <a href="https://uci.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?vid=01CDL_IRV_INST:UCI&sortby=rank" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">''UC Library Search''</a>. But maybe you want to look in databases for articles only first. What do you want to do next? * [[Look in UC Library Search|Dreams-film-UCLS]] * [[Look in a database|Dreams-film-database]] ]

(background:#e3eBec)[ ''You make an appointment for a research consultation with a Humanities Core librarian.'' After talking through the assignment and your research path so far, the librarian asks you about what kind of analysis you’ve done with your primary source (the movie), and what research question you are asking. You work together to map out some of the things you noticed in the film, and then you work on it some more when you get home. You end up with something like this: <img src="images/map.png" alt="Mindmap that demonstrates a brainstorming strategy by noting important characters and theme" /> <a href="images/map.png" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">''Click to open image above full-size in new window''</a> This was more fruitful than you thought it would be. You find that you have a lot of questions based on your mind map, and a few clusters begin to emerge. You’re not sure how it all connects yet, but maybe you can start to explore one of these clusters. Two that stand out to you as having concrete things to research further are (1) the cluster around dreams and the subconscious, and (2) the cluster around Ariadne. What do you want to explore next? * [[Ariadne and her role|Ariadne]] * [[The idea of dreams/subconscious|Dreams]] ]

(background:#e3eBec)[ ''You decide to look in UC Library Search.'' You open up UC Library Search and click on “Advanced Search.” You enter your keywords in two groups: dreams film OR cinema OR movies <img src="images/UCLS-dreams-film.png" alt="UC Library Search advanced search shows one box with the word dreams and a second box with the words film OR cinema OR movies" /> You scan the first few pages of results, and you find some interesting titles, including these: * //Dreams 1900-2000: science, art, and the unconscious mind// (2000) * //Dreamscapes in Italian cinema// (2015) * //Dreams in myth, medicine, and movies// (2002) * //Jung & film: post Jungian takes on the moving image// (2001) [[Continue|Dreams-film-ULCS-2]] ]

(background:#e3eBec)[ ''You decide to search the database <a href="https://www.jstor.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">JSTOR</a>, since it seems very interdisciplinary.'' You open it up and click on “Advanced Search.” You enter your keywords in two groups: dreams film OR cinema OR movies <img src="images/JSTOR-dreams-film.png" alt="JSTOR Advanced Search shows one box with the word dreams and another box with the words film OR cinema OR movies" /> You find some promising leads! There is a book chapter called “Dreams and Cinema” in a book about Inception, and there are also several articles: * “Film and Dream” from //Journal of the University Film Association// (1980) * “Dreams in Films and Films as Dreams: Surrealism and Popular American Cinema” from //Canadian Journal of Film Studies// (2015) * “Dream Work” by Christopher Nolan and Amy Taubin in the journal //Film Comment// (2010) [[Continue|Dreams-film-db-2]] ]

(background:#e3eBec)[ ''You decide to look into this idea of psychoanalysis and film more closely, exploring some secondary sources.'' You remind yourself of how to organize keywords for databases using the <a href="https://sites.google.com/uci.edu/humcore-research/secondary-source-toolkit/keywords" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">''Humanities Core Research Tutorial''</a> site. You think one concept idea here is “psychoanalysis.” You wonder whether or not you should also include words that are broader like “psychology” but you decide to wait for now. The second concept is “film,” and you decide to also include the word “cinema” or maybe even the word “movie.” You aren’t really sure where to start, so you take a quick look at the <a href="https://guides.lib.uci.edu/humcore/home" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">''Humanities Core Research Guide''</a> for some descriptions of various databases. You notice that if you want to search for books and articles at the same time, you should use <a href="https://uci.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?vid=01CDL_IRV_INST:UCI&sortby=rank" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">''UC Library Search''</a>. But maybe you want to look in databases for articles only first. What do you want to do next? * [[Look in UC Library Search|Psych-film-UCLS]] * [[Look in a database|Psych-film-database]] ]

(background:#e3eBec)[ You feel like doing this scan gave you a sense that there is definitely a scholarly conversation on the idea of dreams in film that you could tap into later if you choose. You know that maybe if you explore one of these and check out the bibliography you might also find more leads. After all, it seems that there really should be a lot written about dreams and film, and maybe it will help you with your analysis. On the other hand, maybe you should do a search to see if there are any books on this topic? After all, you’ve only looked for articles in one database. Or… maybe you want to pause this line of inquiry right now because you know you can dig deeper later, and go back to exploring the related idea of psychoanalysis in film next, to see if that scholarly conversation might help you focus your inquiry on dreams. What do you want to do next? * [[Check out the bibliography of one of these articles you already found|Dreams-film-database-bib]] * [[Do this same search in another database|Dreams-film-UCLS]] * [[Explore the related topic of psychoanalysis in film|Psych-film]] ]

(background:#e3eBec)[ You feel like doing this scan gave you a sense that there is definitely a scholarly conversation on the idea of dreams in film that you could tap into later if you choose. You know that maybe if you explore one of these and check out the bibliography you might also find more leads. After all, it seems that there really should be a lot written about dreams and film, and maybe it will help you with your analysis. On the other hand, maybe you should do a search in article databases - after all, what you’ve found so far in UC Library Search are books. Or… maybe you want to pause this line of inquiry right now because you know you can dig deeper later, and go back to exploring the related idea of psychoanalysis in film next, to see if that scholarly conversation might help you focus your inquiry on dreams. What do you want to do next? * [[Check out the bibliography of one of these books you already found|Dreams-film-book-bib]] * [[Do this same search in another database|Dreams-film-database]] * [[Explore the related topic of psychoanalysis in film|Psych-film]] ]

(background:#e3eBec)[ ''You decide to check out the bibliography of one of these books you already found.'' The book <a href="https://uci.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01CDL_IRV_INST/17uq3m8/alma991015473509704701" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">/''/Dreamscapes in Italian Cinema//''</a> is available online, and it looks like it has some promising chapters. Even though the examples they use are from Italian films (and //Inception// is definitely not an Italian film), there is a chapter called “Life is a Dream,” and there are other chapters that discuss how dreams function in film. There is a rich bibliography that leads you to other books such as Film and Theory: An Anthology, which has chapters like “The Orthypsychic Subject: Film Theory and the Reception of Lacan,” which seems to tie into psychoanalytic theory. Other titles that catch your attention include: * //Film and the Dream Screen: A Sleep and a Forgetting// (1984) * //Dreams on Film: The Cinematic Struggle between Art and Science// (2003) * //Endless Night: Cinema and Psychoanalysis// (1999) You feel like you have a good body of work to start with in investigating dreams and film. Most of these seem like books so far. Do you want to see if there are any articles on dreams and film? Also, you remember that earlier in your research you’d also considered researching psychoanalysis and film also. This introductory research on dreams and film seems to show that it's related to psychoanalysis and film. Do you want to look into that now? Or do you want to stop for now and take stock of what you’ve done so far with this research process? What do you want to do next? * [[Look in a database for articles on dreams and film|Dreams-film-database]] * [[Explore psychoanalysis and film|Psych-film]] * [[Stop looking for secondary sources for now, and start thinking about what connections you are going to make|Yay-Dreams]] ]

(background:#e3eBec)[ ''You decide to check out the bibliography of one of these articles you already found.'' You start with “Dream Work” by Christopher Nolan and Amy Taubin in the journal //Film Comment// (2013), because you are pretty sure this is related specifically to the film Inception. When you open the article in JSTOR, you notice that this is not exactly a journal article - it appears to be an interview in a magazine. However, JSTOR has a number of articles linked in the “Related articles” section, including these: * “The Lost Unconscious: Delusions and Dreams in Inception” from //Film Quarterly// (2011) * “Socratic Film: Three films by Christopher Nolan” from //Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism// (2016) * “The Building and Blurring of Worlds: Sound, Space, and Complex Narrative Cinema” from the book //World Building// (2017) These all seem like very good leads, and you feel like you have a good body of work to start with in investigating dreams and film. Again, most of these seem like articles. Do you want to see if there are any books on dreams and film? Also, you remember that earlier in your research you’d also considered researching psychoanalysis and film also. Do you want to look into that now? Or do you want to stop for now and take stock of what you’ve done so far with this research process? What do you want to do next? * [[Look for books on dreams and film|Dreams-film-UCLS]] * [[Explore psychoanalysis and film|Psych-film]] * [[Stop looking for secondary sources for now, and start thinking about what connections you are going to make|Yay-Dreams]] ]

(background:#e3eBec)[ ''You decide to see if you can find some articles or reviews that talk about Ariadne.'' You want to search quickly and broadly, so you just hop on Google Scholar and keyword search with the words “Inception” and “film” and “Ariadne” to start with. <img src="images/GoogleScholar-ariadne.png" alt="Google Scholar search with terms inception film ariadne and excerpt from results list" /> You scan through the first two pages of results. One article looks promising: <a href="https://psyartjournal.com/article/show/vukovic-legendary_caesar_and_the_architect_ariad" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">''“Legendary Caesar and Architect Ariadne: Narrative, Myth, and Psychology in Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins and Inception.”''</a> The abstract says that the article uses a Lacanian framework to do a psychological analysis of the film, paying particular attention to how Nolan uses classical myth as an intertext. The idea seems promising. You could dive right in, or you could continue your search… What do you want to do? * [[Read the article and see if it gives you more directions of how to interpret the film|Ariadne-Research-Read]] * [[Look for more articles that have to do with Ariadne|Ariadne-Research-2]] ]

(background:#e3eBec)[ ''You decide to read the article "Legendary Caesar and Architect Ariadne: Narrative, Myth, and Psychology in Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins and Inception.”'' You skim through the article, which seems to make some interesting points, although you don’t fully understand it because you are not too familiar with the concept of Lacanian psychoanalysis. The article also discusses the genre of film noir, which you might need to look up, because it argues that Inception’s use of labyrinths, a crime plot, a femme fatale character, and nonlinear narrative relate to this genre. In terms of the myth, the article discusses how Cobb, the “hero” of the story, is Theseus from the myth, and Mal is the minotaur. The character Ariadne then plays the role of both the architect (Daedalus) as well as the guide (Ariadne). That’s an interesting idea that you might be able to pursue - it might be interesting to go back to the film and do a more careful analysis of how this plays out. You note several promising sources from the bibliography also, including these: * “The Lost Unconscious: Delusions and Dreams in Inception” in the journal Film Quarterly. * “Psychoanalytic Film Theory” in the book A Companion to Film Theory. (1999) * Puzzle Films: Complex Storytelling in Contemporary Cinema (2009) * Introduction to the Reading of Lacan: The Unconscious Structured like a Language (1997) You might want to start with that “Lost Unconscious” article, since it seems to be directly related to Inception. On the other hand, maybe you could learn more by broadening out to really explore psychoanalysis in film in general. That might help you do your own analysis on Inception. What do you want to do next? * [[Look up the “Lost Unconscious” article|Lost-unconscious]] * [[Look into psychoanalysis and film|Psych-film]] ]

(background:#e3eBec)[ ''You continue to scan for articles dealing with Ariadne in the film.'' You find <a href="http://journaldialogue.org/issues/issue-1/the-labyrinth-of-memory-iphigeneia-simonides-and-classical-models-of-architecture-as-mind-in-chris-nolans-inception-2010/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">''“The Labyrinth of Memory: Iphigeneia, Simonides, and Classical Models of Architecture as Mind in Chris Nolan’s Inception”''</a> which seems to discuss each of the main characters - Dom, Mal, and Ariadne - in terms of psychology and architecture by relating them to three works from Greek classical literature. This does seem promising, although maybe a little more difficult to understand than the other article. The other articles in the result list don’t specifically seem to be about Ariadne, but you see other potential threads. It seems like psychoanalysis, especially in understanding dreams and trauma in Inception, are frequent topics. Maybe you should go back to that first article on Ariadne and read it a bit. That might have some better leads. Or maybe it would be better to look more at psychoanalysis instead? What do you want to do next? * [[Read the article and see if it gives you more directions of how to interpret the film|Ariadne-Research-Read]] * [[Investigate Inception and psychoanalysis|inception-psychoanalysis]] ]

(background:#e3eBec)[ ''You decide to look into the article “The Lost Unconscious: Delusions and Dreams in Inception.”'' You notice that this <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/fq.2011.64.3.37" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">''article opens up on the JSTOR''</a>, and immediately, you see “related articles” that give you further leads. <img src="images/JSTOR-lost-unconscious.png" alt="JSTOR displays the article text plus related articles" /> You scan through the article’s bibliography and see other sources related to dreams in film, including titles like these: * “Socratic Film: Three films by Christopher Nolan” from Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism (2016) * “Dreams and Cinema” from the Book Inception (2019) * “The Building and Blurring of Worlds: Sound, Space, and Complex Narrative Cinema” from the book World Building (2017) These all seem like very good leads, and you feel like there is definitely a scholarly conversation around the ideas of dreams and film. Do you want to look into that now? Or do you want to stop for now and take stock of what you’ve done so far with this research process? What do you want to do next? * [[Keep exploring dreams and film|Dreams-film]] * [[Stop looking for secondary sources for now, and start thinking about what connections you are going to make|Yay-Ariadne]] ]

(background:#e3eBec)[ ''You decide to investigate Inception and psychoanalysis.'' You start with just a Google Scholar search, using the terms “Inception” and “psychoanalysis,” but the results seem to not be about the film, so you add the director’s name, “Nolan.” This time you get some results that seem promising. <img src="images/GoogleScholar-psychoanalysis.png" alt="Google Scholar search for inception nolan psychoanalysis yield several results" /> The first article, called “The Lost Unconscious: Delusions and Dreams in Inception” seems like a solid place to start. But you also see the one called “Translating Psychoanalysis: The Interpretation of Dreams in Mulholland Drive and Inception,” and that also seems like a very good lead, too. What do you want to do next? * [[Look into “The Lost Unconscious”|Lost-unconscious]] * [[Look into “Translating Psychoanalysis”|masters-thesis]] ]

(background:#e3eBec)[ ''You decide to look into “Translating Psychoanalysis: The Interpretation of Dreams in Mulholland Drive and Inception.”'' This appears to be someone’s thesis, so you’re not sure how this fits in with a published “scholarly conversation,” but as you scan it, you find some very interesting references in the bibliography, including titles like these: * //The Imaginary Signifier: Psychoanalysis and the Cinema// (1982) * //Endless Night: Cinema and Psychoanalysis// (1999) * //Femmes Fatales: Feminism, Film Theory, Psychoanalysis// (1991) It occurs to you that there is a broad conversation out there about film and psychoanalysis, beyond just the film Inception. Do you want to look into that now? Or maybe you want to track that other article you saw in your Google Scholar Search - the one about the “Lost Unconscious” and Inception. Or do you want to stop for now and take stock of what you’ve done so far with this research process? What do you want to do next? * [[Keep exploring|Psych-film]] * [[Track down the “Lost Unconscious” article|Lost-unconscious]] * [[Stop looking for secondary sources for now, and start thinking about what connections you are going to make|Yay-Ariadne]] ]

(background:#e3eBec)[ ''You stop to take stock of what you’ve done so far with your research.'' At this point, you are well on your way in terms of getting your research started. //Inception// is very likely to be a viable primary source, and you’ve done a preliminary scan of some secondary sources, so you have a bit of an idea of what’s “out there.” These won’t be your final sources, but you have a sense that there are sources you can start to engage with. Now what? To further your inquiry, you could dig deeper into the film itself. Remember - you’ve learned something about film analysis, but you haven’t done that yet. Maybe spending time with the film will further your research? Or, you could dig deeper into reading some of the context sources you’ve found, because it’s helping you understand how people make arguments about films like //Inception//. What do you want to do next? * [[Spend more time making observations about the film|Yay-Ariadne-Observations]] * [[Spend more time reading context sources you’ve found|Yay-Ariadne-Contextualization]] ]

(background:#e3eBec)[ ''You decide to look in UC Library Search.'' You open up UC Library Search and click on “Advanced Search.” You enter your keywords in two groups: psychoanalysis film OR cinema OR movies <img src="images/UCLS-psychoanalysis-film.png" alt="UC Library Search advanced search shows one box with the word psychoanalysis and a second box with the words film OR cinema OR movies" /> You scan the first few pages of results, and you find some interesting titles, including these: * //Psychoanalysis and film edited and with an introduction by Glen O. Gabbard// (2001) * //Film studies : critical approaches// edited by John Hill and Pamela Church Gibson (2000) - with a chapter on psychoanalysis and film * //Endless night : cinema and psychoanalysis, parallel histories// edited by Janet Bergstrom (1999) * //Psychoanalysis and cinema: the play of shadows// by Vicky Lebeau (2001) You also find a number of handbooks and encyclopedias for both film and psychoanalysis. [[Continue|Psych-film-ULCS-2]] ]

(background:#e3eBec)[ ''You decide to search the database <a href="https://www.jstor.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">JSTOR</a>, since it seems very interdisciplinary.'' You open it up and click on “Advanced Search.” You enter your keywords in two groups: psychoanalysis film OR cinema OR movies <img src="images/JSTOR-psychoanalysis-film.png" alt="JSTOR Advanced Search shows one box with the word psychoanalysis and another box with the words film OR cinema OR movies" /> You find some promising leads! * “Introduction: Psychoanalysis and Cinema” in the journal //Film Criticism// (1990) * “Cinema and Psychoanalysis: Across the Dispositifs” in the journal //American Imago// (2013) * "Visual "Drive" and Cinematic Narrative: Reading Gaze Theory in Lacan, Hitchcock, and Mulvey" in //Cinema Journal// (2007) There are also a number of other articles that seem to be about psychoanalysis and specific films or genres of film. [[Continue|Psych-film-db-2]] ]

(background:#e3eBec)[ You feel like doing this scan gave you a sense that there is definitely a scholarly conversation on the idea of psychoanalysis in film that you could tap into later if you choose. You know that maybe if you explore one of these and check out the bibliography you might also find more leads. After all, it seems that there really should be a lot written about psychoanalysis and film, and maybe it will help you with your analysis. On the other hand, maybe you should do a search in article databases - after all, what you’ve found so far in UC Library Search are books. Or… maybe you want to pause this line of inquiry right now because you know you can dig deeper later, and go back to exploring the related idea of dreams in film next, to see if that scholarly conversation might help you focus your inquiry on dreams. What do you want to do next? * [[Check out the bibliography of one of these books you already found|Psych-film-book-bib]] * [[Do this same search in another database|Psych-film-database]] * [[Explore the related topic of dreams in film|Dreams-film]] ]

(background:#e3eBec)[ ''You decide to check out the bibliography of one of these books you already found.'' The book <a href="https://uci.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01CDL_IRV_INST/17uq3m8/alma991010124429704701" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">''//Endless Night: Cinema and Psychoanalysis, Parallel Histories//''</a> is available online, so you check this out first. The first chapter seems to be a good overview of a history of film and psychoanalysis, so you scan this. There is a rich bibliography that leads you to other sources such as: * //The Imaginary Signifier: Psychoanalysis and the Cinema// (1982) * //Images in our Souls: Cavell, Psychoanalysis, and Cinema// (1987) * //American Imago: Studies in Psychoanalysis and Culture// (1993) - special journal issue devoted to psychoanalysis in film You feel like you have a good body of work to start with in investigating psychoanalysis and film, and you can certainly keep tracking bibliographies. But maybe you should also keyword search for articles directly? Also, you remember that earlier in your research you’d also considered researching dreams and film also. Do you want to look into that now? Or do you want to stop for now and take stock of what you’ve done so far with this research process? What do you want to do next? * [[Look in a database for articles on psychoanalysis and film|Psych-film-database]] * [[Explore dreams and film|Dreams-film]] * [[Stop looking for secondary sources for now, and start thinking about what connections you are going to make|Yay-Psych]] ]

(background:#e3eBec)[ Doing this scan gave you a sense that there is definitely a scholarly conversation on the idea of psychoanalysis in film that you could tap into later if you choose. You know that maybe if you explore one of these and check out the bibliography you might also find more leads. After all, it seems that there really should be a lot written about psychoanalysis and film, and maybe it will help you with your analysis. On the other hand, maybe you should do a search to see if there are any books on this topic? After all, you’ve only looked for articles in one database. Or… maybe you want to pause this line of inquiry right now because you know you can dig deeper later, and go back to exploring the related idea of dreams in film next, to see if that scholarly conversation might help you focus your inquiry on psychoanalysis. What do you want to do next? * [[Check out the bibliography of one of these articles you already found|Psych-film-database-bib]] * [[Do this same search in another database|Psych-film-UCLS]] * [[Explore the related topic of dreams in film|Dreams-film]] ]

(background:#e3eBec)[ ''You decide to check out the bibliography of one of these articles you already found.'' You start with “Cinema and Psychoanalysis: Across the Dispositifs” in the journal //American Imago// (2013), and when you open this article in JSTOR, you quickly realize that this issue of //American Imago// is all about psychoanalysis and film. Great! You also see a number of articles linked to this in the “Related articles” section, and of course, articles in the bibliography. You now have several other sources that might be helpful: * “Dreams in Film and Film as Dreams: Surrealism and Popular American Cinema” (2015) * //The Imaginary Signifier: Psychoanalysis and the Cinema// (1982) * “Psychoanalysis and the Question of Violence: From Masochism to Shame” (2012) You feel like you have a good body of work to start with in investigating psychoanalysis and film, and you can certainly keep tracking bibliographies. But maybe you should also keyword search for other books? Also, you remember that earlier in your research you’d also considered researching dreams and film also. Do you want to look into that now? Or do you want to stop for now and take stock of what you’ve done so far with this research process? What do you want to do next? * [[Look for books on psychoanalysis and film|Psych-film-UCLS]] * [[Explore dreams and film|Dreams-film]] * [[Stop looking for secondary sources for now, and start thinking about what connections you are going to make|Yay-Psych]] ]

(background:#e3eBec)[ ''You stop to take stock of what you’ve done so far with your research.'' At this point, you are well on your way in terms of getting your research started. //Inception// is very likely to be a viable primary source, and you’ve done a preliminary scan of some secondary sources, so you have a bit of an idea of what’s “out there.” These won’t be your final sources, but you have a sense that there are sources you can start to engage with. Now what? To further your inquiry, you could dig deeper into the film itself. Remember - you’ve learned something about film analysis, but you haven’t done that yet. Maybe spending time with the film will further your research? Or, you could dig deeper into reading some of the context sources you’ve found, because it’s helping you understand how people make arguments about films like //Inception//. What do you want to do next? * [[Spend more time making observations about the film|Yay-Psychoanalysis-Observations]] * [[Spend more time reading context sources you’ve found|Yay-Psychoanalysis-Contextualization]] ]

(background:#e3eBec)[ You take a look at your notes and put them all on a separate sheet of paper, into a loose mind map to explore if certain themes or elements might be connected. The process is interesting. While you create the map, you start to fill it in with various ideas and questions from the film. You start to make some connections. After a few rounds of playing with the map, you arrive at something like this: <img src="images/map.png" onclick="window.open(this.src)"; alt="Mindmap that demonstrates a brainstorming strategy by noting important characters and themes"/> (text-colour:navy)[//(click above image to enlarge it in a new tab)//] While you were originally planning to focus mostly on Ariadne, you found that you took a lot of other notes, and you’re interested in how she functions opposite Mal, the only other woman in the film. You start to think that the mythical aspects are intertwined with psychological aspects - that the true labyrinth might be psychological. You wonder if you might want to look into how psychoanalysis might work in film. What do you want to do next? * [[Keep researching Ariadne|Ariadne-Research]] * [[Explore psychoanalysis in film|Psych-film]] ]

(background:#e3eBec)[ You take a look at your notes and put them all on a separate sheet of paper, into a loose mind map to explore if certain themes or elements might be connected. The process is interesting. While you create the map, you start to fill it in with various ideas and questions from the film. You start to make some connections. After a few rounds of playing with the map, you arrive at something like this: <img src="images/map.png" onclick="window.open(this.src)"; alt="Mindmap that demonstrates a brainstorming strategy by noting important characters and themes"/> (text-colour:navy)[//(click above image to enlarge it in a new tab)//] Initially, you were trying to focus it on dreams, but you found yourself spiraling to different places as well. When you take a step back and look at your little blue bubbles, you think that dreams are related to concepts of space and trauma, but you’re also interested in this idea of dreams and reality. Probably, you could research something like dreams and film, but maybe you could look into something broader, like psychoanalysis and film, also. What do you want to do next? * [[Pursue research into dreams and film|Dreams-film]] * [[Pursue research into psychoanalysis and film|Psych-film]] ]

(background:#e3eBec)[ ''You stop to take stock of what you’ve done so far with your research.'' At this point, you are well on your way in terms of getting your research started. //Inception// is very likely to be a viable primary source, and you’ve done a preliminary scan of some secondary sources, so you have a bit of an idea of what’s “out there.” These won’t be your final sources, but you have a sense that there are sources you can start to engage with. Now what? To further your inquiry, you could dig deeper into the film itself. Remember - you’ve learned something about film analysis, but you haven’t done that yet. Maybe spending time with the film will further your research? Or, you could dig deeper into reading some of the context sources you’ve found, because it’s helping you understand how people make arguments about films like //Inception//. What do you want to do next? * [[Spend more time making observations about the film|Yay-Dreams-Observations]] * [[Spend more time reading context sources you’ve found|Yay-Dreams-Contextualization]] ]

(background:#e3eBec)[ Other resources available to you as you continue to work on this project: ''The Library’s <a href="https://sites.google.com/uci.edu/humcore-research/home" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Research in the Humanities Tutorial Site</a>'' * This resource guides you through different stages of the research process, and provides tips on each stage. * The <a href="https://sites.google.com/uci.edu/humcore-research/secondary-source-toolkit" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">''Secondary Source Toolkit''</a> section provides specific guidance on techniques like Keyword and Boolean searching, using databases, and using bibliographies and “cited by” tools. ''The Library’s <a href="https://guides.lib.uci.edu/humcore/home" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Humanities Core Research Guide</a>'' * Annotated lists of databases and places to find primary and secondary sources * Tutorials and How-To-Videos on how to use databases and find information ''<a href="https://spaces.lib.uci.edu/appointments" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Research Consultations</a>'' * Make a 30-minute research consultation with a Humanities Core librarian. We can help fine-tune a search strategy, or help you select databases or resources. These consultations are free. ''<a href="https://uci.mywconline.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Writing Center Consultations</a>'' * The Writing Center also has designated specialists for HumCore. You can discuss strategies in how you’re organizing your paper, how you’re integrating sources, or how to convey your ideas clearly, and more! [[Finish this tutorial|End]] ]

(background:#e3eBec)[ ''Get a Certificate of Completion'' If your professor requires a certificate of completion, please click the link below. You will be asked to give your name and very short feedback (1 minute), which we use to continue to improve this for future Humanities Core students! <a href="https://uci.libwizard.com/f/HC-Inception_2024" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">I need a certificate of completion!</a> ]

(background:#e3eBec)[ ''You decide to brainstorm.'' You take a look at your notes, both from watching the film and from reading the reviews. Because you’re more of a visual thinker, you put ideas into a loose mind map to explore if certain themes or elements might be connected. The process is interesting. While you create the map, you start to fill it in with various ideas and questions from the film. You start to make some connections. After a few rounds of playing with the map, you arrive at something like this: <img src="images/map.png" onclick="window.open(this.src)"; alt="Mindmap that demonstrates a brainstorming strategy by noting important characters and themes"/> (text-colour:navy)[//(click above image to enlarge it in a new tab)//] This was more fruitful than you thought it would be. You find that you have a lot of questions based on your mind map, and a few clusters begin to emerge. You’re not sure how it all connects yet, but maybe you can start to explore one of these clusters. Dreams definitely keep coming up in this map, and since that was also a theme in the reviews, maybe you should look up some secondary sources on dreams and film? On the other hand, there is also quite a bit on this map that has to do with Ariadne, and maybe you could explore that... What do you want to do next? * [[Explore dreams and film|Dreams-film]] * [[Explore Ariadne|Ariadne]] ]

(background:#e3eBec)[ ''You decide to spend more time making observations about the film.'' You figure that there is a lot more analysis you could do to see how Ariadne functions, appears, or otherwise “works” in the film. You go back over the map that you made earlier on some of the notes and themes you noticed about //Inception//. You had initially made a note: “Ariadne is the viewer? Only person things get explained to…” <img src="images/map-ariadne.png" alt="Detail of mindmap of Inception brainstorming strategy with “Ariadne is the viewer?” circled" /> <a href="images/map-ariadne.png" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">''Click to open image above full-size in new window''</a> That’s an interesting thought. What evidence is there in the film to support this idea? You remember the chapter about film analysis in the //Humanities Core Handbook//, and the <a href="https://sites.google.com/uci.edu/filmanalysisinhumanitiescore" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Film Analysis tutorial</a> for this course. You decide that you might need to watch at least parts of the film again, when Ariadne appears, and make notes of things like mis-en-scene, editing, sound, framing, etc. //You// control the direction of your inquiry at this point. Think about whether you would advance your inquiry best by doing more observations, contextualization, reading, or thinking. You should expect that your path will not be linear, and that you might encounter roadblocks, but that is okay! Sometimes, a roadblock means you need to think things through a bit more, or it might mean you would benefit from choosing a different path of inquiry. Let’s finish up for now: * [[See a summary of support resources available to me|Resources]] * [[Play this game again and choose a different track|Scenario]] ]

(background:#e3eBec)[ ''You decide to spend more time reading context sources you’ve found.'' After all, you have some pretty good leads. The article "The Lost Unconscious: Delusions and Dreams in Inception" argues: “One initially strange thing about //Inception// is how undreamlike the dreams are… When, in one of Inception’s most remarked-upon scenes, Ariadne causes the Paris city space to fold up around herself and Cobb, she’s behaving more like the CGI engineer who’s creating the scene than any dreamer. This is a display of technical prowess, devoid of any charge of the uncanny.” Another part of the article argues: “The designed virtual spaces of //Inception//’s quasi-dreams, with their nested levels, evidently resemble a videogame more than they recall dreams as psychoanalysis would understand them.” These are interesting claims, and you think it might be a good idea to re-watch parts of the film to find evidence to support these ideas. The scene described with Ariadne is one you remember, but you might want to do a closer reading of the scene, making notes of things like mis-en-scene, editing, sound, framing, etc. You remember you can consult the chapter about film analysis in the //Humanities Core Handbook//, and the <a href="https://sites.google.com/uci.edu/filmanalysisinhumanitiescore" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Film Analysis tutorial</a> for this course. //You// control the direction of your inquiry at this point. Think about whether you would advance your inquiry best by doing more observations, contextualization, reading, or thinking. You should expect that your path will not be linear, and that you might encounter roadblocks, but that is okay! Sometimes, a roadblock means you need to think things through a bit more, or it might mean you would benefit from choosing a different path of inquiry. Let’s finish up for now: * [[See a summary of support resources available to me|Resources]] * [[Play this game again and choose a different track|Scenario]] ]

(background:#e3eBec)[ ''You decide to spend more time making observations about the film.'' You figure that there is a lot more analysis you could do to see how dreams function, appear, or otherwise “work” in the film. You go back over the map that you made earlier on some of the notes and themes you noticed about Inception. You had initially made a note related to dreams and space: “Dream space: kind of like video game?” <img src="images/map-dreams.png" alt="Detail of mindmap of Inception brainstorming strategy with “Dream space: kind of like video game?” circled" /> <a href="images/map-dreams.png" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">''Click to open image above full-size in new window''</a> That’s an interesting thought. What evidence is there in the film to support this idea? You remember the chapter about film analysis in the //Humanities Core Handbook//, and the <a href="https://sites.google.com/uci.edu/filmanalysisinhumanitiescore" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Film Analysis tutorial</a> for this course. You decide that you might need to watch at least parts of the film again, and make notes of things like mis-en-scene, editing, sound, framing, etc. as characters move in and out of dream sequences. What qualities made you initially think “video game?” //You// control the direction of your inquiry at this point. Think about whether you would advance your inquiry best by doing more observations, contextualization, reading, or thinking. You should expect that your path will not be linear, and that you might encounter roadblocks, but that is okay! Sometimes, a roadblock means you need to think things through a bit more, or it might mean you would benefit from choosing a different path of inquiry. Let’s finish up for now: * [[See a summary of support resources available to me|Resources]] * [[Play this game again and choose a different track|Scenario]] ]

(background:#e3eBec)[ ''You decide to spend more time reading context sources you’ve found.'' You start to read one of the scholarly sources you’ve already found in more depth. As you read, you are a little confused (after all, these are articles about dreams and film theory and not specifically about Inception), but pick up on this idea of “psychoanalytic film theory.” You Google that phrase and come upon a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychoanalytic_film_theory" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Wikipedia article about it</a> to get you started. You also find a link to an <a href="https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-9780199791286/obo-9780199791286-0052.xml" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Oxford Bibliographies article</a>, which seems extremely comprehensive but a little out of your depth at the moment. The Wikipedia article says “Since films had the ability to tell a story using techniques such as superimposition, and slow motion, the Surrealists saw this as mimicking dreams.” This sentence makes you think about the some of the technical aspects of //Inception// and how “dream” sequences and “reality” sequences are constructed. You decide that you might need to watch at least parts of the film again, and make notes of things like mis-en-scene, editing, sound, framing, etc. as characters move in and out of dream sequences. You remember the chapter about film analysis in the //Humanities Core Handbook//, and the <a href="https://sites.google.com/uci.edu/filmanalysisinhumanitiescore" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Film Analysis tutorial</a> for this course. //You// control the direction of your inquiry at this point. Think about whether you would advance your inquiry best by doing more observations, contextualization, reading, or thinking. You should expect that your path will not be linear, and that you might encounter roadblocks, but that is okay! Sometimes, a roadblock means you need to think things through a bit more, or it might mean you would benefit from choosing a different path of inquiry. Let’s finish up for now: * [[See a summary of support resources available to me|Resources]] * [[Play this game again and choose a different track|Scenario]] ]

(background:#e3eBec)[ ''You decide to spend more time making observations about the film.'' You figure that there is a lot more analysis you could do to see how dreams function, appear, or otherwise “work” in the film. You go back over the map that you made earlier on some of the notes and themes you noticed about //Inception//. You had initially made a note related to the idea of the subconscious - including an observation about an elevator and possible symbolism: <img src="images/map-psychoanalysis.png" alt="Detail of mindmap of Inception brainstorming strategy with section about subconscious and “elevator as symbol?” circled" /> <a href="images/map-psychoanalysis.png" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">''Click to open image above full-size in new window''</a> Is there something going on with the elevator scene? Or are there other symbols? You decide that you might need to watch at least parts of the film again, and make notes of things like mis-en-scene, editing, sound, framing, etc. How is the film creating or showing this idea of a subconscious? You remember the chapter about film analysis in the //Humanities Core Handbook//, and the <a href="https://sites.google.com/uci.edu/filmanalysisinhumanitiescore" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Film Analysis tutorial</a> for this course. //You// control the direction of your inquiry at this point. Think about whether you would advance your inquiry best by doing more observations, contextualization, reading, or thinking. You should expect that your path will not be linear, and that you might encounter roadblocks, but that is okay! Sometimes, a roadblock means you need to think things through a bit more, or it might mean you would benefit from choosing a different path of inquiry. Let’s finish up for now: * [[See a summary of support resources available to me|Resources]] * [[Play this game again and choose a different track|Scenario]] ]

(background:#e3eBec)[ ''You decide to spend more time reading context sources you’ve found.'' You start to read one of the scholarly sources you’ve already found in more depth. As you read, you are a little confused (after all, these are articles about psychoanalysis and film theory and not specifically about //Inception//), but pick up on this idea of “psychoanalytic film theory.” You Google that phrase and come upon a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychoanalytic_film_theory" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Wikipedia article about it</a> to get you started. You also find a link to an <a href="https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-9780199791286/obo-9780199791286-0052.xml" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Oxford Bibliographies article</a>, which seems extremely comprehensive but a little out of your depth at the moment. The Wikipedia article says “Since films had the ability to tell a story using techniques such as superimposition, and slow motion, the Surrealists saw this as mimicking dreams.” This sentence makes you think about the some of the technical aspects of //Inception// and how “dream” sequences and “reality” sequences are constructed. In particular, you remember you had made a note about the imagery of an elevator in your earlier mind map: <img src="images/map-psychoanalysis.png" alt="Detail of mindmap of Inception brainstorming strategy with section about subconscious and “elevator as symbol?” circled" /> <a href="images/map-psychoanalysis.png" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">''Click to open image above full-size in new window''</a> Is there something going on with the elevator scene? Or are there other symbols related to psychoanalysis? You decide that you might need to watch at least parts of the film again, and make notes of things like mis-en-scene, editing, sound, framing, etc. How is the film creating or showing this idea of a subconscious? You remember the chapter about film analysis in the //Humanities Core Handbook//, and the <a href="https://sites.google.com/uci.edu/filmanalysisinhumanitiescore" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Film Analysis tutorial</a> for this course. //You// control the direction of your inquiry at this point. Think about whether you would advance your inquiry best by doing more observations, contextualization, reading, or thinking. You should expect that your path will not be linear, and that you might encounter roadblocks, but that is okay! Sometimes, a roadblock means you need to think things through a bit more, or it might mean you would benefit from choosing a different path of inquiry. Let’s finish up for now: * [[See a summary of support resources available to me|Resources]] * [[Play this game again and choose a different track|Scenario]] ]