When Inception was released in 2010, it was an instant hit with its ability to have an emotional connection to the characters as strong and complex as the plot. Christopher Nolan created yet another memorizing movie, but to know exactly how Nolan did it would be to go deeper into the movie’s visual text. As mentioned in TheAtlantic’s article “The Reason Christopher Nolan Films look like Christopher Nolan Films”, Nolan has been with the cinematographer, Wally Pfister, for every movie after “Following”. “This is a pair of artist who have found complementary visions in each other”, Nolan visualizes the visual text of the movie and Pfister makes those ideas reality. (The Atlantic) As said in a review article by RollingStone “But Inception glows with a blue-flame intensity all its own.”, Inception grabs hold of us and lights a fire in us (RollingStone). The visual text seen in Inception has many similarities to the visual text seen in the photograph “The Refugee” released by National Geographic. While comparing a movie and a single photograph might seem illogical and irrational, understanding and comprehending the visual text will make the comparison of focal point, color hue, and proximity very clear, and be able to explain how these visual text affects our perception of emotion from both Inception and “The Refugee”. Being able to understand where we get these raw emotions from within visual context is extremely important to those who see them whether it’s daily or rarely. Through the understanding of visual text seen in a heart-racing movie such as Inception and an entrancing photograph of “The Refugee” we can not only feel the powerful emotion it elicits, but also find a new profound appreciation and understanding of how they can manipulate us into feeling desired emotion whether on purpose or accident. 

Inception has many main characters who aid Mr. Cobb on preforming inception and those who try to oppose him are equally as vital to the movie. The reason why Mr. Cobb isn’t the only character the viewer empathizes with in this movie is because of how much Mr. Nolan focused on the focal point of each character. Nearly every time they are woken up from a dream or landed in one, the first and most central thing you see are the character’s eyes. One can see that the focal point in frames of the movie elicit in each of the characters eyes a distinct emotion that is engaging and magnetizing to the viewers. Especially when one of the characters is seen coming out of a dream for the first time, the emotion of surprise, triumph, failure, or wonder are seen in their eyes, drawing us ever closer to those characters. In the same aspect of how the focal point affects our perception of emotion within Inception, the same truth holds in the photograph “The Refugee” taken by National Geographic. The refugee holds one’s gaze in its center and whenever one attempts to seek out other details in the photograph, one may find that it doesn’t take long for one to be found staring into the refugee’s eyes again. This is due to the fact that her eyes are considered to be the focal point of the image and because of the intensity of emotion one feels in her stare, hence the focal point’s ability to draw the viewers in is magnified. Whether captured on purpose like in Inception or by accident like in “The Refugee”, both of their focal point(s) were exceptionally effective in causing the desired emotions to rise up and be the only relevant factor they find in their sights.

Inception was a beautifully designed and directed movie that had large part to do with its visual effects. The visual effects of costumes, architecture, and nature would all be less impactful if it weren’t for the vast variety of color hues in the movie. The color hues illuminate the worlds’ we perceive in Inception and bring to light the beauty and wonder that is so vividly shown in the movie. From the somber city in pouring rain to the breath-taking immensity of the Appalachian Mountains, the viewer sees the color hue through a landscape of variety and it distorts their former emotions to ones the director wanted them to feel.  This similar concept applies for “The Refugee” in a sense of the color hue acting as a reinforcement to the power of the refugee’s eyes. The refugee has magnificent emerald-green eyes that are striking on their own, but when her undershirt and the background wall are the same emerald-green, they are all laced together to enhance the emotion that radiates from her eyes. While staring at the photograph, one is in essence trapped by her eyes. One may try in vain to look away at other details in the photograph, but wherever one there is that exact color hue all we will see and feel is the proximity of her emerald-green eyes. 

Through the world of Inception many may think of an epic sensation to the movie, while that is absolutely valid one may also be intrigued to find that the proximity and closeness play a vital part in affecting our emotions toward the movie. Throughout the movie we get see the characters we love or hate very often, very closely. None of the shots were accidental, on the contrary Nolan wanted to use proximity to his advantage. Proximity aids the audience in forming emotional connections with characters in a visual text. The viewer sees more vivid and detailed experiences that naturally cause our brain to be more likely to remember such imagines rather than long-distance and vague experiences. Proximity is the reason why we remember such characters and whether consciously or subconsciously yearn for their success of downfall. Proximity in Inception relates directly to “The Refugee” because while her eyes will always be compelling, their effectiveness is dependent on a large part due to their proximity of the photograph. 

The visual text relationship between Inception and “The Refugee” is important because by comparing and analyzing both pieces of work one can see how powerful an effect visual text can manipulate our emotions. The importance and power of visual text is made clear when focal point, color hue, and proximity are examined in both Inception and “The Refugee” separately at first and then combining observations to find overlapping comparisons. Another importance between the relationship of the pieces of work is the understanding that is recognized through the comprehension of effect the visual text can have on our emotions that is strengthened through the comparison of the two text. 
