Arthur (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
paradoxicality) wrote2015-07-24 02:27 am
paradoxicality) wrote2015-07-24 02:27 am
Entry tags:
[ application for carvaka ]
â–¸PLAYER
Name: Min
Means of Contact:![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
citylovelights
Age: 24
â–¸CHARACTER
Name: Arthur
Journal:paradoxicality
Canon: Inception
Age: No age given, but almost certainly mid to late twenties.
Canon Point: Post-movie
Background Information:
Wiki article on "Inception", Arthur's Inception Wiki page
Personality:
Arthur's personality can be broken down into five basic parts.
The first is most easily discussed in terms of his role within Cobb's team—Arthur is the 'point man', a military term referring to the person who takes the first and most exposed position within a military operation. Essentially, he spearheads their operations. The point man is responsible for researching the person whose mind they'll be entering, organizing information such as schedules and accessibility (because you can't remotely access someone's dreams, you have to be right there with them), setting up their base of operations and equipment, and synchronizing the 'kick' that will wake the dreamers.
It's a lot of responsibility, and Arthur takes it very seriously; he must, considering that 1) Cobb keeps him on for arguably the most complex and difficult job he'll ever do, and 2) that Cobb and Eames both agree that Arthur is the best at what he does. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, on Arthur, says: "Arthur is the organized one, the one making sure everything is in its right place. The way I see it, Cobb is the artist and Arthur is the producer. He’s the one saying, ‘Okay, you have your vision; now I’m going to figure out how to make all the nuts and bolts work so you can do your thing.'"
From this sense of responsibility come two more of Arthur's key personality traits. The second trait is his serious nature—Arthur, while not exactly a pessimist, does tend to be very pragmatic and to take things seriously. This gives him an attitude that Eames refers to as being a "stick-in-the-mud" with "no imagination." However, this attitude is understandable, considering what's at stake if something goes wrong—when you're mucking about in someone's subconscious, you can't afford not to be fastidious. A result of this serious nature is his tendency towards being levelheaded; Arthur very rarely shows outward emotions, and never allows his emotions to control him. He shows irritation or frustration several times throughout the film, but never gets visibly angry or afraid, with one exception, which I'll discuss below.
The third personality trait, which also stems from Arthur's sense of responsibility, is his desire to be fully informed about situations before he enters them. As the point man, Arthur is responsible for researching the mark, and the more they know about the mark, the more smoothly the job will go. Arthur likes his information clear, concise, and comprehensive—as indicated when he replies to one of Cobb's statement with "We'll have to do better than 'might", and, at a jibe from Eames, continues, "Forgive me for wanting a little specificity." Generally speaking, Arthur hates going into situations blind. Having as much information as possible is extremely important to him.
In fact, one of the only times in the film that Arthur gets visibly angry is in the first level of Fischer's mind, when he apologizes to Cobb for holes in his research (he didn't realize that Fischer had subconscious security), only to find out that Cobb had been withholding critical information from the team. His reaction to the realization that Cobb had been withholding information is immediate anger, which is essentially the only time that the viewers see Arthur lose his cool. The fact that a lack of critical information is what makes the normally-unflappable Arthur get truly angry is, I think, a testament to how important it is to him that he's fully informed about a situation.
The fourth key element of Arthur's personality actually defies Eames' assessment that Arthur has "no imagination." Arthur is very good in a crisis—he's a quick thinker, which is undoubtedly why he's the point man. For example, while undertaking Saito's inception job, Arthur finds himself facing a serious conundrum: The first kick has failed (in the first dream layer), leaving him and his sleeping team members in zero gravity in the second dream layer. The dilemma here is that without gravity, he can't create the sensation of falling that 'kicks' the dreamer back into waking. However, Arthur doesn't panic—he just calmly assesses the situation and comes up with a solution, working within the tight constraints of a very tense situation.
However, it's true that Arthur doesn't have the same grandness of imagination that some of his team members do. He's very reliable, and he knows how to come up with creative solutions to the problems that present themselves during dreaming, but Arthur isn't the one they turn to when they need a truly artistic design. Rather, Arthur understands the mechanics of things and knows how to build on those basics to reach a certain destination—but he doesn't see things with the same artist's eye that Ariadne or Eames does. Even the office building that he dreams up to teach Ariadne about the Penrose Steps is very functional, almost industrial in its simplicity—beautiful in a way, but with very little artistic flair to it.
The final aspect of Arthur's personality is actually a bit of a mishmash of multiple elements, important enough to warrant mention but not quite enough so to get their own categories. First, from the description I've given, it would be easy to assume that Arthur is a 'nerd' of sorts, an analytical mind that's better in theory than he is in the field. This is not at all true. Arthur is a very capable fighter; he's trained in several types of firearms, as well as being capable of killing someone with his bare hands—in null gravity, no less. To me, this points to a possible military background (further evidenced by his extensive knowledge both about the military origins of the PASIV and shared dreaming). More importantly, he has the chutzpah necessary to do what it takes to keep his team safe and get the job done. Second, and again contrary to Eames' jibe about his lack of imagination, Arthur has a deep fascination with paradoxical architecture. It's Arthur who is tasked with teaching Ariadne how to build mazes, and he who teaches her about paradoxes and closed loops in the form of the Penrose Steps. It's not quite enough to extrapolate a more widespread interest in things that defy logic, but it's interesting nonetheless (and in an interview, Joseph Gordon-Levitt did say that "sharing dreams is fascinating" to Arthur, and that "it’s not just a job for him," but rather that "the technology of dream sharing is something that has inspired him since he first heard about it").
Appearance:
In the film, Arthur is played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
Abilities:
Arthur has no superpowers to speak of, but he does have a very vivid and active subconscious and imagination, which is what allows him to participate in shared dreaming.
Name: Min
Means of Contact:
Age: 24
â–¸CHARACTER
Name: Arthur
Journal:
paradoxicalityCanon: Inception
Age: No age given, but almost certainly mid to late twenties.
Canon Point: Post-movie
Background Information:
Wiki article on "Inception", Arthur's Inception Wiki page
Personality:
Arthur's personality can be broken down into five basic parts.
The first is most easily discussed in terms of his role within Cobb's team—Arthur is the 'point man', a military term referring to the person who takes the first and most exposed position within a military operation. Essentially, he spearheads their operations. The point man is responsible for researching the person whose mind they'll be entering, organizing information such as schedules and accessibility (because you can't remotely access someone's dreams, you have to be right there with them), setting up their base of operations and equipment, and synchronizing the 'kick' that will wake the dreamers.
It's a lot of responsibility, and Arthur takes it very seriously; he must, considering that 1) Cobb keeps him on for arguably the most complex and difficult job he'll ever do, and 2) that Cobb and Eames both agree that Arthur is the best at what he does. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, on Arthur, says: "Arthur is the organized one, the one making sure everything is in its right place. The way I see it, Cobb is the artist and Arthur is the producer. He’s the one saying, ‘Okay, you have your vision; now I’m going to figure out how to make all the nuts and bolts work so you can do your thing.'"
From this sense of responsibility come two more of Arthur's key personality traits. The second trait is his serious nature—Arthur, while not exactly a pessimist, does tend to be very pragmatic and to take things seriously. This gives him an attitude that Eames refers to as being a "stick-in-the-mud" with "no imagination." However, this attitude is understandable, considering what's at stake if something goes wrong—when you're mucking about in someone's subconscious, you can't afford not to be fastidious. A result of this serious nature is his tendency towards being levelheaded; Arthur very rarely shows outward emotions, and never allows his emotions to control him. He shows irritation or frustration several times throughout the film, but never gets visibly angry or afraid, with one exception, which I'll discuss below.
The third personality trait, which also stems from Arthur's sense of responsibility, is his desire to be fully informed about situations before he enters them. As the point man, Arthur is responsible for researching the mark, and the more they know about the mark, the more smoothly the job will go. Arthur likes his information clear, concise, and comprehensive—as indicated when he replies to one of Cobb's statement with "We'll have to do better than 'might", and, at a jibe from Eames, continues, "Forgive me for wanting a little specificity." Generally speaking, Arthur hates going into situations blind. Having as much information as possible is extremely important to him.
In fact, one of the only times in the film that Arthur gets visibly angry is in the first level of Fischer's mind, when he apologizes to Cobb for holes in his research (he didn't realize that Fischer had subconscious security), only to find out that Cobb had been withholding critical information from the team. His reaction to the realization that Cobb had been withholding information is immediate anger, which is essentially the only time that the viewers see Arthur lose his cool. The fact that a lack of critical information is what makes the normally-unflappable Arthur get truly angry is, I think, a testament to how important it is to him that he's fully informed about a situation.
The fourth key element of Arthur's personality actually defies Eames' assessment that Arthur has "no imagination." Arthur is very good in a crisis—he's a quick thinker, which is undoubtedly why he's the point man. For example, while undertaking Saito's inception job, Arthur finds himself facing a serious conundrum: The first kick has failed (in the first dream layer), leaving him and his sleeping team members in zero gravity in the second dream layer. The dilemma here is that without gravity, he can't create the sensation of falling that 'kicks' the dreamer back into waking. However, Arthur doesn't panic—he just calmly assesses the situation and comes up with a solution, working within the tight constraints of a very tense situation.
However, it's true that Arthur doesn't have the same grandness of imagination that some of his team members do. He's very reliable, and he knows how to come up with creative solutions to the problems that present themselves during dreaming, but Arthur isn't the one they turn to when they need a truly artistic design. Rather, Arthur understands the mechanics of things and knows how to build on those basics to reach a certain destination—but he doesn't see things with the same artist's eye that Ariadne or Eames does. Even the office building that he dreams up to teach Ariadne about the Penrose Steps is very functional, almost industrial in its simplicity—beautiful in a way, but with very little artistic flair to it.
The final aspect of Arthur's personality is actually a bit of a mishmash of multiple elements, important enough to warrant mention but not quite enough so to get their own categories. First, from the description I've given, it would be easy to assume that Arthur is a 'nerd' of sorts, an analytical mind that's better in theory than he is in the field. This is not at all true. Arthur is a very capable fighter; he's trained in several types of firearms, as well as being capable of killing someone with his bare hands—in null gravity, no less. To me, this points to a possible military background (further evidenced by his extensive knowledge both about the military origins of the PASIV and shared dreaming). More importantly, he has the chutzpah necessary to do what it takes to keep his team safe and get the job done. Second, and again contrary to Eames' jibe about his lack of imagination, Arthur has a deep fascination with paradoxical architecture. It's Arthur who is tasked with teaching Ariadne how to build mazes, and he who teaches her about paradoxes and closed loops in the form of the Penrose Steps. It's not quite enough to extrapolate a more widespread interest in things that defy logic, but it's interesting nonetheless (and in an interview, Joseph Gordon-Levitt did say that "sharing dreams is fascinating" to Arthur, and that "it’s not just a job for him," but rather that "the technology of dream sharing is something that has inspired him since he first heard about it").
Appearance:
In the film, Arthur is played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
Abilities:
Arthur has no superpowers to speak of, but he does have a very vivid and active subconscious and imagination, which is what allows him to participate in shared dreaming.