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- Sister Magpie on Four Reasons Not To Let the Alleged Ambiguity Stop You Seeing Inception at 17:21 on 03-09-2010 - link I have not seen Memento since it came out so I may have totally forgotten. In which case, it starts out with a guy in tragic circumstances and he breaks free of them--but same idea, I mean, about how he feeds himself the reality he needs to get on with his life either way. I mean, in the way I was originally remembering it he was still refusing to have a life with no purpose (and was rather wonderfully turning himself against the people trying to manipulate him by manipulating *himself* better than they ever could), I just thought that he had to do it through trickery. I may have forgotten just how well he wins in the end--it's been a while!
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Arthur B on Four Reasons Not To Let the Alleged Ambiguity Stop You Seeing Inception
at 16:48 on 03-09-2010 - link
Memento, I felt, was sort of a tragedy that way anyway. That was a character who had had his conscious life robbed from him, really, because he couldn't create any new memories.
Actually I thought it was fairly explicit in Memento that he got away from that?
Spoiler-obscured, since people reading this might not have seen Memento: the way he manages to simultaneously write his own ending to his vengeance quest and break free of the person who's been manipulating him seems liberating, and there's a brief flash of him with a tattoo saying I DID IT which seems to explicitly say that he moves on from that particular unending circle. -
Sister Magpie on Four Reasons Not To Let the Alleged Ambiguity Stop You Seeing Inception
at 16:40 on 03-09-2010 - link
Yes, very true. The Inception only matters once Fischer wakes up, after all. He works out his issues in his subconcious but it's only his concious mind that can make something happen.
Memento, I felt, was sort of a tragedy that way anyway. That was a character who had had his conscious life robbed from him, really, because he couldn't create any new memories. He's stuck in the same loop based around the time when his memories end. In Inception that possibility is the main danger of the film. You don't want to get stuck in limbo because if you're there for long enough you lose your waking life (your brain turns to mush--or at least that's what they imagine). All the work Cobb does for Saito won't mean anything if he doesn't remember their deal when he wakes up. It's all about the real world in Inception. -
Arthur B on Four Reasons Not To Let the Alleged Ambiguity Stop You Seeing Inception
at 16:17 on 03-09-2010 - link
Exactly. It seems to me that one of Nolan's biggest interests--and one that I really love--is the whole concept of people giving meaning to their own lives with their own ideas. The protagonist of Memento 'inceptions' himself throughout the movie via notes and tattoos. He can do that because he has no memory. He's creating his reality by feeding it into himself exactly the way the Inception is supposed to work. For an idea to take hold it has to come from yourself on some level.
I do think Inception provides another level of nuance, though, in rejecting the idea that you can be completely happy by rejecting reality entirely and diving into the sort of complete solipsism that Cobb is at risk of succumbing to in limbo. You do ultimately have to find something outside of your own head to give richness and texture to your life, unless your highest ambition is to float around in a sensory deprivation tank all day, and part of doing that is putting aside questions as to whether those things you find fulfilment in are a valid use of your time - if you find them fulfilling, then that in itself is validating. Look at how Mal keeps trying to convince Cobb that the kids aren't real, and time spent with them is time wasted on an illusion (a fallacy, considering the metaphysics of the film - time spent with dream-children is time Cobb would have spent sleeping anyway, so it's not like any hypothetical real children are losing out). -
Sister Magpie on Four Reasons Not To Let the Alleged Ambiguity Stop You Seeing Inception
at 16:01 on 03-09-2010 - link
The fantasy tech is only used when you don't know if it's real or a dream. I'm saying initially he wasn't sure, so he spun. But upon seeing his kids, he recognized the truth and left the top.
Didn't the kids look just a little bit different in the last scene? I need to see it again, but that was my impression.
Yes, the kids are older-and finally dressed differently I believe.
I'm saying that the fantasy tech is used when you don't know if it's real or a dream because it's established that it's the only real way to know if you're an experienced extractor.I don't think so. What makes the scene clever is the subtly. The top sounds like it's about to fall, the kids look different, and you mentioned the ring. All signs point to exquisite unambiguity. imo.
Everything points to Cobb being awake except the huge "I'm going to leave this ambiguous by not actually showing the top fall over." If the point is to be unambiguous you end with the top falling over and putting a button on it, not tantalizing sounds that it's going to fall over which we hear because we're so focused on waiting for it to fall over. When I saw it the audience literally groaned when it cut out because they knew they were being denied that last bit of reassurance. (Groaned in a happy way, though.) We as the audience don't follow Cobb out to the yard and so leave the top behind when he does.It's a lot like the end of Memento in that way - in both cases you've got protagonists who are caught up in a classic existential dilemma who realise that the only way to stop themselves being constantly tormented by a particular question is to stop asking it.
Exactly. It seems to me that one of Nolan's biggest interests--and one that I really love--is the whole concept of people giving meaning to their own lives with their own ideas. The protagonist of Memento 'inceptions' himself throughout the movie via notes and tattoos. He can do that because he has no memory. He's creating his reality by feeding it into himself exactly the way the Inception is supposed to work. For an idea to take hold it has to come from yourself on some level.
I don't think the point of the movie is speculating whether or not its a dream because it doesn't really add anything to the real story of the movie. It's more just fun exercise if you like that sort of thing. But when someone claims that it's obviously one or the other, that's when I can't help but argue it because I think the hints witholding that reassurance is part of the movie. I mean, Cobb's kids being older is a change that is a bit like Bill Murray finally proceeding to Wednesday in Groundhog Day. But the whole walk through customs is dreamlike, as is Saito's magical phone call of exhonerration! Fischer's ideas about his relationship to his father come from his own experience of reality--he thinks, but he's wrong. -
Daniel Hemmens on Another Set of Choices
at 14:36 on 03-09-2010 - link
There was no libertine girl I could hook up with to just have a good time, and that's got to be because I'd told the game I was flirting with the boys at my birthday party and it took that to mean I was a raging heterosexual.
I don't think it's so much that. I think the game takes your statement that you're flirting with the boys as evidence that within the context of the game, you are interested in pursuing heterosexual relationships.
Essentially, from what I can tell, you read the "who do you flirt with" question as asking "are you flirting with the boys, implying that you are either heterosexual or homosexual and pursuing men for social advancement, or with the girls, implying that you are an overt homosexual in a patriarchal, heteronormative society."
What the game doesn't implement is the option to be gay in a heteronormative society, and I'm actually okay with that. It means that you get the option to play a gay character without it being your character's one defining feature.
I can see that the heteronormativity selection could have been more clearly flagged (again they did this better in Broadsides where they make it quite clear that if you choose to play a woman, you're not cross-dressing and running away to sea, you're living in a world where gender roles are reversed). -
Arthur B on Four Reasons Not To Let the Alleged Ambiguity Stop You Seeing Inception
at 14:29 on 03-09-2010 - link
I don't think I'd peg it as a fantasy film, I'd peg it as a heist movie.
It's a heist film which uses small-f fantasy (rather than big-F Tolkien and wizards fantasy) to present a kind of heist which would be conceptually impossible in a completely realistic movie. A bit like Groundhog Day is a romantic comedy which uses a fantastic idea to present the story in a way it wouldn't be able to if Bill Murray weren't recycling a day. Hence my use of "fantasy heist movie", "fantasy" being a mild modifier to the basic genre of "heist movie".
I don't think the "is it a dream?" thing adds nothing, I just think speculating furiously as to whether or not is a dream slightly misses the point. The thing about the ending is that, however you interpret it, one thing is consistent, which is that Cobb has learned not to let questions like "is this a dream?" rule his life and attained a peace of mind which has allowed him to move on and grow as a person. It's a lot like the end of Memento in that way - in both cases you've got protagonists who are caught up in a classic existential dilemma who realise that the only way to stop themselves being constantly tormented by a particular question is to stop asking it. -
Daniel Hemmens on Four Reasons Not To Let the Alleged Ambiguity Stop You Seeing Inception
at 14:19 on 03-09-2010 - link
I don't think I'd peg it as a fantasy film, I'd peg it as a heist movie.
My problem with the film was that - as you observe - the "is it a dream" element adds nothing to the movie whatsoever, but the film *never the less* pushes that element very strongly. -
Arthur B on Ferretbrain Presents the teXt Factor Episode 2 - Scary Black Men
at 12:58 on 03-09-2010 - link
(I'd give it to charity, except I'm pretty sure no charity shop in the world is going to be short of Dan Brown novels for the next decade or so.)
Confirmed! Apparently Dan Brown is the author whose books are most donated to Oxfam, but he's only #10 in terms of books sold. Which presumably means Oxfam are slowly accumulating a horrifying stockpile of Brown novels. -
Arthur B on Four Reasons Not To Let the Alleged Ambiguity Stop You Seeing Inception
at 11:06 on 03-09-2010 - link
This is mostly what bugged me about Inception. I kinda felt it worked best if you saw it as an over-the-top heist movies. The points where it asked me to take it seriously were the points I could take it least seriously.
Oh, it's definitely the best fantasy heist film ever.
I suppose the irony of it is that the more you get caught up in the "is it a dream or isn't it?" thing, the more that impedes your ability to just take it as it is and enjoy yourself. Which is precisely the dilemma Cobb was in. -
Daniel Hemmens on Four Reasons Not To Let the Alleged Ambiguity Stop You Seeing Inception
at 10:52 on 03-09-2010 - link
The way it has been explained to me is that the point isn't that Cobb knows the top would stop spinning, but that Cobb knows more or less when it's meant to stop spinning, whereas other people who don't know how the top is weighted wouldn't be able to predict that.
But that contradicts not only the way totems are supposed to work but *also* what we are *specifically told* about the way Cobb's totem works (both of which also directly contradict *each other*).
To put it another way, it's kind of clearly fanwank.
This is mostly what bugged me about Inception. I kinda felt it worked best if you saw it as an over-the-top heist movies. The points where it asked me to take it seriously were the points I could take it least seriously. -
Arthur B on Four Reasons Not To Let the Alleged Ambiguity Stop You Seeing Inception
at 10:33 on 03-09-2010 - link
However the relevant property of Cobb's Top was that it would stop spinning in reality. Why wouldn't it do that in dream? Other people don't possess an expectation that tops spin perpetually so why would any top created in their dreamscape reliably have that property?
The way it has been explained to me is that the point isn't that Cobb knows the top would stop spinning, but that Cobb knows more or less when it's meant to stop spinning, whereas other people who don't know how the top is weighted wouldn't be able to predict that.
I don't buy that, mainly because tops aren't actually that predictable. Sometimes you'll spin them deftly and they'll keep going for a while. Sometimes you'll botch it and they'll fall over almost immediately. And what's more, the spinning properties of a top depend a heck of a lot on the surface you spin it on, so for the totem to work that way Cobb would need to carry a little mat around or something to spin the top on.
I prefer to see it as being a bit like the second hand on the wristwatch at the start of the film - it's not that anyone expects the second hand to move backwards or change speed irregularly, it's just that the subconscious mind isn't actually that good at maintaining that level of consistency. Cobb's totem helps him tell whether he's in someone else's dream because whilst it's important to Cobb, it's an irrelevant detail to the dreamer and so their subconscious won't bother to model it with any accuracy. (By that virtue it's less likely to tell him whether he's in his own dream because it's literally a weight on his mind - the totem is so important to him that you might expect his dreams to model it with perfect accuracy.) -
Joe W on Four Reasons Not To Let the Alleged Ambiguity Stop You Seeing Inception
at 10:24 on 03-09-2010 - link
I certainly enjoyed the film, but have to say that the whole thing with Mal's Totem didn't work for me.
As I understood it the purpose of a totem was that only their owner would be aware of their true properties- i.e. the exact weight and feel of the chess piece. This prevents a perfect replica being created by someone else's dreaming.
However the relevant property of Cobb's Top was that it would stop spinning in reality. Why wouldn't it do that in dream? Other people don't possess an expectation that tops spin perpetually so why would any top created in their dreamscape reliably have that property?
It was a nice visual cue, but it just didn't make any sense to me in the context of what had been explained about totems. -
Arthur B on Four Reasons Not To Let the Alleged Ambiguity Stop You Seeing Inception
at 08:00 on 03-09-2010 - link
Well, regardless he didn't end it with "it was all a dream" as the post points out. But he does end it with a very in your face "it *could* be all a dream."
Well, that's the thing - it could be all a dream, and Cobb is about to check, but he decides that he doesn't need to check any more because he's no longer mired in Mal's solipsistic bullshit. He's happy to just take things as they come and if they turn out to be a dream, well, he'll deal with it when he wakes up. -
Frank on Four Reasons Not To Let the Alleged Ambiguity Stop You Seeing Inception
at 06:23 on 03-09-2010 - link
But it's not just a symbol. It's a piece of fantasy technology with a specific purpose, to tell you whether you're dreaming or not dreaming. If he walks away before the top stops spinning because he doesn't "need" a representation of reality according to the rules of the movie he could be in a dream. In their line of work he does need a symbol of reality.
The fantasy tech is only used when you don't know if it's real or a dream. I'm saying initially he wasn't sure, so he spun. But upon seeing his kids, he recognized the truth and left the top.
Didn't the kids look just a little bit different in the last scene? I need to see it again, but that was my impression.But he does end it with a very in your face "it *could* be all a dream." It's not coming down on either side.
I don't think so. What makes the scene clever is the subtly. The top sounds like it's about to fall, the kids look different, and you mentioned the ring. All signs point to exquisite unambiguity. imo. -
Sister Magpie on Four Reasons Not To Let the Alleged Ambiguity Stop You Seeing Inception
at 02:05 on 03-09-2010 - link
The totem represents not just Mal but reality and unreality.
He walks away because he no longer needs a representation of reality. I think he sees that his kids have aged from his dream kids. They become his world, and the totem becomes
a top.
But it's not just a symbol. It's a piece of fantasy technology with a specific purpose, to tell you whether you're dreaming or not dreaming. If he walks away before the top stops spinning because he doesn't "need" a representation of reality according to the rules of the movie he could be in a dream. In their line of work he does need a symbol of reality.
Also, it's shit to end a story with 'it was all a dream'. Nolan is more clever than that.
Well, regardless he didn't end it with "it was all a dream" as the post points out. But he does end it with a very in your face "it *could* be all a dream." It's not coming down on either side. Because imo coming down on one side would be too pat and the other side would be just sort of annoying. -
Frank on Four Reasons Not To Let the Alleged Ambiguity Stop You Seeing Inception
at 01:29 on 03-09-2010 - link
walking away before the top assures you you're in reality seems like it has to be a decision to not know.
The totem represents not just Mal but reality and unreality.
He walks away because he no longer needs a representation of reality. I think he sees that his kids have aged from his dream kids. They become his world, and the totem becomes a top.
Also, it's shit to end a story with 'it was all a dream'. Nolan is more clever than that. -
Sister Magpie on Four Reasons Not To Let the Alleged Ambiguity Stop You Seeing Inception
at 22:18 on 02-09-2010 - link
I didn't take it as not caring whether or not he's in a dream so much as letting go of the thing which was keeping him mired in dreams and memories in the first place (Mal). That, after all, was what was keeping him away from his children - his sense that he didn't deserve the happiness of being with them. They're not the goal, even if Cobb might have thought they were, they're the reward - the goal is Cobb forgiving himself, and that's something you pretty much have to do on the playing field of your own mind whether it's a conscious decision or something that gets processed in dreams.
But in this universe the top is also a practical object. It was Mal's totem, so it can be a symbol of Mal. Spinning it would remind him of her. So he could spin the top at the end and not feel the usual guilt and obsession he felt in the past: he's free now. He's reached his goal.
But there's no getting around the other, usually more important goal the top has, which is to tell him whether he's dreaming or awake. That's what he's usually used it for throughout the movie. (Perhaps not in the scene when he talks to his kids on the phone.)
At the end, perhaps he does spin the top to see if he feels the same guilt and obsession and, realizing he doesn't, knows he's reached his goal and can freely go to his reward. But that still means he's not listening to the top's opinion on whether he's dreaming. Either because he doesn't care or perhaps because he's so sure that he's awake now he doesn't need the top to tell him. But that's still relying on personal impressions over an objective test of reality in a movie that over and over says you can't trust impressions.
So I guess in some ways the question is: why does he spin the top? Does he spin it as a good-bye to Mal and reassurance she no longer has any hold over him because he's forgiven himself, or as a test to see that he's dreaming? Or maybe a little of both? Because either way walking away before the top assures you you're in reality seems like it has to be a decision to not know. -
Sister Magpie on The Demon's Blah Blah Blah
at 21:30 on 02-09-2010 - link
And I also read his love for Mae as sincere, although it's still something he's willing to give up or use to further his own ends, which, again I think is more interesting and complicated than straight forward exploitation.
True. The reason I didn't consider him to be in love with Mae was really more that it seemed like the series in general, as stated by Mae, was sort of rejecting the idea that teenagers considering dating each other could be true love. Like at one point Mae said something about how nobody's going to "lose her" or whatever if they don't go out with her, they'll just date someone else. So it was kind of making a point of saying that romance at this point was not going to be the main driving force because nobody felt that deeply about anybody (perhaps only yet).
So the way I read the thing with Alan was that yes, he actually did have a crush on her. But once he decided to sacrifice that for Nick (like the self-sacrifice addict) that was what shaped his behavior. Like, if Alan was really hoping to date Mae he wouldn't be making speeches about dreaming about her the most because he's giving up anything like a healthy relationship chance in favor of guilting her and inspiring pity. But I could be totally wrong there. It's quite possible that that speech was Alan's true feelings coming out as a sort of tragic declaration out of hopelessness. As opposed to more of a perverse/bitter put down of himself as an object of pity that he's making work for him.
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Arthur B on Four Reasons Not To Let the Alleged Ambiguity Stop You Seeing Inception
at 21:28 on 02-09-2010 - link
But I do also tend to agree with Andy that the thing about that last scene is that whether or not we get to see if the top falls over, Cobb no longer cares. He's going to his kids regardless. He's succeeded in his goals even if he's done it in a dream world.
I didn't take it as not caring whether or not he's in a dream so much as letting go of the thing which was keeping him mired in dreams and memories in the first place (Mal). That, after all, was what was keeping him away from his children - his sense that he didn't deserve the happiness of being with them. They're not the goal, even if Cobb might have thought they were, they're the reward - the goal is Cobb forgiving himself, and that's something you pretty much have to do on the playing field of your own mind whether it's a conscious decision or something that gets processed in dreams.
(Also, like I said, if he is in a dream by the end, he won't be for long, because by the terms of the cosmology he's going to wake up soon...) -
Sister Magpie on Four Reasons Not To Let the Alleged Ambiguity Stop You Seeing Inception
at 19:24 on 02-09-2010 - link
Also Mal's death is as huge a feature of Cobb's dreams as his kids, and if we start questioning whether or not she's dead we may as well question whether or not there are kids, or indeed whether or not there's a Cobb, at which point there is no story, only speculation.
I don't think it collapses to that extent--at least least, not any more than the basic "it's all a dream" would anyway. It's splitting off in a specific way: Mal is right when she tells Cobb they are both dreaming and must kill themselves to wake up. This version just flips it on its head. She is "dead" in his reality since she left the dream.
It does, of course, add a lot more speculation just as any version where it's all a dream does because we don't know what awaits on that waking level now. But it can still retain the same guilt that he has to let go of in order to live his real life with his kids.
The real loss with that theory, I think, is that it turns a real emotional blow into a trick and an illusion. In this version Dom didn't kill his wife, he just thinks he did. He actually saved her. And that's a bit of a letdown after all that. Though for many it's a good letdown because they don't like the wife just being a victim for the guy to feel guilty about. I mean, Mal doesn't kill herself because of a bad exit from limbo, she kills herself because of an idea that Dom intentionally planted in her mind that changed her entire outlook on life--just like he's doing to Fischer. Because he wanted to induce suicide in limbo for her own good.
Not that this is the only version of "it was all a dream" that there is, of course. It could all be a dream with Mal being dead the way she's supposed to be.
But I do also tend to agree with Andy that the thing about that last scene is that whether or not we get to see if the top falls over, Cobb no longer cares. He's going to his kids regardless. He's succeeded in his goals even if he's done it in a dream world. And after all the lines referencing dream vs. reality, the choosing of one over the other and the potential inability to tell the two apart it seems like the movie almost has to end on that question. Making it too clear either way (either by showing the top falling over to signal "the end" or pulling away from the top spinning and spinning in a way that implies forever) would just seem wrong. Because once you start playing around with dream vs. reality you're never going to feel completely sure. The ideas been planted. -
Arthur B on Four Reasons Not To Let the Alleged Ambiguity Stop You Seeing Inception
at 18:59 on 02-09-2010 - link
Please note that I am going to use "Mal" to refer exclusively to Cobb's idea of Mal, because that's the only one we ever see in the film, and therefore the only one even remotely relevant. :P
Projection!Mal is threatening him to stay with her in limbo but real!Mal would be telling him to wake himself up. So in that case real!Mal and Ariadne would be on the same page. They both want him to wake up. The final barrier would only be the last one. If it's all a dream Ariadne is getting him to potentially the upper most level, but there could be one more step.
But the thing is that he will wake up, he will, it is inevitable, he cannot be prevented from waking up. That's the thing about limbo - it's only subjectively eternity. On an objective level, you sleep the exact same amount of time no matter whether you are having a light single-level dream or a super-heavy multi-level dream. The danger of limbo is not being stuck in there forever in terms of objective time, it's being stuck there for so long that when you wake up you're completely fucking insane.
If Cobb is in a dream at the end, then it is a happy dream in which he grows and moves forward as a person, enabling him to grow and move forward when he does wake up (which will be pretty soon since he's at or close to the top level at that point). If he hadn't chosen to reject Mal, then not only would he have woken up without resolving to move on, but he'd have woken up having spent an eternity in a constant cycle of not moving on - in other words, a complete wreck.
It's not a matter of Cobb choosing to wake up. It's choosing to wake up sane, whole, healthy, and having either given up on Mal or not.
Also Mal's death is as huge a feature of Cobb's dreams as his kids, and if we start questioning whether or not she's dead we may as well question whether or not there are kids, or indeed whether or not there's a Cobb, at which point there is no story, only speculation.If Cobb is awake real!Mal's encouragement to kill himself was encouraging him to die . If Cobb is dreaming jumping off the building with Mal would have woken him up.
I think that sequence - which I would point out is Cobb reminiscing about Mal so it arguably doesn't even show the real Mal - is meant to highlight that a bad exit from limbo fucks you up really, really badly. Like getting the bends after a diving trip only in your brain. -
Andy G on Four Reasons Not To Let the Alleged Ambiguity Stop You Seeing Inception
at 18:03 on 02-09-2010 - link
I'm not going to bother putting spoiler tags here, because frankly if you don't want to have the film spoiled you shouldn't be reading these comments.
Anyway .......
I think the significance of the final moment has nothing to do with whether the scene is real or not. The significance is that Cobb *no longer cares*. He doesn't bother watching the tell, because if this is a dream then he doesn't want to know any more.
Actually, when I watched the film I wasn't struck so much by this "twist" (a film like this simply *had* to end on a note of this sort really) as by the absence of any twist involving Ken Watanabe. I mean, the mysterious suspicious businessman was actually telling the truth and didn't have any underhand motives or schemes? -
Sister Magpie on Four Reasons Not To Let the Alleged Ambiguity Stop You Seeing Inception
at 17:43 on 02-09-2010 - link
Mal's putting forward the idea that it's the things you cook up by yourself in your head which are real, whereas Ariadne's view is that it's your interactions with the external world that are real. It's Robert Anton Wilson's "reality is what you make of it" versus Philip K. Dick's "reality is what won't go away when you stop believing in it".
Right, but Mal in limbo isn't Mal, it's Cobb's projection of Mal, who could be playing any number of roles in his subconcious. There could be a real Mal in the real world (if this is all a dream) who tells him to come back to reality--which quotes a line his father has in the movie as well (in a scene where Cobb is ostensibly awake). If Cobb is rejecting that reality Mal becomes a crazy force of chaos as a projection. Projection!Mal is threatening him to stay with her in limbo but real!Mal would be telling him to wake himself up. So in that case real!Mal and Ariadne would be on the same page. They both want him to wake up. The final barrier would only be the last one. If it's all a dream Ariadne is getting him to potentially the upper most level, but there could be one more step.
Which keeps it from being a totally different movie based on the reading, thank goodness. Because the ideas it's putting across are the same either way. It being a dream doesn't destroy the messages Cobb is receiving. Reality is still better than fantasy; and ideas shape how we interact with that reality (which I thought was very Memento).I'd also dispute your objection to the theory because in that theory the totem isn't the ring, it's the fact that he's wearing a ring, just as the wristwatch totem isn't the fact that you're wearing a watch, it's the fact that the watch is not behaving as watches are meant to behave.
True, but we don't know if the ring is that sort of totem or how its behavior should be different. If Cobb is dreaming that he's awake he would naturally give himself the projection of his ring when he thinks he's dreaming and get rid of it when he thinks he's awake. Costumes change to fit the dream level.And, again, Mal is the force which keeps trying to drag him deeper, deeper, deeper into dream. Turning away from Mal by definition is turning away from dreams and illusions, and so removing the ring, even if it doesn't mean he's awake, at least means he's going to have a happy awakening.
Dream!Mal tries to drag him deeper into the dream, like when he meets her in limbo. But the Mal that Cobb reads as a memory was telling him to take the very action (the leap of faith) he takes at the end to wake himself up.
If Cobb is awake real!Mal's encouragement to kill himself was encouraging him to die . If Cobb is dreaming jumping off the building with Mal would have woken him up.
I don't, btw, really hold the "it's all a dream" theory to be correct. I just like how it lurks so stubbornly so that that last shot isn't just a joke but something woven into the themes of the movie. The whole danger of limbo and dreamwork in general, we're told, is losing track of when you're dreaming. The "real" Mal killed herself not because she embraced living in a dream but because she wanted to live in reality. She was parrotting back Cobb's own encouragement to her to wake up. If she was right then Mal *did* wake up and was replaced by a projection.
And Cobb, of course, is associated more than once with doing exactly the things he claims you shouldn't do, including those things that put you in danger of losing track of reality: using a tainted totem and building dreamspace via memory. It's not so much that there is real evidence that this is really all a dream. It's more just that Cobb's reliability is questionable. Which doesn't mean that he doesn't know when he's dreaming, it just means he could be.
