“Mind game films implicate the spectator in ways that can no longer be accounted for by classical theories of identification, alignment and identification, because the ‘default value’ or ‘degree zero’ of normal human interaction and perception are no longer in operation” (Elsaesser & Hagener, 2009).
Films continue to become more complex as they enter the genre of mind game films. These types of films can be shown through many ways including; films in which a character is being played games with, a film in which the audience is played games with, mind game films about the mind, and about the nature of consciousness.
A favourite mind game film of mine – that still to this day leaves me questioning whether it was reality or it was all in the character’s head – is Shutter Island (2010). The film follows a U.S Marshal as he investigates the dissapearnce of a murderer who escaped from a hospital for the criminally insane.
Spoiler alert – it is revealed that the main character portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio is actually a patient at the hospital and that his psychologist encouraged him to act out his delusion.
But audiences are left questioning whether the doctors set him up to make him look as though he really is a patient but is actually a U.S Marshal, or whether he really was just a mentally ill criminal the whole time.
Another film in which mind games are used is Christopher Nolan’s Inception (2010), which follows a thief who uses dream-sharing technology as he must use it in order to plant an idea into the mind of a C.E.O.
There are multiple elements in the film, which make it considered to be a mind game film. This includes the manipulation of the architecture, more specifically the Penrose staircase. Which is an illusion, that tricks the mind into believing that they are going up/down stairs, when in reality, it is a continuous loop.
But a scene that still gets me to this very day, is the final scene in which Cobb is finally being reunited with his children. When he gets home he spins his totem – which if it stops spinning and topples over it means that he is awake, but if it continues to spin it means he is still dreaming. But the final clip shows the totem still spinning – so it poses the question is he back to reality or is he still dreaming?
Mind game films leave us all questioning what just happened, and they make us wonder if we ever truly understand everything we’ve just watched. But that’s also what makes them so interesting, especially as everyone understands things differently, and may notice things that others hadn’t previously.
Reference:
Elsaesser, T, Hagener M, 2009, ‘Cinema as Brain – Mind and Body’, “Film Theory: An Introduction Through the Senses”, p. 156
Screen & Sound 