these are the days of our lives

Moments of WTF: Inception.

Aversion for media often doesn't preclude fannishness; full disclosure, I liked Leonardo DiCaprio when he was wandering around less than five miles from my house filming a movie with Johnny Depp and being method and adorable and sixteen and apparently despite crippling shyness would wave at all the ten to fourteen (ninety) year old girls who would go after school to watch filming. Trust me, that sort of thing sticks with you.

(It also helps when I watch the movie, I can identify the places: that's Wal-Mart! That's that weird house! That's that field that people do donuts in! In one single frame somewhere, you can see the edge of my school!)

Which is how I end up in messes staring at Cobb/Arthur and Cobb/Sainto going where the hell is more of this? Inception, we'd have existed in a state of suspended hostility of you'd just cast someone else as Cobb.

(It is not that Hardy isn't awesome; I am saying, Hardy was not around during the first stages of puberty. And DiCaprio at sixteen was like the most awkward teenagerness you can imagine, like he had no idea on earth he was ungodly hot and why are all these rural girls not looking at Depp?

You may have had to be there, but like, five seconds of watching him was like my entire twelve to twenty; there was connection. I'd basically forgive him murder for those moments of body language of utter wtf, puberty sucks, puberty in eighty percent humidity opposite Johnny Depp sucks so much more, it's hot, there are girls watching me, oh my God is there water, I need more water, hi girls, tent, tent, tent, makeup, more water going to die now kthx, great, time to climb a water tower it's five thousand degrees what if I have to use the bathroom?, I'm sweaty and there are girls watching me (we so didn't mind), ohh, it's METHOD!TIME.

*hands* Conditioning works, yo.)

I'm not so much ashamed as surprised that still influences me so heavily. I mean, there's a fair to good chance I watch any movie he's in based on the fact he was around at a very developmentally crucial point in my adolescence and projected about the same amount of miserable resignation combined with fragile, desperate determination to survive to drinking age that the rest of us did in band practice and cross-country training at the ungodly heat and humidity. It was a cruel yet valuable lesson; even stars had to deal with authority figures who had no souls and made you do your thing even if you kinda wanted to die. Sometimes, the fuckers chucked you under the chin, too.

Coaches and film directors have a lot in common. Who knew?

This is how I explain I really need more Cobb fic and my God, fandom, where is it?

Comments

[niqaeli]

As far as I can tell, the fandom OTPed on Arthur/Eames (why? don't ask ME, I'm a gen fan in this fandom, let me tell you it's BEEN SURREAL) and Cobb is... like. They don't know what to do with a legitimate fucking lunatic? I mean, he is. He doesn't even try to pretend he isn't. And... I don't know, honestly? I mean, fandom's fallen for fucking lunatics before. Honestly, I was confused by fandom before I saw the movie because I remember going, wait, which one's DiCaprio, wait what do you MEAN he's neither Arthur nor Eames, isn't he our main protagonist? Yeah. So. Seriously, I don't get fandom. (I like fandom, I am happy people are entertained and enjoying themselves, but I do not grok. GEN FAN. IT'S FUCKING WEIRD, JENN, I TELL YOU, I DO NOT KNOW WHO I AM ANYMORE.)

I love Cobb, though. I love them all. I love Yusuf bestest but Cobb is an entertaining lunatic and I like watching Arthur cope with him with SHEER DETERMINED COMPETENCE. Also, Cobb's presence in fic tends to improve the chances of plot somewhat, which YES PLEASE GIMME.

Anyway. I have no recs for you other than Pru's Presque Vu which, you've read that already right? Right? You couldn't have missed that one? I mean, the thing is, it's Arthur/Eames and I STILL LOVE IT TO PIECES. Mostly because it's almost as much about Arthur and Mal, and Arthur and Mal and Cobb, and Arthur and Cobb, as it is about Arthur and Eames. Although, ps, Eames is pretty awesome.

[seperis]

Cobb's crazy is what I love about him. I mean, I'm into Sherlock; Cobb really only lacks a strong bend for clinical anti-social personality disorder, but that's okay. I can live with the alternative.

Cobb is an entertaining lunatic and I like watching Arthur cope with him with SHEER DETERMINED COMPETENCE. Also, Cobb's presence in fic tends to improve the chances of plot somewhat, which YES PLEASE GIMME.

*whistles* May or may not be doing Cobb plotiness. Of course, I end up with a sherlock crossover, so chances are my audience is like, five people. Three of them are reading it while I write it. *g*

[niqaeli]

Cobb is a) crazy in interesting ways and b) does not whine about his manpain. In fact, really, he'd prefer not to talk about it ever or, like, have ANYBODY ever realise he HAS it, so, I find his manpain a hell of a lot more interesting than i otherwise usually would.

I would be all the hell over that. And, I mean, I haven't watched Sherlock BBC but, I am a sucker for Holmes generally.

[seperis]

Oh God his repressed man!pain that keeps shoving itself under people's noses. My God. Yes.

[scy]

*AGREES* I was just watching Catch Me If You Can and Man in the Iron Mask last night - and WORD. In both of those movies he looks like he needs about twelve thousand HUGS while be completely awesome at the same time. *SIGHS*

WHY IS THERE NOT TONS OF COBB/ARTHUR and COBB/SAITO? As you say, Cobb is NUTS. he is aware of it, deals with it, and makes it WORK FOR HIM. Plus, Arthur and Saito are at least aware of it - Arthur more than Saito, certainly, but, come ON, fandom, why have they not embraced the insane genius?

*FLAPS HANDS*

This is not me telling you that I am going to write any, since, um, you have SEEN my wips, but it's upsetting that I cannot summon the fic I want to read by looking at recs lists. *twitches*

[seperis]

GOD I KNOW.. Though my WIPS are atualy finished, just in beta or I'm wibbling over. This is War Games all over again with three of them. Just staring at them thinking This is not right like an idiot.

[scy]

*pets* On the other hand, if I could just figure out this last section of the Jeremy/Damon, I think it could be close to done? It just needs a big..CLAIMING GESTURE, a public, or irreversible one, and ta-da!

*thinks*

I mean, Cobb is FASCINATING to me, and the fact that Arthur knows at least some of what is wrong with him and yet chooses to work with him anyhow? It speaks to both the trust they have in each other as well as Cobb's ability to get the job done in spite of his insanity. *purrs* And you KNOW how much I love that sort of thing.

[feanna]

I'm not in the fandom, but I totally came out of the movie thinking that they'd given us some GREAT potential for Cobb/Saito. I mean, Saito follows him around the world personally to make sure he's ok (and so he'll take the job, but he didn't have to appear in person) and what kind of line is: Let us (go out and?) be young men together (or something similar) if not an incredibly slashy one...

[seperis]

GOD THAT. I still kind of go "...yes, thank you" for that line.

Saito buying an airline. *hearts*

[feanna]

OH, the airline bit... I was so LOVE. I mean they're all of them trying to think of ways to get control of the CABIN or maybe THE WHOLE PLANE and then Saito's all like: Oh, bought the airline, neat isn't it? HEARTS HIM!

[seperis]

YES THIS. JUST PERFECT.

[kuwdora]

Endymion

Le Reve and the sequel Just Like You Imagined, ~13,000 words all in all, OMG SO GOOD

Four Times Ariadne Sees Cobb and Saito Argue and One Time They Make Up omg this one is so awesome

je rêvais le bonheur, ardent mirage

Infected

Saito/Cobbs fluff from the kissing meme <3 <3 <3 <3 <3


Cobbs/Saito is my elixir of life, trufax.

[seperis]

Love for freaking ever. *hearts and dives*

[kuwdora]

bookshop has a rather large recs list here that includes, um, well, a lot of enthusiasm for just about everything. I haven't gone through most of the list yet but there is some Arthur/Saito and Ariadne and Yusuf stuff recced. She had a field day putting that together, methinks.

and I would totally read your crossover story even though I haven't watched Sherlock yet. I am totally on the Cobb train (ha. ha. *hack*)

[seperis]

26K and counting. *glum* I just stare at it; it was what I was wokring on waiting for a beta on another fic and it's like, I open it and if anyone is online who will read it, I add sections. It's surreal.

[nianeyna]

ahahaha, I... cannot take Cobb seriously. Which is partly because Leo's face makes me laugh (my first exposure to him was Titanic, and I was like, seven or eight. And at the time all the slightly-older-than-me girls were all OH! LEO to which my main reaction was kind of... O.o, and has tainted my image of him ever after. SORRY).

I did see a lot of potential for Cobb/Saito in the movie, though. Cobb/Arthur weirds me out for some reason, I DO NOT KNOW WHY, because yeah, objectively it's totally there, but for some reason I can't make myself feel it? IDEK. Possibly I read too many fics in my early days in this fandom where Cobb was like a ~father figure to Arthur, and now I can't unsee that.

Arthur/Eames is my OTP, again, don't really know why. Probably because I'm easy when it comes to pairings and tend to latch on to whatever is prevailing in fandom because you get more good fic that way just from sheer volume. (haha I'm... not that deep of a person really) I guess that's not really helpful in determining how that pairing became prevailing in fandom. I've wondered myself, tbh.

[seperis]

I saw Titanic years after it came out; it was like one of those impulse buys? I think I got Pearl Harbor at the same time, sadly.

Oh, that pairing has to be the hotness of Hardy and fannish osmosis. Totes understandable. As yeah, he's hot.

[ranalore]

I have the opposite problem. I am of the generation whose teen heartthrob was River Phoenix, and I was still mourning him when DiCaprio's image makers decided to start pushing him hard as the Second Coming of River, and the aversion to that marketing tactic included an aversion to the actor that I have never quite gotten over. If it weren't for so many actors I love in Inception, DiCaprio's presence means I probably wouldn't have seen it.

I love the Cobb+ArthurBFF vibe of the movie, and I like seeing it replicated in fic. I sort of feel like Cobb/Arthur is not a place either of them would ever go now, though I would be interested if someone were writing past Cobb/Mal/Arthur, because I could see that (also Cobb/Saito is awesome, though Saito/Anyone/Everyone is awesome, because that's just Saito). On the other hand, I think if one of your preferred pairings dynamics is "we live in each other's pockets/heads (sometimes literally)," then Cobb/Arthur holds a lot of appeal. Arthur/Eames is more of what musesfool calls "the Bantersons," the wooing-through-insults, opposites-attract pairing, and I felt they were such a given in the movie that I don't even view slash about them as deviating from canon, so clearly I have a bias there. Which means most of what I've been reading has been recced Arthur/Eames, but Imma try to remember to delicious tag, and maybe AO3-tag, any Cobb pairings I come across, because he is definitely underrepresented in recs, and I actually liked the character more than I expected to (his realization that the Mal he created in his head could never match the real Mal, and that what he wanted was the real Mal, was just one of those beautiful moments I never dare to hope to see in visual media).

[margrave]

Your brain is awesome. But word to eveything you say. I understand tha Hardy is attractive, but I don't understand fandom's obsession with eames/Arthur. Cobb is so much more fascinating - him and Saito or him and Arthur is like the perfect fandom pairing paradigm. Mind you, I think my kink is loyalty and competence. Cobb and Saito or Cobb and Arthur have both in abundance.

Inception fandom bemuse me. I'm happy to see the enthusiasm, I just don't understand their choice of obsession.

[ta-wanda.livejournal.com]

As it happens, I was somewhat older when I saw that picture, but it still remains my favorite of both actors. They were so fresh and real in their characters. I think some of what you saw during filming came through and touched me, too.

In your post, you've certainly taken me back to that time and reminded me of the desperate emotions of adolescence. I'm going to try to remember if there are any films/actors who hit me that hard while I was going through it. I recall that I was doing the most serious reading of my life, trying to find enough hope to survive. Thanks for making me feel and think and remember.
Donna

[seperis.livejournal.com]

That movie works for me on several levels, because they're both really young and in a lot of ways starting out--and both of them give insanely good performances--but I really get a visceral reaction to how young he was there. He was only a little odler than I was during filming, and man, I can still remember thinking so this misery is universal, huh?

And still a professional, considering that performance; heat, misery, sweat, climbing the water tower a few times, and still brought it like that.

[poisoninjest.livejournal.com]

All I can say is, I heart this post so hard, and I have loved Leo like whoa since he was the little homeless kid on Growing Pains, and I really, really wish there was more Cobbfic as well, particularly Cobb/Ariadne.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

He was always so adorable. God. Just. *hands* More Cobbfic yes, please.

[eyra.livejournal.com]

The Romeo & Juliet/Titanic craze started when I was eleven. I didn't have a crush on him - not because he wasn't crush worthy, but because I was kind of a late bloomer (and this was as everyone my age kept pinning a billion pictures to their walls and making up elaborate reincarnation/reunion scenarios that ended in them/Jack!Leo. I was baffled. Crushes looked pretty damn dumb to me at the time) - but I loved him. He was one of the first actors I was ever interested in following, and by and large he's been worth following, which is pretty awesome. Not to mention that I just have a lot of affection for him because I liked him when I was eleven.

But I'm also sure that my love of Cobb is real and would exist if someone else had played him. Cobb is fascinating and heartbreaking and ambiguous in lots of ways, and I want lots and lots of fic that explores that, and I want lots of fic that's just about how awesome he is (I also want so much more Cobb/Arthur or Cobb/Saito). But there seems to be this undercurrent of Cobb-hate in a few corners of Inception fandom that makes me sad. And part of me wonders if there's a shade or two of actor-aversion in there; if for people in a certain age range it's partly rejecting the guy they had a crush on when they were eleven because they aren't eleven anymore, and that also makes me sad. Because there is so much awesome here, and I wish there were more stories about it.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

...I have wondered about actor-aversion, too. I was trying to think about DiCaprio's movies and how many made fannish hivemind and no, not many. So. *hands*

[(Anonymous)]

(Like kuwdora on DW, I was going to recommend Le Reve, Endymion and Infected (particularly Infected, the sequel's apparently going to be posted next) And I've been looking everywhere for je rêvais le bonheur, ardent mirage :D)

I'm afraid I've only got two others which might not be exactly what you're looking for:

(waves) break upon the shore: http://cherryice.livejournal.com/256921.html

Cobb from (awake) Mal's POV

Sorry it had to be like this: http://community.livejournal.com/inception_kink/5987.html?thread=8455011#t8455011

Cobb/Arthur humour

[nrrrdy-grrrl.livejournal.com]

WEGG? is my complete favorite Leo DiCaprio film ever.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

YES. He was frighteningly good in that one. Just--wow. According to those of my friends who fangirled the shoot, he was supermethod about it, too, which makes sense.

[nrrrdy-grrrl.livejournal.com]

Just astonishing. Totally stole my heart.

[anoel.livejournal.com]

I was a huge Titanic Fan back in the day (like watching the movie a ton, reading about the actual Titanic, pictures, obsessing, etc) and Leo was my big crush so I totally understand. I can't say any Inception pairing grabbed me, more of a plot movie for me but I'd definitely think there'd be some Cobb/Arthur out there at the very least.

[eponymousanon.livejournal.com]

Kirsten Dunst filmed a TV movie in my town when I was in grade school called Fifteen and Pregnant. I knew someone who was an extra in the prom scene, and they got all the extras pizza and she came and sat with them and goofed off like a regular teenager (which she was at the time). Hearing the girl talk about hanging with Kirsten Dunst was what made me realize that actors are regular people behind the screen.

... Tom Cruise also filmed a scene here and so I know he likes nonfat vanilla lattes, but he was already creepy then so I didn't care as much.

[eponymousanon.livejournal.com]

... that statement sounds inexplicable. Tom Cruise filmed a scene next to a local coffeeshop; bought a coffee; next 2 months all the coffee ladies talked about was how he liked his coffee.

[thearchpoet.livejournal.com]

YES. (But I can't really make myself *write* inception fic... my characterizations just don't work.)

[be-a-rebel.livejournal.com]

There are some Cobb/Arthur recs on my delicious account, here:

http://www.delicious.com/be.a.rebel/arthur%2Fcobb

I've loved Leonardo Dicaprio since Catch Me If You Can and I just never stopped. I even sat through Revolutionary Road for him, and I hated that movie so, so much.

For me it's more, God, I love your acting then I crushed on you like mad.

Sadly, I cannot bear him in Inception. I can't stand Cobb and his character is too much like the role he played in Shutter Island. I found it near impossible to sympathize with Cobb. But Leonardo still managed to make me weep inside in a few scenes, which shows how awesome he is.

[eppy]

If you find more Cobb fic, let me know where it's at. I'd give anything to read something other than Arthur/Eames.