I love the way Arthur and Eames are shown here and we can immediately see what's going on in just in one shot. They're equal and opposite visually and thematically on a purely film school nerd analysis level, regardless of fandom goggles.
Honestly, seeing this interaction giffed on Tumblr and the way it established the characters and their relationship to each other in one second without sound was what made me jump into the whole fandom and Dream Husbands ship in the first place, because it shows just how much they belong together.
Their postures - Arthur still and formal, Eames slouching and constantly fidgeting. Their outfits - Arthur's coordinated gray suit and tie all done up nicely and Eames with his jacket hanging off the chair, obnoxious watch, and weird mustard colored short sleeved shirt. Arthur diligently taking notes while Eames distractedly plays with his totem, his notes sitting unopened on his knee. The way Eames spins his whole body to talk to harass Arthur while Arthur just turns his head maybe 45 degrees. Plus the actors themselves physically with coloring and build, and different accents. They're situated symmetrically on the screen (same distance from the edge of the screen), same height, same distance from the camera.
Their characters are there to be left brain (logic and order, "lacks imagination") and right brain (emotion and imagination, "not like you") for Cobb.[1][2] Their totems both being so similar (red cheating gambling tokens - but their methods controlling different aspects of the game) are a sign of their connection. In the first third of the film they're in conflict, but in order for Inception to succeed, left and right brain have to come together and work in sync. And so there's a whole-ass montage of them in the final third simultaneously laying explosives to get the kick going on level 2 and level 3, blindly trusting the other to do his job, so they can complete the heist successfully.
The fandom goggles do come in when they're both played by extremely attractive actors who interpreted the tension between the characters LIKE THAT, but I mean, come on. Darling. They're two characters who are each others' equals, opposites and rivals in every way; who have tension but begrudging respect and ultimately trust, work brilliantly alongside each other, and have some kind of unspecified history together. They're two halves of a whole as dictated by the narrative.
How are we not supposed to ship this?
I suppose you could make an argument for Id/Ego/Superego or Ethos/Pathos/Logos, the whole Kirk/Spock/McCoy dynamic. But the movie is about neurological pseudoscience so left/right brain works better imo. Esp given that they actually mention the imagination thing.
I saw a menswear blog post that pointed out that whatever Cobb's wearing always lies between what Arthur is wearing (dressed up) and Eames is wearing (dressed down). Except for the scene where he and Arthur are kidnappers.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
Each fandom canon has its own unique challenges when writing fic and Inception requires extensive googling of various countries' law enforcement agencies to be accurate about who specifically is trying to arrest our boys now
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
Day 12: What style of dance does each character prefer?Â
Ariadne: has mostly reinvented herself by moving to Paris, but her guilty pleasure is line dance.
Yusuf: Will only dance if he has to, which turns out to be "a lot" and "extremely well" due to having attended a lot of South Asian family weddings. Insists he's awkward and terrible at it, but is actually better than 80% of this list.
Mal: took ballet lessons as a child and can still hold a mean turnout. She wanted Philippa to take ballet too.
Saito: his wife dragged him to ballroom classes after seeing the movie Shall We Dance?. He remembers every step and executes them with clinical precision.
Robert Fischer: see Saito above, but substitute with "his mother" "college girlfriend" (edit: the years didn't match up, I forgot he has a canonical date of birth) and "Strictly Ballroom". They have a surprising amount in common, which they'll never know.
Eames: as a forger, part of his job involves knowing where and what his body parts are doing at any given time, which lends itself extremely well to dancing. It comes up surprisingly often professionally in dreamscapes - ballroom, latin, belly, square, lap. He tries to forget the job that involved can-can. Up top, it's mostly in clubs to feel alive or get laid.
Cobb: took lessons for his wedding, and learned the waltz through sheer determination, force of will, and love for his wife. Otherwise, cannot count a rhythm or move his feet gracefully to save his life.
Arthur: attended lessons with Cobb partially due to being in the wedding party and partially for moral support. In the time it took for Cobb to learn the waltz, he also learned the tango, foxtrot, rumba; the instructor said he had competition potential. He declined before Mal could start trying to find him a dance partner. Misses it nowadays due to being extremely touch-starved.
One day on a job, the PASIV dumps Ariadne into a dream as a guy. Once he gets over his surprise, he realizes that everything feels so much better and his subconscious knew all along.
He continues doing dream heists long enough to pay off his transition, then quits and has a long, happy, healthy life as an award-winning building architect whose PASIV usage is entirely recreational. He still keeps in touch though.
