This is a section of a research paper that I wrote on Inception and the Freudian Dream work theory

1. INTRODUCTION
A woman’s blood flows freely as she lies in the arms of her lover, she has been shot and
fatally wounded. Her lover holds her without regret. He ignores the pain from the stab wound
that she is responsible for, a wound she inflicted to make him begin to feel again and to
convince him that everything is real. He has neither support nor love to offer. ‘I have to let
you go’ he whispers, presumably feeling an immense sense of relief as he watches her die.
This scene stands as the culmination of Christopher Nolan’s science-fiction/thriller, Inception
(2010). As described here, it may not seem a likely parting between two lovers, but when
understood in the context of the lengthy dream state in which the film’s plot unfolds, it is
governed by a different set of interpretive rules that makes its meaning lie far beneath what
meets the eye.
Inception’s plot inhabits the world of the unconscious and the dream state. When viewed
through the perspective of psychoanalytic dream theory, it becomes possible to better
understand the intricate dynamics of the film. Sigmund Freud’s pioneering work on the
workings of the unconscious in relation to dream theory is still relevant today. His theoretical
work on the unconscious psychological dynamics of what he calls ‘Dream Work’ proposes
that dreams are the product of the dreamer’s unconscious attempt to explore or come to terms
with experiences, memories and repressed thoughts and emotions within the safe confines of
the dream state. He theorised that ‘Dream Work’, which includes the concepts of
symbolization, condensation, secondary revision and displacement, is a process by which the
repressed or latent content of the dreamer’s unconscious mind is transformed into the manifest
content of the dream.
Inception (2010) resonates strongly with ‘Dream Work’ theory through its formal and
thematic elements and is an excellent contemporary example of taking Freud’s theories
further in a different medium. This paper critically analyses the film in terms of the basic
unconscious psychological dynamics of ‘Dream Work’ to allow a greater understanding of
these for a contemporary audience, and examines the possibility that Inception (2010)
simultaneously points towards different possibilities of understanding unconscious motives.
Looking closely at the thematic and formal characteristics of the film in terms of Freud’s
concepts, this study will in effect peel away the layers of shadowy, incoherent dream images
to reveal the corresponding unconscious motives that drive the plot and its characters, while at
the same time exploring ways of expanding this dream theory that are suggested in the film
text.
1. DREAM WORK
According to Freud’s (1920) foundational work on psychoanalysis, broadly speaking, there
are two levels at which the human mind operates, the conscious and the unconscious,
although he differentiates among the unconscious, preconscious and conscious in The
Interpretation of Dreams of 1900. The conscious state, constantly drawing on the
preconscious, is that which is used to navigate daily and waking life and is characterised by
the employment of reasoning, thinking and logic. Within this waking life, human beings
encounter thoughts, emotions and experiences that they unconsciously refuse to deal with at a
conscious level, because these thoughts have usually been repressed. Freud’s theory on dream
interpretation suggests that these repressed, unconscious thoughts and feelings find an outlet
for expression during the dream state when the ‘censorship’ of the conscious mind is
weakened – a censoring function which he regards as being indispensable for individuals to
be able to concentrate on the demands of waking life. These latent thoughts are then translated
into the manifest content of the dream, but not without passing through the censorship of the
mind, which results in the modification or ‘disguise’ of the latent material to be able to appear

2. as dream images of some kind. This censorship is what results in the absurdity and chaos that
characterise most dreams. However, Freud believed that dreams were ‘phenomena whose
absurdity and incoherence disappear as soon as we know how to interpret them with the aid of
a suitable scientific method’ (Robert, 1966, 120). Based on this idea, Freud developed a
theory of what is called ‘dream work’ to explain the processes that the unconscious mind
undertakes in attempting to express the repressed thoughts of the dreamer in an acceptable
and bearable manner. For this reason he calls dreams the ‘guardians of sleep’ (). The main
processes elaborated in this theory are ‘condensation’, ‘displacement’, ‘symbolization’ and
‘secondary revision’(). Once an understanding of these processes has been attained, Freud
strongly believes that dream interpretation becomes possible.
1.1 Condensation
Freud (1920, 17) describes ‘condensation’ as the process by which the dreamer unconsciously
combines several dream thoughts to produce a single image or symbol (the contents of these
compressed thoughts can extend to objects, people or locations). However, because this
process remains an attempt to unify thoughts that are distressing in waking life and therefore
repressed into the unconscious, the symbols produced are often ‘of composite form, hybrids
produced by the fusion or the superimposition of completely dissimilar features’ (Freud,
1920, 18). In order to render these symbols intelligible, Freud suggests that the dream analysis
should take into consideration that condensation always gives prominence to the common
character of the combination: ‘the dream says simply: All these things have an ‘x’ in
common’ and clumps them together. This awareness makes the unpacking of merged images
‘one of the fastest ways to an interpretation of [a] dream’. For instance, a young woman who
fears an impending marriage due to the presence of overbearing male figures in her fiancé’s
family may in her dream state, encounter a dominating figure that she cannot readily identify,
but is able to attribute various personalities to. In this case the process of condensation
focuses on the common characteristic of dominance in the male figures she fears in her
waking life and clumps them together into a less recognizable figure. Dreams in which
condensation happens are usually ‘brief, meagre and laconic in comparison with the range and
wealth of the dream-thoughts [that drive them]’ (Freud, 1920, 18). Through condensation
certain parts of the dream content that are peculiar to the dream life alone, and which are not
found in the waking state are rendered explicable and can be interpreted through analysis.
1.2 Displacement
The process of ‘displacement’ is inextricably tied to strongly felt desires, thoughts and
feelings on the part of dreamers that are repressed in their waking lives. Although during the
dream state the level of censorship is weakened, displacement continues to work to defend the
dreamer from confronting disconcerting thoughts. The main result of displacement is that the
significance placed on specific dream thoughts is reconfigured. This results in a scenario
where ‘what was strong and important in the latent thought of the dream is transferred to a
weak, insignificant object’ (Robert, 1996, 123) in its manifest content or what is most
important is completely removed from the action of the dream. Displacement shifts the
dreamer’s attention from threatening impulses to more inconsequential images. For example,
the composite male figure in our young woman’s dream may take up a great deal of focus;
however Freud (1920) suggests that it is also necessary to mention those things that are not
given as much attention and relegated to the peripheral areas of the dream. In this case, the
dream content also provides the image of the young woman and her fiancé walking hand in
hand through a field of luscious greenery. Taken at face value, the dreams meaning remains
obscure, however, if one uses the principle of displacement to analyse it, it is possible to
produce a relatively sound interpretation. Taking into consideration the fact that the woman

3. comes from a background of farming which uses an agricultural discourse, for her, greenery
would invariably symbolize money, wealth and prosperity. Based on this fact, it can be argued
that the scene is relegated to the periphery of the dream setting because the woman is in fact
afraid of marrying her fiancé for fears that he will be incapable of providing for her
financially. The focus on the dominant character of the male figure effectively displaces the
woman’s repressed belief in her fiancé’s weakness. Theory does suggest that in light of the
work of displacement one can interpret it as one of the many methods of censorship
unconsciously used by the dreamer to retain stability. In as much as the process aims to retain
emotional stability by such reversals of significance, it can also be held responsible for the
comparative chaos that consumes the dreamer during the dream state, and the absurdity of the
manifest dream content.
1.3 Symbolization
The process of ‘symbolization’ consists of ‘replacing of objects, people and situations by
images likely to delineate them in a purely analogical fashion’ (Robert, 1996, 123). Signs,
images and language or even nonsensical occurrences are utilised by the ‘dream work’ to
express a wish or desire, betraying the censor by making the wish slightly more intelligible.
The symbol is the most important element of ‘dream work’ as it provides the content for all
the other processes that it utilizes (displacement, secondary revision and condensation) and
for the environment in which these processes unfold. Symbolization does this by providing
the setting for the action of the dream. For example, this principle can be seen with the image
of the luscious greenery which symbolises a number of thoughts or desires. In this case the
greenery may symbolise not only money but the fiancé’s perceived lack of strength as well as
his inability to provide financially for this woman, further explaining the immense sense of
dread that she experiences throughout the dream. Looking at this example one must admit that
dreams can work with symbols of the ‘narrowest individual significance which an individual
has built up out of his own material’ (Freud, 1920, 34). In this case it is necessary to restrict
the dream interpretation to the specific case of the individual. However, dreams also make use
of symbols generated in broader shared contexts, cultures and discourses. Further, based on
our common humanity, we share almost intuitively, certain associations which enable us to
form universally recognised symbols. For this reason, Freud (1920) took the liberty to
introduce explanations for particular symbols which he argued could be used for standard
interpretation of dreams without consulting dreamers about their own impressions of their
dreams. At the most general level, Freud (1920) suggests that standard interpretations can be
collected and ‘there are symbols of universal circulation, found in all dreamers’ (Freud, 1920,
34). For example, the symbol of the king and queen are viewed as representing the dreamer’s
parents, symbols of a phallic nature were interpreted to represent repressed sexual desires, and
these included tall buildings and knives or daggers. For the purposes of this analysis it is
necessary to presuppose the existence of these common symbols.
1.3.1 Secondary revision
Secondary revision is typically the final step of the ‘dream work’ process and involves the
reconciliation of the fragmented action of the dream to produce a logical narrative that
connects all the various parts together. Dreamers, who at this stage are awake, often use the
elements of ‘non-contradiction’, ‘temporal sequence’ and ‘causality’ to interpret their dreams.
These elements characterise the secondary processes of conscious thought. Secondary
revision is the process through which the recognizable identity and meaning of the dream are
formed and dreamers can either remove or add elements to maintain logic and stability. Upon
waking from her dream, our young woman may attempt to understand the action of her
dream. In doing so she may add or remove information that she thinks will allow her to

4. produce a coherent account. It is through this secondary revision that she is able to draw
meaning from her dream. However, Freud (1920) also suggests that there are some
individuals who possess the ability to guide their dream life. These are people who remain
aware of the fact that they are dreaming throughout the action of the dream and are therefore
able to control it to a large extent; such dreams have come to be known as ‘lucid dreams’.
1.3.2 Wish fulfilment
Freud’s (1920) work suggests that the obscurity of dreams and ‘the discrepancy between the
manifest dream content and the latent dream content merely shows that what is involved is the
fulfilment of a disguised or a hidden or a repressed wish’ (Robert, 1960, 122). Wish
fulfilment can also be seen as the attempts by the unconscious to resolve a conflict that the
conscious mind cannot or refuses to resolve during its waking state. Information that is in the
unconscious remains repressed and even though censorship is relaxed during a dream state,
this information is not permitted to completely surface. It emerges instead through symbols
like the greenery in the woman’s dream. Freud asserts that even unpleasant dreams are a form
of wish fulfilment as they allow dreamers to unconsciously confront and work through issues
that are worrisome in their waking lives to get some degree of peace and satisfaction.
1.3.3 Primary and secondary process
The primary process works within the unconscious state. It is an associative process that
works with image-thinking. All the processes of dream work function on the level of the
primary process except for secondary revision. On the other hand, the secondary process
works at the level of the conscious state. It is a process that utilises logic, thinking and
reasoning. It utilises language and is characterised by linked lines of argument.