Inception

We create the world of the dream.

We bring the subject into that dream.

And they fill it with their secrets.

Then you break in and steal it.

Well, it’s not strictly speaking legal.

It’s called exception.

Well, dreams, they feel real while we’re in them, right?

It’s only when we wake up that we realize something was actually strange.

Let me ask you a question.

You never really remember the beginning of a dream, do you?

You always wind up right in the middle of what’s going on.

I guess, yeah.

So how did we end up here?

Well, we just came from the, uh—

Think about it, Ariadne. How did you get here?

Where are you right now?

We’re dreaming?

You’re actually in the middle of the workshop right now, sleeping.

This is your first lesson in shared dreaming. Stay calm.

Well, dreams, they feel real while we’re in them, right?

It’s only when we wake up that we realize something was actually strange.

Let me ask you a question.

You never really remember the beginning of a dream, do you?

Do you? Here is a question tag. These are little questions that we add at the end of statements.

Can you guess what goes in the blank?

I know this bridge. This place is real, –?

Is it?

Does it?

Isn’t it?

Doesn’t it?

I know this bridge. This place is real, isn’t it?

Question tags are very common in speaking.

Cobb can’t build anymore, can he?

We use question tags to ask for confirmation. They mean something like, “Is that right?”, or “Do you agree?”

While we watch the following examples, note that some have a negative question tag, and some an affirmative one.

You speak English, don’t you?

Mike is working on that, isn’t he?

Those customers weren’t happy, were they?

He’s not home, is he?

You haven’t met Josh, have you?

You can’t be serious, can you?

So, how do you form a question tag?

First you say a phrase like: “Mike is working on that,” then you take the auxiliary of the statement, and because the statement is affirmative, you make the question tag negative.

If the statement is negative, you make the question tag affirmative.

Think of it like a magnet; it needs both a negative and a positive.

Here’s another example:

Rumor is: the relationship is quite complicated.

Well, we can’t work based solely on rumor, can we?

Question tags work with all tenses. This example is in the past continuous:

They were being rude—weren’t they?

They work with modal verbs too, like can, will, should, would, etc.

You know, I couldn’t help but notice—but you wouldn’t happen to be related to the Maurice Fischer, would you?

You never really remember the beginning of a dream, do you?

You always wind up right in the middle of what’s going on.

I guess, yeah.

Wind up is similar to end up. It means to find yourself in an unexpected and often unpleasant situation, especially as a result of what you do.

I love waking up, not knowing what’s gonna happen or who who I’m gonna meet.

Or where I’m gonna wind up. Notice that in that example from Titanic he used it to describe a positive feeling of surprise.

Now, let’s take a look at how he said this sentence:

You always wind up right in the middle of what’s going on. The T in right is a glottal T and it makes the words right + in sound like [right-n]

So, he says [right-n the middle.]

There’s another interesting phenomenon here. When a G comes after as S sound, it often turns into a K sound. He says [what’s-ko-ingon]

Listen to the whole utterance one more time:

You always wind up right in the middle of what’s going on. [what’s-ko-ingon]

I guess, yeah.

So how did we end up here?

Well, we just came from the, uh—

Think about it, Ariadne. How did you get here?

Where are you right now?

We’re dreaming?

You’re actually in the middle of the workshop right now, sleeping.

This is your first lesson in shared dreaming. Stay calm.

A workshop is a room or building where things are made.

Some people who lie to work with wood might have a workshop in their garage.

Then, Cobb tells her to stay calm. Notice calm has a dark “L”. That’s the “ul” sound in words like “world” or “ball”.

Do you know what this expression means?

Don’t worry

Pay attention

Remain focused

So do you know what Inception means? So Inception is the origin or starting point of something.

So just to give you an example I’ve been the CMO of Real Life English since its inception.

Now in this movie however, they use it to mean to implant an idea into someone’s mind through their dreams. So without even realizing it when this person wakes up, they have this new idea that they think is completely their own. So perhaps it’s called Inception because it’s about implanting that origin of the idea into that person subconscious.

Let’s learn a little bit more about this movie. Dominic Cobb is an “extractor”: he infiltrates a person’s subconscious through their dream and then extracts information. Dominic has been given a more difficult job this time, which is to implant an idea in a person’s subconscious, hence, as I was saying, the name of the movie “inception.” In order to carry out a difficult job, he recruits and trains Ariadne, an architecture student.

He needs her to help him build the dream world.

Projections of my subconscious. Yours?

Yes. Remember, you are the dreamer. You build this world. I am the subject. My mind populates it. You can literally talk to my subconscious.

That’s one of the ways we extract information from the subject.

How else do you do it?

By creating something secure, like a bank vault or a jail. The mind automatically fills it with information it’s trying to protect. You understand?

Then you break in and steal it?

Well –

I guess I thought that the dream space would be all about the visual but, it’s more about the feel of it. My question is what happens when you start messing with the physics of it all?

Remember, you are the dreamer. You build this world. I am the subject. My mind populates it.

In this scene, she’s in his dream. A subject is a person that is being tested or studied.

The subjects of this experiment were all men aged 18-35.

In this movie, the subject is the person who is dreaming.

The subject realized he was dreaming and sub his subconscious tore us to pieces.

The subject populates the dream, meaning he or she creates the people of the dream, while the “extractor” or the person infiltrating, Ariadne in this case, builds the world.

Now, DiCaprio’s character says a word that’s often difficult for learners.

You can literally talk to my subconscious. That’s one of the ways we extract information from the subject.

Can you say it like him? He says “literally”

In the US, we almost never would say the dictionary pronunciation of this word: literally.

Similarly, we don’t say automatically. We say [aw-do-ma-dicly]:

By creating something secure, like a bank vault or a jail. The mind automatically fills it with information it’s trying to protect. You understand?

Then you break in and steal it?

To break in means to illegally enter a place or building, especially in order to steal something.

Obviously, he was working for someone. But he should give that guy up when he hears what he’s faced with.

What? Vandalism?

He had full access to the building. He didn’t break in.

In this movie, Dominick breaks into people’s minds.

In order to find out the truth about your father- you’re gonna need to break into Browning’s mind on your own.

I know this bridge. This place is real, isn’t it? Yeah, I cross it every day to get to the college.

Never recreate places from your memory.

Always imagine new places. You got to draw from stuff you know, right?

Only use details. A street lamp or a phone booth. Never entire areas.

Why not?

Because building a dream from your memory is the easiest way to lose your grasp on what’s real and what is a dream.

Is that what happened to you? Listen to me.

This has nothing to do with me, understand?

That’s why you need me to build your dreams?

Hey, get off of her. Back up. Back up.

Cobb! Get off of her! Cobb!

Let me go! Mal! Let me go!

Cobb! Wake me up! Mal! Wake me up!

Mal! Wake me up!

Never recreate places from your memory.

Always imagine new places. You got to draw from stuff you know, right?

Draw has many different meanings. The one she means here is to take inspiration from or to get something that you need or want from something.

Example: She draws from her life in order to write her songs.

Only use details. A street lamp or a phone booth. Never entire areas.

A street lamp is this.

A phone booth is a very small room or enclosed structure with a public telephone in it.

Why not?

Because building a dream from your memory is the easiest way to lose your grasp on what’s real and what is a dream.

Literally, to grasp is to take and hold something firmly. We also use this as a noun.

For example, your grasp on the ball.

Also used figuratively, your grasp on something is your understanding of a fact or idea, especially a complicated one.

If we say that someone has lost their grasp on reality, they no longer distinguish what’s real from what isn’t.

And because of the quantum vortices, this can run perpetually?

Exactly. Yeah, you have a good grasp of the physics.

Well, I’m a scientist by training.

Is that what happened to you?

Listen to me.

Here we see two instances of the same aspect of native speech happening.

When there’s an N before a T, the T tends to soften or disappear.

So, listen to me becomes [liste-nuh-me]

And then because we have a D at the end of happened followed by a T in to, we drop the T here, too. [Happen-duh-you].

Listen again:

Is that what happened to you?

Listen to me.

This has nothing to do with me, understand?

That’s why you need me to build your dreams?

Hey, get off of her. Back up. Back up.

As explained in this clip, people in a dream might turn on her when she builds the dreams the dreams world:

Why are they all looking at me?

Because my subconscious feels that someone else is creating this world.

The more you change things, the quicker the projections start to converge on you.

Converge?

The sense the foreign nature of the dreamer. They attack, like white blood cells fighting an infection

What, they’re gonna attack us?

No, no.

Just you.

Here, the people in the dream are finally attacking her.

In order to defend her, Dominic yells, “Get off of her” meaning to let her go or stop touching her.

Finally, back up means to move backwards or step back.

Well, dreams, they feel real while we’re in them, right?

It’s only when we wake up that we realize something was actually strange.

Let me ask you a question.

You never really remember the beginning of a dream, do you?

You always wind up right in the middle of what’s going on.

I guess, yeah.

So how did we end up here?

Well, we just came from the, uh—

Think about it, Ariadne. How did you get here?

Where are you right now?

We’re dreaming?

You’re actually in the middle of the workshop right now, sleeping.

This is your first lesson in shared dreaming. Stay calm.

Projections of my subconscious. Yours?

Yes. Remember, you are the dreamer. You build this world. I am the subject. My mind populates it. You can literally talk to my subconscious.

That’s one of the ways we extract information from the subject.

How else do you do it?

By creating something secure, like a bank vault or a jail. The mind automatically fills it with information it’s trying to protect. You understand?

Then you break in and steal it?

Well –

I guess I thought that the dream space would be all about the visual but, it’s more about the feel of it. My question is what happens when you start messing with the physics of it all?

I know this bridge. This place is real, isn’t it? Yeah, I cross it every day to get to the college.

Never recreate places from your memory.

Always imagine new places. You got to draw from stuff you know, right?

Only use details. A street lamp or a phone booth. Never entire areas.

Why not?

Because building a dream from your memory is the easiest way to lose your grasp on what’s real and what is a dream.

Is that what happened to you? Listen to me.

This has nothing to do with me, understand?

That’s why you need me to build your dreams?

Hey, get off of her. Back up. Back up.

Cobb! Get off of her! Cobb!

Let me go! Mal! Let me go!

Cobb! Wake me up! Mal! Wake me up!

Mal! Wake me up!

Hey, hey, hey. Look at me. You’re okay. You’re okay.

Hey. Why wouldn’t I wake up?

There was still time on the clock.

You can’t wake up from within the dream unless you die.

She’ll need a totem.

What?