Things I Learned From Movies 1: Dream Bigger

Inception may be a masterpiece in terms of the visual aspects.  It is hard to deny that.  The visuals are stunning.  I like the movie due largely to that.  Another strong point is the dialogue.  Though some dialogue may be highly expositional and bring you out of the film, much of it works.  Some of the dialogue can teach you things, which is where this blog post comes in.

Eames is the character with the largest imagination.  He can do things that none of the others can when it comes to creation within dreams.  One such moment includes Eames creating a grenade launcher in order to fight of some militarized dream projections.  As he does this he says the line “You mustn't be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling.”  This is where the lesson comes in.

Imagination is a great thing to have.  As we get older, many people tend to lose the imagination that they once had.  People get bogged down in reality with their jobs, family, friends, and many other things.  Imagination takes a back seat.  Lives become dull and repetitive.

This could be a reason that television and film are as popular as they are.  People no longer retain the imagination that they once had and flock to the output of those that do.  Even then, there are few imaginative people.  Think about any time a successful film comes out.  There is always a sequel, or a flock of knock offs that come out following these movies.  There are remakes left and right with little to no original thought put into them.  The imagination just does not seem to be there anymore.

One way of thinking about what Eames says is that you need imagination and dreams to keep living.  There is no getting around that.  Without these things we would all be like drones, walking around without any ambition, initiative, or creativity.  Life as we know it would cease to exist.  If we give ourselves a shot of imagination we may just be able to save ourselves.  We could bring joy back into our lives.  We could live more satisfied by our actions.

Take what you want from this.  What I learned is that we need to broaden our imaginations instead of shutting them out.  Keep dreaming.  Don’t ever lose that side of yourself.