OKAY I KNOW, I HAVE DESCENDED DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE OF ME SIMPING FOR ARTHUR FROM INCEPTION, BUT HEAR ME OUT.
This here is one of the reasons why Arthur is one of my favorite characters (besides Ariadne)
It is established that in the movie Inception, Arthur is a pragmatic person. He's very logical and skeptical. So therefore his realm of possibility when it comes to inception is VERY limited and very narrowed. He dryly points out to Saito that "you can't fake true inspiration", and is quick to shut down Cobb in that Inception - the concept of an idea planting into someone's head is downright impossible.
There are several points that Arthur isn't a "creative" individual. Eames calls him a "stick in the mud", and says he has "no imagination." For Inception? You have to have an imagination.
But let me rebutt Eames's argument with this video and a bit of an analysis of it.
You see, Arthur HATES it, when plans are unscathed. Where they have to be compromised, there is no detail and you have to come up with an ultimatum. He may be a pragmatic and stoic individual, but he isn't a stick in the mud, and you can't argue that he isn't a resourceful individual considering the events in this video here.
See the fight scene between him and the projections? The plan is going awry. Yusurf is swerving and trying to drive while fighting off projections in the second dream level, rocking everyone back and forth, therefore directly affecting the third level of the dream that everyone else is in. At this point, the van swerves off the road, causing that affect.
If Arthur were the person that Eames actually claims he is, would have given up on the spot. His organized and detailed plans are out the window.
But he doesn't. You know what he does? He uses the shifting gravity of the dream level to his ADVANTAGE. He practically climbed on the wall, and just as the dream shifts? He punches the projection, waits until the dream scape tilts to the left, then slams him against the wall. He then climbs on the walls, runs down the ceiling of the hotel room, and proceeds to use his environment to his advantage. When the doorway tilts down again, the two hit the hotel room. They continue fighting, and Arthur takes the advantage to take the gun and shoot the armed projection dead.
Hell, he even managed to invent his own kick, using that zero gravity to tape bombs to the elevator while using a wire to rope everyone's unconscious bodies inside.
And you know what that sort of skill takes? RESOURCEFULNESS. A form of creativity to be able to use their environment in situations.
An "unimaginative" person wouldn't have done that. They don't have the creativity. A "stick in the mud", wouldn't have the flexibility to cope and adapt to that situation.
So, is Eames correct that Arthur isn't creative on one aspect when it comes to dream extractions? Sure. But he's not a slump. He's resourceful, he's cunning. He knows an opportunity is in his hands and he will seize it, morphing it to his own advantage.
So no, Eames. He isn't a total stick in the mud, and he's creative in his own way.
And yes this is a bit of an excuse to crush on Arthur and think he's cooler than everyone else perceives him as.
Side note: THIS is what I referred to when he made his own kick:
I SWEAR THIS MAN KNOWS HOW TO MAKE ME SWOON.
