Living in a bad area is wild y'all I just heard some people yelling then gunshots across the street and now it's dead quiet out there. Some dude might be bleeding out on the sidewalk but I sure as hell ain't walking out there.
sometimes i feel like i have to step away for a moment and appreciate the seismic impact that arthureames has had because it’s absolutely mind-boggling and i don’t think i’ve seen another pairing quite like them.
they only appeared in the movie for about five to ten minutes together but managed to build and sustain an entire fanbase (which is currently still active) for ten years. just that fact alone is perplexing, because there has never been another instance of something quite similar to them. the movie was able to beautifully characterize arthur and eames, as well as their relationship, in those five to ten minutes. complexities and details, a bond built on trust, deep-seated admiration. just think about how nearly every single other fanbase with a long-running pairing has been sustained by more than five to ten minutes of content. inception really took an inch and gave us the whole nine yards.
not only that, but their influence trickled down into other fanbases from separate movie franchises. correct me if i’m wrong, but i’m certain that blake/bane (joseph gordon-levitt and tom hardy’s characters in the dark knight rises) is a pairing that would not have existed had it not been for inception. besides tdkr, theres content in the arthureames ao3 tag from mad max, mysterious skin, rocknrolla (and probably others), content which is solely there because of jgl and tom hardy’s roles in those films. films that should be completely detached from the characters of arthur and eames, but still manage to feel the second-hand shock waves of inception’s impact.
it’s utterly fascinating yet baffling because it goes against nearly every other convention i’ve seen in fan culture regarding pairings. arthureames is such a special relationship, a ridiculous phenomenon breaking the limits of the status quo. in many ways like it’s source material, it’s mind-breaking and causes you to question everything you previously knew.