Introduction to Intolerance and Inception Films
Film movements have had a notable impact on the contemporary entertainment industry. Past directors have significantly influenced the approaches adopted by modern filmmakers. Intolerance is an intriguing tale of human prejudice and hostility (de Fátima, 2020). It is 197 minutes long and spans over two and a half millennia of human history (Griffith, 1916). This film’s structure is unique and incredibly modern. Intolerance is a blend of four unique stories set in four separate historical time frames (de Fátima, 2020).
Christopher Nolan wrote, produced, and directed the 2010 heist thriller Inception (Nolan, 2010). His films are inspired by intellectual, sociological, and ethical ideas (Aletras et al., 2022). They investigate human morality, the formation of time, and the malleability of memory and personal identity. Metafictive aspects, temporal shifts, nonlinear storytelling, and mesmerizing special effects define his work. D.W. Griffith’s influence on Christopher Nolan’s style is evident in the complexity and impact of the latter’s creations.
The Use of Colors in the Films
Intolerance
D.W. Griffith used color to create a film that mirrored prevalent societal concerns. The first of the four narratives, set in 539 B.C. Babylonia depicts the account of the Persian King Cyrus as he assaults the peace-loving Prince Belshazzar of Babylon (Griffith, 1916). The second oldest and shortest story, Tinged Blue by Griffith, is set in 27 A.D. Judea during the time of Christ (Griffith, 1916). The following story, which Griffith shaded sepia, is set in 1572 B.C. France and relates to the events of the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre (Griffith, 1916). Catherine de Medici planned vengeance against the Huguenots under the guise of faithfulness to the Catholic Church.
Griffith tinted the modern story, set in 1914 California, amber (Griffith, 1916). The melodrama begins and ends the film, which tells the story of a young Irish Catholic boy. The young lad loses his father due to harsh labor conditions, joins the mafia, falls in love with The Dear One, marries, and has a child (Griffith, 1916). The color palate distinguishes the stories and highlights their unique contributions to the central theme in the narrative.
Inception
The use of color to highlight specific thematic elements is also evident in Inception. For instance, the film’s hallways and rooms are painted in bright yellows and greens to keep viewers oriented in the context of disorienting gravity (Nolan, 2010). In addition, the third dream level has a unique color palate featuring white and gray (Nolan, 2010). All the characters and projections wear the same color to blend into their surroundings (Nolan, 2010). The utilization of color emphasizes dramatic elements and helps the director build suspense.
Specific Features Making the Films Memorable
Intolerance
Intolerance remains an outstanding film for current audiences because of three striking elements. The first is the enormous sets of Babylon; the second is the complexity of the script, and the third is the inventiveness of its editing (de Fátima, 2020). In addition, the director makes use of some particularly daring special effects. They include gigantic burning contraptions that collapse towards the camera and what is considered the first live beheading in film history (de Fátima, 2020).
Inception
Inception is similarly outstanding because it exemplifies the degree to which cinematic realism can be extended by stretching the onscreen reality of a film while still maintaining the audience’s faith in the ontology of the image (Aletras et al., 2022). The films are unique in the sense that they stir the viewer’s imagination and prompt them to ask questions regarding the highlighted perspectives.
Suspense in the Films
The treatment of suspense is one of the most essential elements in the design of a narrative because it frequently receives a lot of attention throughout the entire story. As a result, knowing how to create suspense is critical for developing intriguing film plots. Overall, suspense is often set at the beginning of Nolan’s films to direct and guide the development of the storyline.
Inception
In Inception, for example, audiences are left to wonder whether Cobb can successfully implant his mind into Fisher’s thoughts (Nolan, 2010). Furthermore, Nolan creates minor suspense in numerous areas of the film, which adds to the overall attraction of the plot. Nolan’s use of the style is, perhaps, an emulation of Griffith’s mastery of the concept.
Intolerance
There is a distinctive application of suspense in Intolerance as the characters attempt to save the boy from the hangman’s noose (Griffith, 1916). The confession is timed and crafted to leave the audience in awe, demonstrating the director’s ability to skillfully evoke specific reactions.
Film Narratives
Inception
Nolan often prefers a nonlinear narrative approach in his films. It is worth noting that the linear narrative is concerned with the story’s integrity, the consistency of time, and the plot’s causality. This narrative process encompasses the audience’s beliefs and addresses their need for a perception of order and certainty in the world. This is meant to maintain consistency with the inherent logic of storytelling (Aletras et al., 2022). Furthermore, the linear narrative can optimize the unity of time, location, and characters, which aids in the presentation of story content in accordance with the story’s development context. Inception begins with flashbacks intermingled with various memories, providing a blend of interludes that characterize nonlinear narrative approaches (Nolan, 2010).
Intolerance
Similarly, Griffith defies the conventional notion of a film having chronological scenes. He accomplishes this by rearranging scenes from the four timelines throughout the film until they eventually come together to reveal the central story.
Film Scenes
Intolerance
Griffith used shot selection and framing, but perhaps more so the positioning of the shots in juxtaposition to each other as montage over mise-en-scene. Griffith’s realistic viewpoint contrasted significantly with his dramatized view, which was frequently carried to innovative cinematic extremities in his effort to manipulate the audience’s emotions (Davids, 2023). Griffith’s portrayal of the true financial turbulence depicted in Intolerance’s modern California thread finds credence in the slow montage portraying three well-known historical stories (Davids, 2023). Because the narratives were familiar, they inhabited appropriate niches in the collective subconscious as archetypes.
Inception
The opening sequence of Inception employs mise-en-scene to hint at important plot themes revealed later in the film’s convoluted narrative. This is very plainly demonstrated by the spinning top prop discovered on Dominic Cobb’s seemingly unconscious body (Nolan, 2010). Both directors use traditional filming techniques to highlight various aspects of their stories.
Message
Intolerance
Griffith wanted to do more than simply provide information or tell a story. His main objective was to present a tale that ultimately elicited a visceral reaction. Intolerance was an attempt not only to persuade but also to change the audience’s attitude. Griffith uses light, movement, scale, and space to create mood in his shots. Griffith gets a more potent effect by editing the shots in a slow montage.
Inception
This style contrasts with Nolan’s use of common filming techniques. When the plot to penetrate Robert Fischer’s dreams is initiated, a scenario that best exemplifies deep-focus filming unfolds onboard the 747 flight. Every shot in the scene illustrates the meticulous mise-en-scene approach. The inside of the cabin is first seen by the audience in a wide shot with numerous levels of action (Nolan, 2010). The audience observes Saito in the front, already seated and reading a newspaper, Ariadne in the middle of the frame, gazing at a book but presumably not reading it, and Arthur in the distance (Nolan, 2010). The highlighted differences notwithstanding, Nolan’s use of filming techniques mirrors Griffith’s in that, in both, the objective is to evoke specific reactions from the audience.
Narrative Lines
Intolerance
Originally, D.W. Griffith wanted Intolerance to present a single contemporary story, The Mother and the Law, which detailed the experiences of a poor but happy California family who barely escaped tragedy after evading the effects of upper-class social reformers’ meddling. Griffith added three more narrative lines from different centuries and countries to construct an expansive cautionary tale. The additional tales gave weight to the contemporary story, and the new ensemble was dubbed Love’s Struggle Throughout the Ages (Griffith, 1916). While the four stories were not connected in time or geographical location, they did share Intolerance as a common theme.
Inception
In Nolan’s time, popular cinema shifted toward the adoption of narrative intricacy. This intricacy has frequently taken on a complex form, in which the narrative is separated into discrete chunks and subjected to complicated articulations. Such is the case in Inception, which is a complex narrative of the mind. While the approaches are different, both films are complex in the sense that multiple storylines are woven together to create a single compelling argument in support of a single theme.
Conclusion
Much like D.W. Griffith, Nolan’s films are influenced by philosophical, sociological, and ethical concerns. They look at human morality, temporal construction, and the malleability of memory and personal identity. In much the same way as Intolerance, Inception is defined by temporal changes, nonlinear storytelling, and fascinating special effects. The similarities in complexity between the two directorial approaches are a foregone conclusion. Griffith’s influence is evident in Nolan’s approach to filmmaking. The latter has set a precedent for immersive creations that leave lasting impressions in the minds of audiences around the world.
References
Aletras, C. N., Mouzaki, D., Sagri, M., & Gerasaki, S. (2022). Perspectives of public pedagogy in Christopher Nolan’s cinema: Case Studies on Inception and the Dark Knight Rises European Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, 7(2), 50–58. Web.
Davids, E. L. (2023). The evolution of film genres: A comparative analysis of Hollywood and Bollywood. Art and Society, 2(4), 15–34. Web.
de Fátima, R. M. (2020). 1916, the year Babylon got into Hollywood. Journal of Ancient History, 2(2), 33–57. Web.
Griffith, D. W. (director). (1916). Intolerance. [Film]. Triangle Film Corporation.
Nolan, C. (director). (2010). Inception [Film]. Warner Bros.