SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN

THE DESIGN SCHOOL

FOUNDATION IN NATURAL BUILD ENVIRONMENT

NAME: HO ZI YAN
STUDENT ID NO: 0323698
FILMS SELECTED: INCEPTION AND GRAVITY
WORD COUNT: 994
ENGLISH 2 (ELG 30605)
WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT 1: COMPARE CONTRAST ESSAY
LECTURER: GOPIGHANTAN MYLVAGANAM
SUBMISSION DATE: DECEMBER 4TH 2015

A genre is a category of artistic composition, as in music or literature, characterized by

similarities in form and style. Movies have a variety of genres, be it is action thriller or adventure
movies. For the past few years, it is undoubtedly true that science and fiction movies have risen
its popularity among the people. The science movie that I have chosen is Inception from
Christopher Nolan, the screenwriter of this movie and also the director. This movie explains
Dominic Cobb who is an industrial spy who instead of breaking into a person's home, office, or
even computer, gets the information he needs by getting into the person's mind through their
dreams. Cobb is also a fugitive who misses his children. Someone approaches Cobb and wants to
hire him but instead of getting information out, the man wants Cobb to implant something, a
process called 'inception', which is not easy to do. Cobb is hesitant to do it but when the man
offers to help Cobb go back to his children, Cobb agrees. The fiction movie that I have chosen is
Gravity that is produced by Alfonso Cuarn. It is about Dr. Ryan Stone who is a brilliant
medical engineer on her first shuttle mission, with veteran astronaut Matt Kowalski in command
of his last flight before retiring. But on a seemingly routine spacewalk, disaster strikes. The
shuttle is destroyed, leaving Stone and Kowalsky completely alone - tethered to nothing but each
other and spiraling out into the blackness. There are several differences that we are required to
compare between both of these movies based on its genre, character and ending.
The first difference of these two movies is their movie genres. Basically, there is a science
movie and there is a fiction movie. Science movie is a movie genre where it contains scientific
principles or elements inside the movie, for example of the movie that I choose, Inception, the
movie per se is dealing with neurosciences where the main character is a person that can enter
peoples mind through a dream, he can also detect higher order thoughts like internal speeches or
decision making. Fiction movie is a movie genre where it tells a fictional story which is not real
at all. The movie Gravity, describes a story that has happened between a medical engineer and
an astronaut and the fictionalized story about them overcoming the difficulties together. Clearly,
science movies and fiction movies are different genres from its elements that it shows to us.
The second difference that I would like to compare is its main characters. The protagonist of
the movie Inception, is Dominick Cobb who is also known as Dom. Dom is renowned in the
black market because of his ability in stealing valuable information from the people. He excels in
his job in every single way. His personality describes he is a disturbed man, shaken by the death
of his wife and the events that led him to leave his children. Dom struggles to leave his dark and
tortured past behind him, which is why he accepts Saito's offer. As the movie progresses, Dom is
forced to deal with Mal's projection until he is able to fully overcome her death. On the other
side, the protagonist of the movie Gravity, is Dr. Ryan Stone. She is a women who is
incredibly intelligent and she got her job as a medical engineer. Her personality describes her as
a woman that can quickly adapt to complicated situations and complex environments. She has no
love interests, not like Dominick Cobb from Inception. She believes that nobody would be
even waiting for her to go back to Earth and she has no time to develop romantic feelings. The

two main characters have distinct personalities where Dom is a character that struggles and not
wanting to let go of his past, but Dr. Ryan is a character that I believe she can handle everything
in her life calmly. Clearly, both of these movies have different gender of protagonists, as
Dominick Cobb is a male character and Dr. Ryan Stone is a female fictional character.
The third comparison that I would like to carry out is the endings of both of these movies. The
movie Inception, has made the audience left with lots of questions. The reason is because after
Dominick Cobb, the main character of the movie, has passed the U.S immigration and go on to
accompany his children, he spins his small top which verifies ones dream state. But, he leaves it
spinning on the table and he joins his family in the garden. The top is the factor that leaves us
hanging, because as we are watching it, the movie shows the top spinning. Some audience says
that the top is spinning but some says it is wobbling. The fact is when it is spinning, it means that
Dom is still dreaming, if it falls, that means he is awake. The director himself has no intention to
reveal how it actually ends, he states that he leaves the audience to have their own imagination to
think about it. However, the movie Gravity, ends simple and straightforward. The main
character, Dr. Ryan somehow manages to come back to Earth successfully and fortunately. She
stumbles in the scene and crawl back to the dry land, thus ending her space disaster. Both of
these movies have different endings where Inception has left the audience hanging but
Gravity tells a straight-to-point ending.
Hence, I believe that each movies that is produced has distinct settings and different kinds of
characters that is being portrayed. I have learnt how to compare the differences of both movies in
terms of genres, characters, endings. The overall essay describes how I compare and also my
opinions, for example just like the way I compare the endings. I personally think that by knowing
how to compare or differentiate, we would acquire more information and speak out according to
what we have researched.

Reference:

Nolan, C. (Director). (2010). Inception [Motion picture]. Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc.

Cuarn, A. (Director). (2013). Gravity [Motion picture]. Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc.

Inception Ending: Is It All Just A Dream? (2015, May 8). Retrieved December 4, 2015, from
http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Inception-Ending-It-All-Just-Dream-71355.html

Chiang, O. (n.d.). The Science Of 'Inception' Retrieved December 4, 2015, from

http://www.forbes.com/2010/07/29/inception-science-dreams-technology-brain.html

Dr. Ryan Stone: Everything a Typical Female Movie Character Is Not | Balder and Dash | Roger
Ebert. (n.d.). Retrieved December 4, 2015, from http://www.rogerebert.com/balder-and-dash/drryan-stone-everything-a-typical-female-movie-character-is-not