Friday, September 17, 2010

Paper Topic: Inception/Formidable Caress


So I want to do the paper topic we sort of discussed concerning the Time Lapse differences in different levels of the worlds of Formidable Caress compared to those in the dream worlds of Christopher Nolan's recent movie Inception.
I'm just not really sure how to turn it into an actual paper topic. I stink at doing this, so I'm asking for help from Andy or anyone who has some neat ideas.
I want to further research whether time differences like this have been used in fiction before, what their purpose is and how they really add an element of depth to a story. But that's really broad, obviously. Any ideas?

Also, here's a really cool info-graphic by dahahs at deviantart.com depicting the different Dream Levels in Inception. Neato, right?

3 comments:

Andy Duncan said...

Jordan, this is a great paper idea, but please DON'T do this: "I want to further research whether time differences like this have been used in fiction before, what their purpose is and how they really add an element of depth to a story."

This isn't a term paper about the history of relativistic time effects in sf. This is about Nolan's movie and Baxter's story, and the extent to which they are in conversation with one another, at least on this trope. That's ALL the paper need be.

Re-read my paper guidelines, please. I don't want oodles of texts treated shallowly, with sweeping generalizations. I want one or two texts treated in depth.

That means your next step is to re-read the Baxter story repeatedly, making notes on each pass, with this paper topic in mind; it also means (if at all possible) watching the Nolan movie again, taking notes this time. Of course, copious commentary exists online about it by now -- including this neat graphic you pass on -- so those sources may well be helpful to you as well; just be sure to cite them correctly, as secondary sources.

Again, good idea!

Drew said...

I think this is going to be an awesome paper. The graphic is does a surprisingly good job of explaining the levels, too. Andy's already said it, but I would just focus on the two pieces of work. Just how they each use this idea of time levels and how they relate to one another. Whatever you decide, sounds like it'll be a really interesting read.

Katy said...

Knowing you, you will go far with this paper. Once you zero in on the most important aspects of the two pieces, you'll do an awesome job. And hey, if you do need to watch Inception again as Andy said I'd be happy to join you :) Good luck!