Few people know as much about movies as Roger Ebert. Last night I was reading through one of Ebert’s recent blog posts. It is about negative criticism directed toward the movie Inception. The post was titled “The Myth of a Perfect Film” (link). While the primary subject matter of the article was interesting, I found this interchange in the comments of the article and thought it was funny and quite observant. It starts with a question from one of Ebert’s readers:
By David Ferrell on July 19, 2010 9:22 AM
While I enjoyed Inception greatly, I had one nagging question after I finished watching it, which is “What do the shared dreamers do if they want to, um, relieve themselves?” I mean, I guess it could be explained by the (spoiler) sedative, but if I’m on a 10 hour flight, I’m going to need to use the bathroom during that time.
But, yeah, overall, I thought it was a brilliant, thought provoking film that dared to engage the minds of its audience, unlike the majority of films that Hollywood has been cranking out this year.
Ebert: Characters in movies never enjoy an ordinary pee. Toilets are for the purposes of stashing guns, killing people, overhearing conversations, Meet Cutes, escaping from the party, taking drugs, or fleeing through the window.
I think Ebert is dead-on. I can’t recall a single movie where a character is depicted going to the bathroom for a normal reason. Can you?
Levi Novey 