The Meaning of the Ending of "Inception"

ATTENTION: those of you who have not seen this movie and don't want the ending spoiled, turn away now while there is still a chance. This entire article is me giving away the ending. You have been warned.

Alright, now that that nonsense is out of the way.....

Seriously, you haven't seen it and you are still here? Stop reading, you're gonna regret it. This was a great movie and you won't want to ruin it for yourself. Go watch it and then come back to read this!What? You're going to ignore my good judgment anyways? Ugh, fine...if you're going to be that way, let me at least slap on a good disclaimer.

DISCLAIMER: the author of this content is in no way, shape, or form, responsible for the disappointment of Inception moviegoers when they watch this movie for the first time and realize that they already know how it will end because they did not heed prior warnings and decided to read this hub anyways.

Okay, i have said my piece. Now on to the good stuff...

There has been some much unnecessary speculation as to the meaning of the ending of the feature film of the summer, "Inception" (starring hottie mc hotties Leonardo Dicaprio and Joseph Lovet Hewitt)....(Oh yeah, and Ellen Paige, sure...if you're into that sorta thing....) which centers around the exploits of super awesome "dream" agents, who must uncover top-secret information on a mission that delves into the subconscious of their subject, in, you guessed it...DREAM WORLD.The agents go into collective dreaming, where they can interact and carry out their mission as planned.

Well, after all of this awesomeness ensues, we get thrown into the predicament that so many dreams within dreams has confused our heart-throb (Leo) into muddling his dream state with reality. The oh-so-loved "totems" that the characters carry around are meant to distinguish their realities from their dream states. Since only the totem holder is allowed to touch the totem, they know that no one else would ever be holding it in dream world...so when they see their totem in their hands, it is not a dream. Now, here is the discrepancy:

As you well know, Leo's character uses a silver top as his totem (and if you didn't know that, you need to stop reading this...go away and watch the movie already, for the love of God!!!).

The very uniquely identifying thing about this top in the real world versus in the dream world: The top never stops spinning in his dreams. In real life, it will fall down, as physics of the real world would have it. At the end of the movie, the top keeps spinning. It looks as if it may waiver...oh, wait...yes, no...maybe...and then GOODBYE FILM, HELLO ENDING CREDITS, as it switches over to blackness and leaves you wondering if the top ever actually fell down or not. Well, GREAT. Now we are left with these silly little theories, that I am about to shatter for you with one minor detail. But first, the theories:

The Silly Little Theories:

• Leonardo Di Caprio is not real. Neither was anyone else. Everything was fake. The main character fabricated his reality, including his peers, solely in his mind.This is a "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas", twisted, alternate reality, Leo is a psycho or on drugs scenario.

• The ENTIRE movie was one big dream. I mean, come on! The top OBVIOUSLY kept spinning at the end, am i right? He. He. (Annoying laugh).

Alright, so MAYBE the real issue here, is that no matter how you look at it, you are always going to be divided between those who believe the top fell, and those who believe the top kept spinning, right? Either the whole movie was a dream, or a bunch of bull, or whatever...or it was real. And Leo woke up. So I am telling you right now, plain as day, that there is absolutely no fathomable way that the top would have kept spinning, and here is why:

Throughout the movie, we saw the top fall several times. With the logic that the top would never fall in a dream, there must have been times throughout the movie that Leo's character was awake. So we could never say that the entire movie was a dream. The top totally falls at the end: they cut it out in the ending as a marketing ploy to keep people who couldn't get it the first time to watch it again, in hopes of "getting" it, thus spending more money in theaters. Quite brilliant, actually. 

But I would still watch it again. Great movie. Especially considering how I love dreams, and all. Hope this didn't put too much of a damper on your theories. If you have a rebuttal, leave me a comment! I would love to debate this to the death with anyone willing to go there. Oh, and if you want more dream reading, check this out....oh, and this....some more articles I have written on the strange phenomena that we call dreams. =)