2024-12-31 14:07![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
mutedpoint
mutedpoint"Pain is in the mind." But go through enough of it, and there's a possibility that you can be convinced that something is seriously wrong. Conversion disorder is a form of somatoform disorder, a symptom of which manifests as physical problems with no explainable cause.
One of the first times Mal appeared as a shade in Cobb's mind, Arthur had his throat slit. After, it became apparent that he could no longer speak in reality. It didn't affect how he did things much, moving from phone calls to other forms of contact and messaging. And the notebooks certainly saw a lot more use.
This is going to be rambly. I apologize in advance. This first paragraph is very much skippable. If asked to say how exactly I came to the decision that Arthur could be mute, I think the first bit I need to address is what happened when I first saw the movie. Besides covering my ears and the really loud parts and being distinctly unimpressed by the effects after a while... (there is only so much slow-mo footage I can sit through) well, my friend and I started discussing psychology topics that we'd covered either in a first year intro to psych course (me), or a second year psychological disorders course. (My friend who from now on shall be called Kay.) There was a lot of talk about psych. And Freud, except the movie was more Jungian.
So there was a huge link of psychology to the movie. Then there was this: Dreams have consequences. They can have an impact on real life. Not everyone is going to be well adjusted to what could potentially happen in a dream, or what they come across in a dream. That would be the wrench in the cogs of one of the characters. A psychosomatic disorder, a purely mental problem which could have physical effects. There was a case study on Cambodian refugees that had gone blind after witnessing the horrors of war. Blindness wouldn't work. It's too much of a disability in the line of business. Same with hearing. It would be suicide. Unexplained pain or some other sort of physical symptom didn't hold much appeal, and wouldn't have provided the same sort of obstacle, so muteness it was.
After that, it was a matter of picking a character. Not Ariadne, she's too new to this, not Cobb, he's already got a basket full of problems. I settled on Arthur because he has a reason for the trauma, and well, he's a bit of a spook. (Of the Jason Bourne sort. Not the James Bond sort of spy,blah blah about Jason from movies vs books comment for details. leave the Bond stuff to Eames.)
One of the first times Mal appeared as a shade in Cobb's mind, Arthur had his throat slit. After, it became apparent that he could no longer speak in reality. It didn't affect how he did things much, moving from phone calls to other forms of contact and messaging. And the notebooks certainly saw a lot more use.
This is going to be rambly. I apologize in advance. This first paragraph is very much skippable. If asked to say how exactly I came to the decision that Arthur could be mute, I think the first bit I need to address is what happened when I first saw the movie. Besides covering my ears and the really loud parts and being distinctly unimpressed by the effects after a while... (there is only so much slow-mo footage I can sit through) well, my friend and I started discussing psychology topics that we'd covered either in a first year intro to psych course (me), or a second year psychological disorders course. (My friend who from now on shall be called Kay.) There was a lot of talk about psych. And Freud, except the movie was more Jungian.
So there was a huge link of psychology to the movie. Then there was this: Dreams have consequences. They can have an impact on real life. Not everyone is going to be well adjusted to what could potentially happen in a dream, or what they come across in a dream. That would be the wrench in the cogs of one of the characters. A psychosomatic disorder, a purely mental problem which could have physical effects. There was a case study on Cambodian refugees that had gone blind after witnessing the horrors of war. Blindness wouldn't work. It's too much of a disability in the line of business. Same with hearing. It would be suicide. Unexplained pain or some other sort of physical symptom didn't hold much appeal, and wouldn't have provided the same sort of obstacle, so muteness it was.
After that, it was a matter of picking a character. Not Ariadne, she's too new to this, not Cobb, he's already got a basket full of problems. I settled on Arthur because he has a reason for the trauma, and well, he's a bit of a spook. (Of the Jason Bourne sort. Not the James Bond sort of spy,
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