1

1. SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN
THE DESIGN SCHOOL
FOUNDATION IN NATURAL BUILD ENVIRONMENT
NAME: CHONG ZHAO LUN
STUDENT ID NO: 0320408
FILMS SELECTED: INTERSTELLAR & INCEPTION
WORD COUNT: 943
ENGLISH 2 (ELG 30605)
WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT 1: COMPARE – CONTRAST ESSAY
LECTURER: CASSANDRA WIJESURIA
SUBMISSIONDATE:APRIL 3RD
, 2015

2. What is a science fiction movie? Well, Science fiction movie is one of the list movie genres. For example,
there have othergenres,whichare actionmovie,mysterymovie,adventuremovieandmore. Science
fictionmoviesare usuallylike scientific,comic-strip-like,andfull of imaginationfilms,whichalsoinclude
of hightechgadgets,forexample,robotsandspaceships.The twomoviesthatIhave chosenare
“Interstellar”and“Inception”.Bothof these twomoviesare directedbyChristopherNolanand
producedbyEmma Thomas.In Interstellar,CooperplayedbyMatthew Mcconaughey isthe main
character of the movie. Thismovie isshow thata formerNASA pilotgivenamissionto findalivable
planetinanothergalaxythatsuitable of sustaininghumanlife.InInception,DomCobbplayedby
LeonardoDiCaprio isthe maincharacter of the movie. These movieshowsathief whosteal ideasby
enterintoa dream to collectinformation. Bythe same token,Iwill like tocontrastthese twomoviesin
termsof familylove,timealteration, the realityandnew worldand sacrifice himtosave a girl.
Firstof all,there have some minorsimilarities inthese twomovies,the firstisfamilylove.Bothof these
twomoviesprotagonistsalsoplayedasa fathercharacter are tryingto go back home for theirchildren
althoughtheyare undertakingtheirmission,whichtheirlife will be sacrifice inthatmission. In
Interstellar, Cooperwasmissinghischildrensomuch whenhe wasinthe space.He crieswhenhe was
watchingthe recordingmessage fromhis sonagedandaged,from the graduate thenmarried andhad a
babytoo. Her daughteronlysendsheronce recordingmessage whenshe turnstothe age of her father,
Murph said:“you told me thatwhen you came back,wemight bethe sameage”. InInception,Cobbalso
wantedtogo back home to see hischildren again. He can’tgo back home because he wasundera
murderthat he was the one killedhisownwife.Afterall,he hadnotseenhischildrenonce sohe must
go home no matterhowdangerthe missionis.
Subsequently,the secondsimilarityinthese twomoviesisthe time distortionaswill cause side effect
of hazardingintoanotherworld. While inInterstellar, Coopergoestoa blackhole thatwill affectthe
time inbetweenthe planetandthe earth,whichmeanwhen Cooperinthatplanetforone hour
equivalenttothe earthwithseven years. Afterhe came back,he was actuallyhundredandtwenty years
oldbut he still ina youngage.He was youngerthanhisowndaughter. Inone planet,Cooperwasusing
the space time togive signal tohisdaughterwithusinggravity.He can lookat the past of himself. In
Inception,astheyventure deeperanddeeperintothe dreamlevel,the time will moveslowerand
slowerthanthe reality.Forexample, forthe firstdreamisneedone week,seconddreamistake six
month,and thirddreamistake tenyearsequivalenttothe realityisonlyone hour.Cobbhadstuck in
the dreamfor hundredyearsbefore where isaplace called“limbo”.
In addition, the reality and explore into other world is the third similarity in these movies. In Interstellar,
Cooperjumpsintoitwithouthisspaceship.The place witha three dimensionalplace thatcanlook
throughhisdaughterbedroomisconstructedby‘they’. Atthe endof the movie,Cooperwasawake on
hisCooperstationwhere there alsolook like fourdimension.InInception,AriadneplayedbyEllenPage

3. whowas an architecture student.She designs herowncitylike amaze inherdream.She needsto have
full of imagination thatcannotrecreate place inhermemory.She create a fourdimensional citywithher
imagination.The skywasbuildingsthatthe topwas showingdown.People were walkingupside down.
That she can walkthrough ninety degree toanothersurface of the city.Is feel like youwalkinginacube.
I foundoutthese twomoviesare usingthe same conceptof city where the placeshadfourdimension.
Furthermore, the lastthingthatI foundsimilarinthese twomoviesisthe male protagonistssacrifice
himto save the girl.In Interstellar,because lackof fuel,Cooperemanateshimselffromthe Endurance to
give the girl’s,Brandhad enoughpowerto escape fromthe blackhole.EventhoughCooperwantedto
flyback to earthfor theirchildrenbuthe sacrifice himselftosave the girl.He knowsthat he will burst
out fromthe black hole buthe still didit.InInception,Cobb sendsoff the girl,Ariadnebacktothe reality
worldwhere the place theystarttheirdreamfrom.Otherwise,Cobbwasfall toanotherplace where is
anotherlevel of dreamcalled“Limbo”,the place where he hasbeenstuckinforhundredyearsbefore.
Once you stepinthere youwill become oldandyourmemorywill gone.The onlywayispeoplecome
and helpyou.
Lastly,these are the twomoviesthatI foundsome scene thatare similar.These movieshadshown
howamazingfor thismovie genre is.Theyhadmade the science fictionmoviebecome afull of
imaginationworldfilmthatyouare totallyunexpected. Notjustonlythe writingscript,the hightech
technologygadgetistotallyawesome.Inconclusion, Ihope thattheywill produce more movieswith
thiskindof genre movie infuture.

4. References:
 The Misfits Closet,. (2014). 8 Reasons why Inception and Interstellarare Cinematic Siblings.
Retrieved 8 April 2015, from https://themisfitscloset.wordpress.com/2014/11/14/8-reasons-why-
inception-and-interstellar-are-cinematic-siblings/
 Fandango,. (2015). Interstellar (2014) Synopsis - Plot Summary - Fandango. Retrieved 8 April
2015, from http://www.fandango.com/interstellar_163452/plotsummary
 Fandango,. (2015). Interstellar (2014) Synopsis - Plot Summary - Fandango. Retrieved 8 April
2015, from http://www.fandango.com/interstellar_163452/plotsummary