unpopular fannish opinion

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Part of the reason I can't get into Inception is that the premise is that the protagonist is a man who drove his wife crazy. On purpose.

I know that everyone's happy place is Arthur/Eames, but I will be 100% honest. In any other movie, Cobb would have been the villain.

This movie tried to turn him into a sad, sympathetic character, and instead whenever I think about it, I have to warp the movie into a feminist retelling where Mal is right and Cobb is asleep. Otherwise I just want to scream.

Crossposts: http://girl-wonder.livejournal.com/275396.html

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From:

surexit

Yeah, you're right, he actually takes on no blame. He takes on plenty of guilt to add to his epic manpain, plenty of 'OH I HAD TO DO THIS BUT GOD WHAT TERRIBLE CONSEQUENCES' but no actual blame.

Yeah, I really never looked at it like this. Mal's really unfairly treated by the narrative, and since she's one of the only two women, that fucking sucks.

I would enjoy a feminist retelling where he's actually asleep and she's right.

From:

katewrites

YES. EXACTLY. He's very epic about his guilt and how SAD he is and how not having his kids because everyone thinks he killed his wife is such a huge WEIGHT. However he's never like, well, incepting my wife led to her insanity. That's kind of on me.

Yeah. At first it seems like, "Well, this is just his perception of Mal, so not really who she was" except then you realize that as the protag, we're supposed to be relatively on his side. So we're supposed to be hoping he survives the encounter and gets his kids back.

So, essentially, we're supposed to accept his narrative as the narrative. We accept that he was right to pull her out of limbo, that she must have been somewhat like what he sees her as now.

I think I really can only read feminist stories in this universe.

From:

surexit

He's very rarely more than a throwaway line in any stories I've read, but you may have now POISONED my enjoyment of the film/fandom.

I really want to find the fic that must exist where Mal is right. Someone must have written it.

From:

katewrites

I'm so sorry! I am sadface at having poisoned anyone's experience.

Here's some good Mal-is-right fic that is Eames/Arthur ftw:

http://airgiodslv.livejournal.com/535615.html

And a really good rec list:

http://jenna-marianne.livejournal.com/5625.html