Date of Award

1-2024

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

College/School

College of Humanities and Social Sciences

Department/Program

English

Thesis Sponsor/Dissertation Chair/Project Chair

Arthur Simon

Committee Member

Alexios Lykidis

Committee Member

Adam Rzepka

Abstract

This thesis aims to dissect the deliberate destabilization that emerges from Cameron Crowe’s Vanilla Sky and Christopher Nolan’s Inception. By stripping away stabilizing elements and weaving intricate dream sequences, Nolan and Crowe craft a cinematic experience that blurs the distinction between reality and imaginary. The means in which Nolan and Crowe execute this is through several ways. Firstly, through the exploration of the symbiotic relationship between the characters' bodies and minds within the dream narrative. Secondly, through the deliberate creation of spatial and temporal instability, which blurs the boundaries between reality and fantasy or the imaginary. Lastly, both films deliberately avoid conclusive endings, leaving audiences grappling with ambiguous conclusions that perpetuate the narrative's unresolved nature. This thesis is a comparative analysis of Vanilla Sky and Inception in which it identifies and analyzes these destabilizing techniques.

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