Inside Story: “Conspiracy Theories”, Volume II
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Warning: The following paragraphs are peppered with the choicest of spoilers from a delectable array of franchises, including but possibly not limited to Inception, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Batman Trilogy, Titanic, Harry Potter and a few more.
Film theories are as intriguing, if not more intriguing than your run-of-the-mill conspiracy theories. Figuring out hidden messages from a finite (albeit very large) number of frames, making sense of seemingly random details on-screen… this is an art of its own and it demands your respect. We provide you with some much-needed insight into this world.
One of the most memorable and spectacular movies of the past decade: Inception, directed by Christopher Nolan, starring Leonardo DiCaprio — took the world by storm. The mysteriously unexplained ending of Inception has been the subject of numerous conspiracy theories, some of which are ludicrous and others still with compelling arsenals of evidence to corroborate the claims of the theorists.
In the final scene of the film, the protagonist finally seems to get what he wants and inches towards a perfectly happy ending, but the director leaves us with one master-stroke: the totem (which happens to be the top), which indicates whether the present “reality” is a dream or not based on whether or not it spins without stopping, is shown to be spinning, but it is never revealed whether it stops or not, leaving the ending massively open to wild speculation.
One of the more popular theories other than the spin of the totem as discussed above is the theory that the top was not actually Cobb’s (DiCaprio) totem. The real totem was his ring! For anyone who did not heed the warnings and is cool enough to read through the spoilers, a totem, as defined in the film, is something that is used to test if one is in their own reality (dream or non-dream) and not in another person’s dream.
A totem has a specific weight, balance, or feel in the real world but in a dream of someone who does not know it well, the characteristics of the totem will most likely feel off. In order to protect its integrity, only the totem’s owner should ever handle it. That way, the owner is able to tell whether or not they are in someone else’s dream. In the owner’s own dream world, the totem will feel correct. Any ordinary object which in some way has been modified to affect its balance, weight, or feel can work as a totem.
Some of the most dedicated and, dare we say, frenzied fans have dedicated their entire existence to watching and re-watching the movie to extract each and every dram of proof for their alleged claims.
These claims have coalesced to form a concrete concept based on the facts that in the opening sequence you catch a glimpse of Cobb’s left hand. Specifically, he’s seen wearing his wedding ring. Now, if you closely follow the events happening during the rest of the movie keeping an eye out for the appearance and consequent disappearance, there is a high chance that you may noticed that he only has the ring on when he’s in the dream world. The theorists and other film enthusiasts (and Nolan fans) conclude in unison from this that his ring was his totem.
Another one of Nolan’s masterpieces includes The Batman Trilogy, which includes Batman Begins (2005), The Dark Knight (2008) and The Dark Knight Rises (2012). The most prominent and influential villains, or rather, characters ever portrayed in films was the Joker played by the amazingly talented Heath Ledger. The Joker’s eccentric character and his (arguably) skewed perception of the world around him, has led to his quotes gaining immediate success, with the delivery of one of the most powerful and moving monologues in the history of cinema.
The late Heath Ledger won an Oscar for playing the role of Joker remarkably in The Dark Knight for good reason which is astoundingly evident to anyone who has seen even a clip of the movie with his character in it. His commitment to the performance brought the iconic comic book character to life in the most terrifying and moving way that can be imagined.
Ledger passed away in January 2008, the cause of his death is cited as cardiac arrest due to acute intoxication by prescription drugs. He was, unfortunately, unable to witness the profound impact which was caused by his portrayal of Joker had made in the minds of the people. A clip from the documentary based on his life Too Young to Die has surfaced, and it provides us with a brief glimpse into Heath Ledger’s dedication towards his role and the methods used by him to immerse himself into Joker’s infamous insanity.
He kept a diary which helped him to prepare for the role as he locked himself in a hotel room in London. To prepare to play Batman’s greatest foe, Ledger locked himself up in a hotel room and then in his apartment for around a month. The diary documents Ledger’s feelings and thoughts which plagued him during those days, as well as his many influences for the part. In the notebook, an image of a hyena is visible:
Imagery aids such as the one mentioned above help us to conclude that he took inspiration from wild animals too while trying to capture the psychotic yet jarringly aware role of the Joker whose laugh can be described as that of a hyena.
The hospital room scene, which has one of his most famous dialogues:
“Introduce a little anarchy. Upset the established order, and everything becomes chaos. I’m an agent of chaos. Oh, and you know the thing about chaos? It’s fair!”
It is one of the rawest and real dialogues ever written and executed with such skill and honesty that it leaves one in awe.
Ledger was also able to flawlessly replicate this terrifying expression called the “Kubrick Stare” which just further drives home the point how talented of an actor he was and what a grave loss his departure from this world has been.
He supposedly did not die of accidental overdose, his death was attributed to the result of the Joker’s character plaguing his consciousness, eating him away, eliminating traces of his conscience. However, the Warner Brothers released a statement confirming that they had absolutely nothing to do with this unfortunate incident and that the entertainment industry had “lost enormous talent” and was devastated by this tragic incident.
Moving on to a supposedly lighter topic, if we take a closer look at a childhood movie we’re all fond of, we can look at Charlie and the Chocolate Factory… and whether it was really the heartwarming tale we all remember it to be. Willy Wonka, the owner of the chocolate factory in the story, is seen throughout the tale as an eccentric and memorable character, giving the humble and well-behaved Charlie a chance to escape poverty and give his family a better life. This begs the question — what happened to the other kids who got Golden Tickets? Were they killed? Did they get rescued? Or was their fate decided right from the start, a macabre plot based on a sinister, righteous foundation to systematically get rid of them?
The answer may lie in minute details in the movie which only the most observant of viewers may notice — if you look at the chocolate pipe into which Augustus Gloop, the overweight kid with an endless appetite for anything and everything, was sucked, it was definitely big enough to fit a person — which may not have been necessary at all for the chocolate river to be filled up or drained. And if we take a look at what happens to the spoilt Veruca Salt, who demands a squirrel from the Nut Room, her bratty persistence ends with her being dragged down the chute by all the squirrels — were they trained? When the overconfident Violet, who thinks too much of herself, attempts to eat the apparently “dangerous” three-course chewing gum, she turns into a blueberry herself…but why did Willy Wonka try to tempt her in the first place?
This brings us to the base of this theory — were Willy Wonka’s candies made of children? It’s almost as if he intended on — for lack of a better word — eliminating the badly behaved kids, one at a time. When we see Augustus sucked into the pipe, the rest of the crew all hop onto a boat, which lacks two extra seats. Was it part of the plan to have two fewer participants at this point? It definitely gives us chills when we think about the fact that a character who seemed so interesting and funny in our childhood may not be all sunshine and rainbows after all. For all we know, many of our childhood favourite movies or TV shows could have a shady undertone that, for us as adults, is at its best, unnerving and at its worst, downright terrifying.
In addition to the above-mentioned theories, many others exist and as with any of the theories, film theories, too, lie on a broad spectrum. There exist theories unifying all Pixar movies into a single universe, theories alleging that Jack of Titanic fame was actually a time-traveller who came to save Rose from her depression getting the better of her, theories that Harry Potter’s entire magical experience was all just a dream in the cupboard under the stairs…theories all around. Some make sense, some do not. Ridiculous or not, they certainly provide the best of entertainment through their impeccable use of intrigue and persuasion.
Theorists in this field are artists in their own right; they concoct a potion rich with controversy, question the status quo and the norm through their bravery and unconventionality, and are heralded as champions of the general public. They are veritable beacons of light that lead the brainless herd through a web of lies and cover-ups to save the unenlightened half of the population by enabling them to experience the blinding radiance of the truth.
“Wake up, sheeple,” they say.
Wake up, indeed.
Unless we’re all living in our own heads and will never truly wake up after all?
This article was written in collaboration with Rohinee Phatak, isha jha, Shashvat Jayakrishnan, Vedanjali Polaki, Antony Terence and Abhishek Ramachandran.
