Inception Movie Plot Explained Through Mac OS X's Folder Hierarchy
Here's a piece of silliness that should definitely put a smile on your face, though we warn you that there are spoilers ahead.
If you've seen Inception, you know the ridiculousness that is idea of a meta dream world. But if you can't seem to wrap that concept around your head, then perhaps this explanation will lay it out for you in laymen's terms. Jonah Ray, host of the Web Soup, posted a nifty graphic in his Tumblr explaining the many levels of Inception's dream hierarchy using Mac OS X folders. It's a pretty clever way to unravel the mystery behind the movie. Check it out for yourself. 
Follow this article's author, Florence Ion, on Twitter.
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RyanMac4203
August 26, 2010 at 9:13pm
The following is a comparison of the Mac OS X heirarchy versus the Microsoft Windows 7 heirarchy when attempting to explain the events of the film "Inception:"
Eames.jpg*
Cobb.jpg*
Arthur.jpg*
Ariadne.jpg*
Saito.jpg*
Yusuf.jpg*
Robert Fisher Jr.jpg*
(*.jpeg, c'mon? Really? I think I'll stick with 3 character file extensions thank-you-very-much. And FULLY CAPITAL FILENAMES?! What is this? MS-DOS? Grow up.)
Oh, and she may be dead, but uh...
Mal.jpg belongs up here guys. She was real at one point...Anyway, all of the above noted files would be under "C:\Airplane (Reality)"
Inside "C:\Airplane (Reality)\Yusef's Dream\" would be, wait for it... don't wait too long because Windows loaded it faster than you could blink, SHORTCUTS! That's right. Unlike Mac OS X (where you can't even CUT\PASTE without downloading third party software (source: http:\\lifehacker.com\5622046\cut-and-paste-files-in-os-xs-finder-with-automator-services)) Windows (3.1+ No, take that in. 3.1+! We're talking 1993 tech here, people. Get real.) allows you to create Shortcuts! You know, those little things with the arrow in the lower right corner (by default. Microsoft lets you change that to whatever you like, really). Let us not forget that Cobb and Co. didn't magically duplicate themselves (requiring significant extra HDD space), no they simply projected themselves into a dream-state.Thus, we have the following heirarchy:
C:\Airplane (Reality)\
Eames.jpg
Cobb.jpg
Arthur.jpg
Ariadne.jpg
Saito.jpg
Yusuf.jpg
Robert Fisher Jr.jpg
Mal.jpgC:\Airplane (Reality)\Yusuf's Dream (Rainy City)\
Eames.jpg - Shortcut.lnk
Cobb.jpg - Shortcut.lnk
Arthur.jpg - Shortcut.lnk
Ariadne.jpg - Shortcut.lnk
Saito.jpg - Shortcut.lnk
Yusuf.jpg - Shortcut.lnk
Robert Fisher Jr.jpg - Shortcut.lnkC:\Airplane (Reality)\Yusuf's Dream (Rainy City)\Arthur's Dream (Hotel)\
Eames.jpg - Shortcut.lnk
Cobb.jpg - Shortcut.lnk
Arthur.jpg - Shortcut.lnk
Ariadne.jpg - Shortcut.lnk
Saito.jpg - Shortcut.lnk
Robert Fisher Jr.jpg - Shortcut.lnkC:\Airplane (Reality)\Yusuf's Dream (Rainy City)\Arthur's Dream (Hotel)\Eames' Dream (Snow Fortress)\
Eames.jpg - Shortcut.lnk
Cobb.jpg - Shortcut.lnk
Ariadne.jpg - Shortcut.lnk
Saito.jpg - Shortcut.lnk
Robert Fisher Jr.jpg - Shortcut.lnkC:\Airplane (Reality)\Yusuf's Dream (Rainy City)\Arthur's Dream (Hotel)\Eames' Dream (Snow Fortress)\Limbo\
Cobb.jpg - Shortcut.lnk
Ariadne.jpg - Shortcut.lnk
Saito.jpg - Shortcut.lnk
Mal.jpg - Shortcut.lnkTotal space on disk in uncompressed NTFS File System: 4.50 MB (4,722,688 bytes)
Total space on disk in FAT32 File System: 4.50 MB (4,722,688 bytes)
Total space on disk as presented by bogus web-diagram in FAT32 (i.e. copies within subfolders using FAT32 File System Mac OS X does not understand the superior NTFS standard): 17.5 MB (18,411,520 bytes)
This results in a net gain of 13 MB (13,688,832 bytes)
How do you like your Snow Leopard now?
jaireaux
August 26, 2010 at 7:24am
The script is a narrative version of the Penrose steps. I made a video starting my argument here: http://youtu.be/P6-WrfIFki0#t=3m49s . Since the video I've reinforced this theory with two additional items:
(1) All of the characters are fairly two-dimensional (as Cobb describes Mal towards the end) except for Cobb.
(2) The opening scene initially appears to be a "flash-forward" but the dialog changes in its recurrence when the scene is shown again near the end.I am also expanding my theory to now suggest that the second time for that scene is when Cobb realizes he's in a circular story (possibly created by someone else?) and either gives into the dream, or (now that he realizes it's a circular trap) is able to escape.
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