‘Modular Spacetime in the “Intelligent” Blockbuster: Inception and Source Code’

Suggesting both linear progression and configurable modularity, the complex cinematic narratives of Inception (Christopher Nolan, 2010) and Source Code (Duncan Jones, 2011) produce distinctive articulations of time and space. They also thematize the architectural processes involved in their own narrative construction, by featuring characters who are programmers, designers, and architects, and deploying a range of spatial metaphors (including lines, layers, and circles) via scenography, dialogue, and mise-en-scène. Exploring the spatiotemporality of these films, we investigate the role that graphic metaphors play within them and argue that these metaphors are oriented around two competing logics: speed and memory.