Total Recall - Real or Dream?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ต.ค. 2020
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I always thought it was obviously a dream/implant. At Rekall the junior tech calls the implant “blue sky on Mars” and that’s what we see at the end, a blue sky on Mars. Also as Quaid defines the woman he wants to the female tech and she enters it into the computer you see Melinas face get selected because that’s the character the system has chosen for his implant adventure and that’s exactly who he meets at the bar.
Interesting observation, thanks for watching! 😃
@@TheCinemathequefilmsno problem.. it was a good video, deserves a lot more views.
But Quaid was dreaming of Melina before going to Rekall.
This movie is full of coincidences like this, to disorientate viewer.
I think that was real, because of that exact scene in dream company (where the procedure went wrong)
@@Direbeetus They took that memory of his dream and used it for his ideal woman basically, also you can see the alien reactor that we see at the end of the movie flashing on their screen when they were showing him the two headed aliens and the alien artifacts and so on. This is a very clever movie.
Very, very, VERY, underrated movie that deserves way more attention.
That movie us not underrated at all.
Stop talking bs.
You said it the audience are nothing but a bunch of mindless hypocrites. Go ask people (specially those overrated Nolan Patronizers), you'd find most of them would happily judge Total recall to be just another average futuristic mindless action-adventure by Arnie who by the way is forever painted as the guy who can't act, can't speak english well enough (a madeup excuse to treat him unfairly as a Austrian / european actor) but the only thing they'd agree he can do is action.. give me a break!
@@robojokes2274 you mad
How is it underrated? Like in it's value as an artistic piece? Because this is one of the most famous movies ever made, and everyone I know who's ever watched it also loves it
"He's just acting out the secret agent portion of his ego trip!"
"I'm afraid that's not possible."
"Why not?"
"Because we haven't implanted it yet!"
He wasn't dreaming. I know the director felt it was all a dream, but considering that exchange I'm not so sure.
Even yourself dont even sure if it dream or not.
There is a third possibility that I read about years ago that is very interesting. Basically we say to ourselves that the dream begins or not just after the implant is placed in Recall. But let's think outside the box for a bit. This third theory holds that the very first scene of the film is in fact real. The dream begins when Quaid wakes up (and therefore is dying in reality) and thus lasts for the entire film. This explains the coincidences at Recall with the photo of Mélina, the places and the rest of the story that the director predicts. Quaid in fact creates the scenario in real time.
Yesss! I heard another guy postulate this theory, I love it
That’s actually an explanation I’m satisfied with
Used to be a fan of the real theory but now I believe Quaid's whole entire experience was a dream gone wrong. Quiaid dreamed of Melina and Mars before Rekall but I think the nightmares were symbolic of Quaid's desire to escape his reality and secretly fantasized a bigger, better life on Mars vs an Earthbound construction worker with a trophy wife. The ominous, suspicion stares Harry and Lori give him beforehand were because Harry and Lori suspected Quaid went to Rekall before and doesn't remember, hence their concerned looks. The fact that everything Bob Mcclane predicted would happen actually happened was a key factor. The fact that literally everything Dr. Edgmar predicted would happened happened in exactly that order wasn't just coincidence. That's exactly the entire plot of the rest of the movie. Quaid's subconscious created the sweat on the doc's forehead to make Quaid convinced Dr. Edgmar was lying. Quaid also seeing an exact image of Melina on the Rekall screen before he's put under was Quaid's own inner subconscious forming the chosen desired love interest of a sleazy brunette woman into an image of Melina as he fades out into the beginning of the Rekall dream state. The fade to white before the credits roll at the end were symbolic of Quaid waking up from his lobotomy in reality on Earth.
Whoa that be nuts if that was the case
Edgemar didn't "predict" anything; he was Cohaagen's bought man, who told him Quaid's backstory
_Used to be a fan of the real theory but now I believe Quaid's whole entire experience was a dream gone wrong._
I propose a third possibility; there was nothing wrong with the Rekall implant, the entire scenario played out exactly as it was supposed to and the movie ends shortly before Quaid wakes up back in the office.
_Quiaid dreamed of Melina and Mars before Rekall but I think the nightmares were symbolic of Quaid's desire to escape his reality and secretly fantasized a bigger, better life on Mars vs an Earthbound construction worker with a trophy wife._
Well, that's the question, isn't it? Memory isn't linear. Quaid dreams a girl on Mars and later says he dreamed about her _before_ he went to Rekall. Now did this girl _always_ have Melina's face because she's real and he remembers her in dreams? Or does he only remember her in his dreams with Melina's face _after_ Rekall implanted her?
_The ominous, suspicion stares Harry and Lori give him beforehand were because Harry and Lori suspected Quaid went to Rekall before and doesn't remember, hence their concerned looks._
It might just be worried looks, from his wife over his discontent and his friend concerned for his welfare.
_The fact that everything Bob Mcclane predicted would happen actually happened was a key factor._
McClane gave him a choice and he chose the secret agent scenario. Question is, did what happened next play out that way because that's the scenario he picked? Or did he pick that scenario because of the memories that were coming to the surface?
_The fact that literally everything Dr. Edgmar predicted would happened happened in exactly that order wasn't just coincidence. That's exactly the entire plot of the rest of the movie._
In fact, Edgmar predicts absolutely nothing. It was already known that he was a double agent, Cohagen's best friend, Hauser, planted as Quaid to infiltrate the underground with information about the alien machine at Mars' core and betray the rebellion. The doctor doesn't tell him a single thing he couldn't have gotten from Cohagen first.
_Quaid's subconscious created the sweat on the doc's forehead to make Quaid convinced Dr. Edgmar was lying._
There's no reason he wouldn't sweat even inside a delusion. It's entirely possible Edgmar isn't real at all but a figment of Doug's own imagination trying to wake him up, his own self trying to lead himself out of delusion.
_Quaid also seeing an exact image of Melina on the Rekall screen before he's put under was Quaid's own inner subconscious forming the chosen desired love interest of a sleazy brunette woman into an image of Melina as he fades out into the beginning of the Rekall dream state._
You mean, he _remembers_ the generic brunette Rekall model as Melina, having beein inspired to choose her by his own memories in the first place? It seems like a chicken and egg situation depending on how much of the movie comes from Quaid's perspective and how much the audience's as observer.
_The fade to white before the credits roll at the end were symbolic of Quaid waking up from his lobotomy in reality on Earth_
Or simply waking up in the Rekall office after his rip-roaring secret agent adventure, Blue Sky On Mars, be sure to tell your friends. 😁
Trophy wife seems to be the dead giveaway IMO. His "real" life as a construction worker landed him a trophy wife like that? Doubt.
@@The_Mighty_Fiction "Quaid's subconscious created the sweat on the doc's forehead to make Quaid convinced Dr. Edgmar was lying. "
"There's no reason he wouldn't sweat even inside a delusion."
The sweat is the entire reason he shoots him, to Quaid it's proof that the doctor is lying and trying to manipulate him.
"I propose a third possibility; there was nothing wrong with the Rekall implant, the entire scenario played out exactly as it was supposed to and the movie ends shortly before Quaid wakes up back in the office. "
Its been a few months since I last saw the movie but I also lean towards this explanation.
Here's a fun thought: when we project ourselves into the shoes of the action movie heroes, we (vicariously) get the girl, kill the bad guys and save the planet. A movie is a tool whereby we give ourselves false (pseudo)memories for a measly 300 credits.
I beg to differ. Even though it had caught my attention that we - the viewers - shouldn't be witnessing events that Quaid doesn't witness himself, it doesn't prove that the events are actually happening. Let me give you an example: when Quaid sees the guy sweat, he assumes that he is real. But there is nothing that rules out the possibility that virtual reality (Total Recall) would be so real as to create the guy to sweat. Remember: it is indistinguishable from reality, as the guy at Recall tells him.
I find the virtual reality scenario more plausible. Many of the errors in continuity can be explained by the fact that the events aren't real and are merely reflections of Quaid's subconscious. When Harry, for example, confronts Quaid after the Johnny taxi drops him off, he wouldn't have known that Quaid had gone to Recall.
The real clue lies in the short story that the movie was based on. The whole point of the story is that what seemed to be a memory implant, actually happened in reality. If the movie was based on that story, then obviously the concept would be the same.
But Harry knows because the Agency knows and Harry works for the Agency just like Lori to watch him. Lori finds out sooner than she would’ve because Quaid tells her first.
In the end
Harry could easily be assigned to tail Quaid everywhere he goes and can track him.
Why does Harry know exactly where Quaid is gonna be and when?
That should be the question.
He had a full group of guys ready to assault Quaid. Exactly where the Cab drops him off at.
Clearly he tracked Quaid the entire time and knows he went to Rekall. He knows where Quaid lives
He knows the most likely place he would get dropped off at to get back to his apartment.
The only reason Richter’s team got involved is because Harry’s is dead.
Harry has a tracker just like Richter’s guy.
He wouldn’t even have to Follow Quaid to Rekall to know he went there.
Quaid talked Directly to him about Rekall and Harry tried to get him out of it.
That tipped him off,
Then all he had to do was track Quaid.
The actual thing that makes no sense
Is that they all Try to kill him when their orders are to capture him.
Harry’s team doesn’t immediately restrain Quaid and take him into Agency custody.
Harry was just gonna kill him after interrogating him.
Harry doesn’t REALLY know what happened in Rekall
He just knows Quaid went there.
It wouldn’t make sense for Harry to magically know in Either scenario.
So he Knows because he tracked him and made an educated guess.
“You blabbed about Mars”
But Quaid never says anything about Mars specifically,
He says
“You blew my cover”
“My name is not Quaid”
Harry doesn’t Really know what happened that’s why he interrogates him. Instead of just immediately shooting him.
Harry wants to Know everything Quaid might have said.
Which means he doesn’t Magically Know anything.
a couple levels deeper. the guy who sweats in that scene explains to him that he is having delusions. whos to say that his subconciouse dident make the guy sweat within his delusion as a way to represent distrust. like a dream when you have a certain emotion or feeling, certain things happen because of those feelings
It's not about if dream character CAN sweat, it's what it means that he DOES sweat. You're missing the point.
Edgemar is about to have his balls cut off or something if he doesn't convince Quaid to take a sedative, using stories of "lobotimies" as a scare tactic
@@notsure9301 that's mental gymnastics, and that one bead of sweat was so important its basically the crux of the whole story
Top questions science cant answer:
How life started?
How big is universe?
Total Recall dream or real?
The first 2 have been answered. But they've been suppressed, just like the oxygen machine in the movie was hidden from the public.
If you dig enough, you can even find a few videos on YT that talk about the subjects of 1 & 2. ps. Its smaller than you could ever guess.
How to know if youre on the right track? Clue 1. The videos will have a wikipedia 'fact' bar right above the title of the video you select, to throw researchers off course and frame the video as 'crazy' and 'here's what the real experts at Wikipedia say. You trust wikipedia, dont you? Of course you do.'
If you read this far, here's another clue, the oxygen machine in the movie actually represents a technology that exists in our world that has been hidden, that can supply us with something for free that the current system charges money for. Hence, its kept hidden so the powers that be can have control and we keep paying every month. Try to figure out what that is. Clue 3.JonLevi.
The movies tell you more truth than you could ever guess. Its just disguised by sci-fi nonsense.
@@mstrikesback168 conspiracy theorist using a movie from the 80s to justify their wack conspiracy theory when nobody, literally nobody asked:
@@mstrikesback168 lol, those fact check bars only appear for Covid and politically right topics. I don't think youtube cares about aliens, flat earth, Tesla, etc the kooky stuff
Interesting video. Just finished watching this movie with my son and it's interesting how the whole movie can be interpreted both ways.
it's neither reality or an implant, he's really just dreaming in his nice comfy bed and neither the Mars colony or Rekall exists.
Dream. During the red pill scene, Edgemar accurately reveals the rest of the program. I'm always amazed Quaid doesn't think back and go-huh?!! This is EXACTLY the way Edgemar said it would end!! ( Brain death ensues)
There is a cut before he goes crazy, and it is fun, he had a regular job before this, and the way it ends aswell as all the twists, real sus, when they say they lobotomized a guy, it makes sense, imagine arnold waking up to the normal 9 to 5 job without any fighting ability, no perfect agent girlfriend, same planet with same problems, no guns, it would be depressing, mind shattering, your whole reality would break
The "lobotomy" was supposedly a guy *during* the procedure, the concept of which was used to scare Quaid into compliance
It's deliberately meant to be ambiguous.
Enjoy the mystery. There is no answer.
That goes for your real life too.
If it is real....
to me the scene at 01:40 is enough evidence that it's just all a dream. Rekall's CEO is basically describing the entire plot of the movie.
That is the genius of Total Recall. It is about the nature of reality and it draws the line between fantasy and reality and it keeps you guessing and at the end of the movie, it is left to us the audience if it is real or fantasy.
I don’t buy it. The main reason is every single big detail of what he experienced is exactly not only what the Recall rep and his techs showed him.
1. The Rep’s description of the ego trip. That in it he is a spy who is on the run, people wanting to kill him, he meets a woman he falls in love with and he saves the planet.
Okay this one could be just coincidence but the further details strengthens this one.
2. When he describes the woman of his dreams the computer comes up with a picture of Melina, not a simulation of her, not a person who looks eerily close to her, no it’s the exact same person.
Why would Recall have her picture on file?
3. When he describes the personality of his ideal woman he says “sleazy” which later on he finds her at a bar with call girls (one of them with three breasts).
Also could be him remembering the real woman but like the first one I think with all the other bits it leads to this being part of what his mind invisioned.
4. When the female tech shows him Martian art one of the pictures looks identical to the Martian reactor.
Seems odd doesn’t it?
5. This is the big one for me… when the male tech looks at a vial containing quades ego trip he says “oh blue skies on mars” which is exactly what happens at the end of the movie.
None of those things on their own is concrete proof but when ya take them all into consideration it feels like that was Paul Verhoeven’s way of messing with the audience.
Where that dark humor really pays off is the final moment of the film, the ray of light before the credits roll.
Could it be him coming to an end of his ego trip OR did he suffer a schizoid embolism and that light was him getting lobotomized?
Again knowing Verhoeven’s sense of humor it’s most likely the latter. An audience full of people cheering for this over the top action story and it’s happy ending, all the while Verhoeven is thinking “all this cheering for a guy who got lobotomized”.
The director literally explains that he both is and isn't dreaming.
But the direction is dreaming
The director never talk clear about it.
The "it can't be a dream because we're not in the perspective of Quaid" argument is not very strong, ppl have third person dreams all the time
This essay is intended purely as a philosophical observation and interpretation of the film. By applying such examples as Dretske’s test of knowledge, I sought to explore why I believe that there are plausible, observational and philosophical reasonings as to why he may be there.
There are of course many practical and theoretical examples as to why it may also be a dream, but with this essay, I thought it might be interesting to chose to explore the other perspective, which is rarely explored as much as the dream theory.
Thanks for watching! :)
@@TheCinemathequefilms The problem with using Dretske as your foundation is that he himself struggled not only with defining knowledge but defining knowledge within the context of a universal reality. And what we are trying to suss out is the reality of this fantasy film. You're obviously learned but beware the philosopher's curse of insistent equivocation.
Yeah but the rekall system is explained as memories why would they implant 3rd person memories like a movie. I'm the secret agent, I don't want to watch the secret agent.
@@Mojomanultra yes! That's probably a better clarification of the point being made.
Do you? I've never heard of ANYONE dreaming in 3rd person...maybe dreaming they were someone else, but never as a disembodied perspective seeing dream characters do their own thing while the dreamer is passed out in a big massage chair (the Ernie slap scene)
Would a dream have scenes without him that he’s not in or aware of?
The question of whether Quade is dreaming or not is one of the greatest debates since whether or not Deckard is a Replicant ( from the film Blade Runner).
(Funny note both films were based on Phillip K. Dick stories)
In "We can remember it for you wholesale," Quail's fantasies were ALL real...
He is not a repicant. He was constantly hurt in pain
They show you its a dream when he is on the train in the beginning. The commercial for Rekall is using the same actor who plays the doctor who tries to get him to take the pill. Thats a nod to the fact that in many sci-fi shows and movies they tend to use the same actor in multiple parts like Star Trek does. So Rekall got him to play 2 bit parts but Quaid just didn't notice like many times we don't. Go watch for yourself you will see its the same person.
We all know its the same person, how is that an argument for anything anyway?
@@Imperial_Cosmonaut Did you not understand the post? Pretty obvious it was just a dream since the guy was an actor for the rekall commercial and not a doctor.
@@Imperial_Cosmonaut You must not understand how actors find work. Look at how actors on ST TNG did different parts and then ended up on Voyager. I am surprised you didn't understand the original post but then again some people take a bit longer to catch on then others.
All that means is that Cohagen may have used the same actor to try to convince Quaid he was in a delusion.
It was all a dream. They even that in machine as well as several other things that he encounters after going recall.
I have THE proof this movie is a Dream
Me too brother
The Rekall technician even slyly mentions a 'blue skies ending' as a surprising new little twist to the memory they're implanting.
Nice to see an essay on beforehand verhoeven
Well i think you missed the most important clue on that argument, why did he dreamt about Melina before getting to Rekal.
Because when we remember things the order can shift. And as we are watching it from the point of view that this is all his memory that the order of the memory has become distorted, unless of course he isn't dreaming, which he either is, or isn't, or both.
Implanted memory?
More importantly, the reason her face was on the Rekall screen is because she had a modeling gig
Blue sky on Mars... The remake it's about the tattoo,in the deleted scene. You can see Quaid/Farrel reading the Ian Fleming's novel "The spy who loved me" , meanwhile traveling the earth
The movie purposely has textual evidence for and against it being a dream/implanted memory, there are a few red herrings, and it’s left ambiguous on purpose, that’s what makes it great. If you want to believe it’s real, then he is Houser when he screams “you blew my cover” not Quaid at that moment, he had total recall of who he was, then they knocked him out and wiped his memories again returning him to Quaid
The key to the whole movie lies in the title:
Total Recall - it's the ability that some people have to remember every moment of their entire lives but, most importantly in this case, is the ability to recall the entirety of a dream(s). About 90% of people can't recall what they've dreamed and this varies with age.
The whole movie was dream, even the scenes that weren't from Quaid's perspective. He basically came up with this story and lived through it in his dreams to later wake up and remember it whole - a total recall.
Clues:
-Melina was part of his dream in the beginning and also as a model implant at Rekall
-The cooworker dissing Rekall acting as a behavioural trigger of defiance in order for Quaid being catapulted further into the dream in the form of getting memory implants
-The Ego package at recall is basically a description of the inner desires of the dreamer. It tells us why the dream had this particular story and aesthetics.
-The seller pitch describing the whole implant/dream arc
-1 million years old alien artifact whose picture was at Rekall as part of the Ego package option. (Despite not being implanted)
-Blue skies on Mars
-the speach of the sweatie doctor, describing the final act
-the previous Quaid incarnation, Cohagen buddy, knowing that he would be hopelessly compeled to go to Rekall and hence complete their infiltration plan into the mars rebels resistance. This would only make sense if it was all a dream in order to reveal inner identity conflict of the dreamer or to live in the dream a spy story classical twist regardless of its plausibility through the "implant" mechanism.
If they wanted him to infiltrate the rebels organization they could simply "erase" his memories and personality and leave neuronal cues to make him want to travel directly to mars without ever needing to use a memory implants company like Rekall to trigger him to do it.
At the end It fades into white, similar to someone waking up.
Great video! Very nicely narrated and presented.👍
Thanks for watching!
It’s a dream
The key is Melina...she appears on the screen at Rekall right before Quaid passes out. The implication is that Melina isn't real, she's a creation of Rekall for Quaid's ego trip.
You came to the same conclusion I did: The third person perspectives we see, where Quaid isn't even one of the characters on screen, prove that it's not a dream.
Love the music you picked
"blue skies on mars? Never seen that one before." -scientist at recall. Anyone else notice that and how the movie ended with mars getting blue skys
When their trying to put him in the simulation they tell you that they haven't even put him in yet and that someone has been messing with Quiads head so it wasn't a dream.
I've watched this movie 15-20 times and still can't put a grasp on what happened lol.. I had this theory that Rekall was a dream of something he couldn't accomplish In real : save the planet.
I'm the beginning when he's watching the news the sky isn't blue on Mars, Cohagen is ruling, he has dreams of Melina and falling to his death (unnacomplished mission?) Found it odd that Lori didn't want him to watch the news and looked concerned when he said, i want to try Rekall.
I'm wondering if the post Rekall is an extension of his subconscious.
To add onto that, he can't be experiencing the "implanted" memories because *they had not been implanted,* as Dr. Lull says at the Rekall facility in an exchange with Bob McClane.
That totally deflates the idea of this all being a dream.
Besides, the whole "it was all a dream" thing would be the ultimate copout.
Even if that was part of the dream already, dream characters don't do their own thing while the dreamer is passed out in front of them 🤣
Agree on the copout, thats a famous annoyance and film schools drill it into students not to do so
The fade to white ending of Total Recall before the casting credits roll in the end versus the classic and typical Hollywood fade to black ending pre-credits, said it all to me. As a lifelong fan of both the original 90s Total Recall and Arnold Schwarzenegger in his prime and even now admittedly. Old regardless. Imo and personal fan theory of Total Recall, Douglas Quaid's entire journey, adventure and experience on first Earth and later Mars post-Rekall was all in fact a false memory implanted dream and fantasy trip procedure gone wrong and sabotaged by chemical induced neurological psychosis. The fact that Doug Quaid dreamed of both Melina and Mars before going to Rekall for the false memory implants was because Quaid was tired and bored with his average day life as an average joe construction worker and bodybuilder with a blonde model trophy wife and he hated living on Earth. Quaid secretly fantasized being something larger than life itself, such as a top secret Martian government agent and spy in his case, wanted to live on Mars and fantasized being with a sleazy brunette woman as opposed to his blonde trophy wife aka Lori in reality on planet Earth. Which Quaid's subconscious personified as Melina in the dream. Quaid suffocating to death symbolized Quaid feeling suffocated by his life in reality on Earth he needed to escape from. The fact that everything Bob McClane at Rekall said that would happen came to pass was maybe a coincidence. Via Quaid ends up getting the girl, killing the villains and saving Mars, including the blue skies on Mars, Venusville and alien underground artifact Quaid saw later. The fact that literally everything Dr. Edgmar predicted and foreshadowed would happen did happen accurately and in order to Quaid afterwards,"The walls of reality will come crashing down. One moment you'll be the savior of the rebel cause, the next thing you know you'll be Cohaggen's bosom buddy. You'll even have fantasies of alien civilizations on Mars as you so requested but in the end back on Earth you'll be lobotomized!" And after Quaid shoots Dr. Edgmar, killing Dr. Edgmar in his mind, the walls of reality literally came crashing down with a platoon of Cohaggen's armed military forces and soldiers. One moment Quaid is the savior of the rebel cause by killing Cohaggen, Richter and their Martian government military forces but was Cohaggen's bosom buddy as Carl Hauser, Cohaggen's top ranking lieutenant enforcer and henchman and close friend aside from Richter. Quaid even discovered the fossilized remnants underground of ancient, extinct alien civilizations on Mars as well as the alien built artifact and planetary core reactor to release the planet's entire oxygen supply on Mars. The fade to white ending symbolized Quaid waking up from his lobotomy on Earth in reality. Quaid saw the designed, selected image of Melina from his dreams on the Rekall screen at the beginning in the chair as Quaid was fading in and out of consciousness being put under, and his inner psychological subconscious molded and saw the image of Melina in his first person point of view for his selected, designed, desired, preferred female love interest of a sleazy, athletic, brunette woman which Quaid's subconscious mind personified as Melina from his dreams before Rekall. Lori and Harry, as Quaid's wife and best friend and co-worker, acted suspiciously towards Quaid before he traveled to Rekall upon mentioning Rekall and his dreams of Mars because Lori and Harry suspected Quaid went to Rekall before and didn't remember. Hence their suspicious behavior and concerned demeanor towards Quaid before Rekall. My analysis.
Why would they be concerned about him going before and not remembering?
It's the same issue with all stories that turn out to be just a dream. How does a dream have scenes the dreamer isn't in?
Ive always believed it was a dream ever since he sat on that chair in REKALL and as soon the it goes blank at the end he gets lobotomised
Nice video! I was actually thinking of making a similar video for my own channel in which I state why I believe the story was real and not a dream (which are different than your reasons). By the way, what was that music your video opened with? I like it.
Thanks! The opening song is ELPHNT by Subterranean Howl. I am looking forward to seeing your potential video 😃
You should make it, I would watch!
@@Imperial_Cosmonaut Thanks. I'll be honest: I didn't get around to making the video. And since then, my enthusiasm for it has kind of gone down. But that doesn't mean it can't ever be resurrected!
@@Joelikesmoviesnstuffmake it
Not necessarily I have had 3rd person moments in dreams seeing things I shouldn't so it doesn't rule the dream argument
How about, the first Mars scene was a dream? From quarry to Recall was in the moment (not a dream).
Recall earned a satisfying 300 credits.
Quaid wasn’t happy with his marriage.
Not a dream he had a dream of the lady he had already met before he went to recall
I haven’t seen this movie in probably 20 years. I did however own this VHS as a kid and from age 10-13 years old I probably watched it 20 times.
I liked the movie a lot but it was SO confusing. I need to see it again but I remember it would drive me crazy not knowing who Quaid really is.
Is he a “bad” guy who turned good?
I never wanted to believe he was ever really a “bad” guy but I think he was lol.
However, common sense as a kid wanted me to believe it was all a fantasy he paid for.
Usually in life the more simple answer is the truth… but then I have to remember it’s a movie lol.
It is an underrated movie. This movie and True lies were probably my favorite Schwarzenegger movies.
I was always more fascinated by the idea in the movie about a whole personality being erased, than the dream thing, lol. Like is Houser basically dead, and Quaid is a different soul inhabiting the Arnie body? What makes somebody good/evil; nature? Experience? Etc.
Btw, Akham's razor is a very specific analyzation "tool" for particular situations; it doesn't always apply to every situation...example, just about every concept discovered through science. Our world is never as straight forward as it appears on the surface, there are some pretty complex stuff playing out.
Akham's razor is more for logic and law/criminal investigations
He is both dreaming, and not at all. He will go the rest of his life on Mars not 100% sure if he is in his old reality, which means he will live throughout his life never fully confirmed of either being awake or still under the memory. Because of the uncertainty of his existence's legitimacy, he will always be dreaming, yet in reality.
I think it was a dream, I've dreamt in 3rd person, viewing things from an outside perspective so that's false evidence of it being "real" think about the start, Melina is the girl he dreams about and then conveniently sees before his "trip" at total recall. Also missing timeline before he wakes up in Johnny cab. All dreamlike aspects.
BS, I've never known anyone to just follow dream characters around and either see yourself disembodied there with them, or dream about the character without 'you' present in some capacity.
In any case, its logically impossible to dream in "full" 3rd person, because to experience anything, there has to be an experiencer, hence it will always be 1st person.
As far as the argument goes, it's much less about 3rd person than it is about dream characters playing out stories while the dreamer is clearly incapacitated (the Rekall "dump him in a cab" scene)
The "missing timeline" is a basic storyboard/transition scene; we don't see every physical event in the chronology of a whole movie because movies would be 20 hours long and unartistic
@@Imperial_Cosmonautthat's true, regardless of if you are watching the dream version of yourself perform some action in your dream, you are still in essence you, you're just you watching you... And you somehow know this in the dream. .. Ie still in first person. I have never had a dream where I wasn't me...I also call bs on the "dreaming of scenarios you're not involved in" as well.
I think you guys should refer back to the original story. You have to keep in mind the movie/editing and the deadlines they had to meet to finish the movies, so some scenes that we are questioning could just be editing issues.
It was all a dream proof is when Arnold went in the procedure the doctor said a girl will come save you
And it actually happened meaning it’s a dream because he knew that would happen
He also said ooh blue sky on mars and that happened at the end too so both of those are evidence total recall was all a dream that’s awesome
Thanks
Thanks for watching
Thats the great thing about this movie after 30 years we having an interesting debate about it?Man I not sure, I watched it as a kid them a couple of re-runs but always assumed he'd woken up.Now I'm gonna have to watch it again.
Sharon's Stone face is a tell all.
the popular view is that as soon as Doug is in the chair everything else is clearly a dream, everything points to it but officially it's up to the viewer and thus a question mark. but no technology can change a planet in seconds, end of that discussion, everything Doug asks for happens, everything he is warned about happens aka the scenario change. Melania is not real and he perceives her based on the computer screen image, the aliens on mars thing is part of the scenario too, which he first hears about from the technician while drifting off. clearly Doug was a down on his luck worker who went to rekall and figuratively got a trip to mars. implanted memories like the rekall scenario are still a decade at least away but will be common, cybernetic augmentation are becoming more common and robotics globally are common worldwide
the rekall program starts with the first scene, not a coincidence it's a dream, the program had to start that way, the girl is the same so no other way
Jesus that background music is loud, but yeah makes sense.
The original _"mugen tsukuyomi"_
Thing that doesn't make sense Is his memories, does he remember his childhood? Does he remember meeting his girlfriend before the 6 weeks she was planted there aswell as his job? Does he remember his mom? Or was all that recalled into his head, that guy who got lobotomized... was that arnold who got lobotomized to replace all his past with false memories of childhood? Holyshit this movie's fun
Total Recall is truly a film with numerous theories and different possibilities, thanks for sharing your thoughts. 😃
At Recall, they said they never implanted any memories in his head because he already had them. They refunded his money and put him in a cab
...bit don't forget by that logic he had already been implanted..
So where did the dream start?
When he went to Rekall or before the film starts?
But, why would we as an audience, see that part.
When Quaid himself doesnt remeber that.
Exactly. It was all real. He had dreams of Melina and infatuation with Mars because it was in his subconsciousness.
@@akasickform Wouldn't they have him on file? Wouldn't they recognize him if he was there already?
@@davidgruzin8269 exactly
Great movie.
the guy from rekall discrible all the movie and melina was even showed on computer screen, also the final question, theres no way that the journey was not a dream, the other side of view could be merely a movie issue.
the only thing that opens the discussion is the dream that quaid had before implant, but that doesnt mean that quaid dreams was real it could just be a random dream like anything else.
hes not on mars. in the recall facility the guy making his memories states " oh the skys blue thats weird ." He also states they will be so real he wont be able to tell the real ones from the fake ones. diaglog is very important. none of which you used to make your point. the point of view thing is just plain dumb.
Just because the movie is telling it from a third person perspective all that means is that is how the story is delivered to the audience, and of course Quaid through his own eyes wouldn’t see it like that and delivering the story to the audience that way doesn’t mean it’s real. That being said the reasons to believe it’s a dream are: everything goes exactly how they said the secret agent would on recall. Meet the girl save the planet blue sky on mars etc. and the reason it would be real was they said they never implanted it yet and his friend Harry tried to kill him after (how would recall even know who his friend is to implant that in). Then the doctor comes into the hotel room and once he kills him there’s people there immediately waiting behind the wall to apprehend Quaid so clearly was a setup. And think about it Cohaagen was the actual leader of Mars so if a memory implant company is actually using him as the bad guy to sell that memory to people wouldn’t he sue them for it?
That makes a lot of sense thank you!
Thank you!
“One second you’ll be the savior of the rebel cause but back on earth, you’ll be lobotomized!” The recall guy said “back on earth”, not “in reality”. Linguistic clues. And if he was really just implanted there from the outside, he shouldn’t be able to be totally killed as he’s not there. Think of the psychic scene from Dredd 2012. She’s in his head from the outside and can’t be harmed because she’s not there
There its no question, its real for us as viewer, how ever movie keep it that way that for him its question that even make us wonder, amazing movie
I’m here because of our landing on Mars recently this movie being so old duplex a lot of stuff that’s actually happening
Thanks for watching! Yes, Total Recall has always been a film, that has been radically ahead of its time and has succeeded in predicting numerous 21st century events.
People can debate and argue and fight and present evidence and potholes and positions all they want but no matter what anyone does no matter how hard they try there is absolutely nothing they can do to make one answer right and one answer wrong. That was the entire point from the director. There is no one answer. It was literally made so ending is both a part of recall and not a part of recall. It was intentionally made that way. The director did not make it so one answer was correct and one answer was wrong. Who made it so no matter what you believe, you are right. People don't like that, but it's just a fact and nothing that anyone does will ever change that
I took the third person as a dream, every dream I have has characters that aren't me but in reality they are me. Or take the song of ice and fire books, every character creature world and universe is born from one thought in GRRMs head. Although I see that you are arguing for the place being real and I'm sure you know all the third person arguments already.
I fell like people are missing the big question...when the Secretary is changing her nail color at her desk...is that real!?
I believe the director put rumors or theories to rest awhile back. Basically saying there is no definitive answer the ending. That instead of being one or the other is that it's both to give the feeling of both experiences. I grew up always thinking/believing that it was real and that's just me. Alot of people thought it was a dream. And it could work either way you feel it is. So no one is really wrong.
Thats what makes this movie so cool
Yes but if it is a simulation. The external characters would still be modelled.
Much like in a video game. There is action even if you don't see it. Indeed his actions have consequences that influence everything around him.
So we may be seeing it from the computer's perspective. Much like you might in spectator mode in a game.
Yes and no; while *concepts* of what's happening play out in 1's and 0's offscreen, the GPU is only active for what's onscreen to save computing power
But he doesn't know ehat the 3rd characters do.
Sorry, but I disagree with this 100% It's all in his head. Just because there are parts of the movie that take place on Mars with other characters that don't involve Quaid doesn't mean they are real. Those could easily be part of the story that is uploaded to his brain. The whole story after the visit to the memory implant place is exactly as described by the salesman.
It was all a dream simply because I want that to be how it was. Same with The Thing. Carpenter said R.J. MacReady was infected in the end. I don't like that so that wasn't how it was.
It's all real
Pity, but I am sure, all this was just a dream.
No he got lobotomized that’s why the movie whites out at the end. The idea that Recall can kill someone is stated by his coworker at the beginning of the movie. The entire scenario at Recall that was explained to him was the movie we ended up watching. That’s proof he died in his dream and the pill scene symbolizes that he accepted his fantasy instead going back to reality.
its a few years since I watched it - its a truly gruelling watch, especially when you know there is no happy ending. But its utterly compelling, a magnificent work. It should be noted that it was a very big success at the Japanese box office, so there was a clear public hunger at the time for some truth about the war.
where you referring to the most recent essay on The Human Condition?
@@TheCinemathequefilms Yes! I've no idea why this ended up under Total Recall... I thought I was first to post under your most recent essay.
See to me why I don’t think it was a dream is because Rekall has the control over the dream, and I don’t see why they would have so much question and doubt related to Rekall itself as being part of the dream, this would just cause issues during and then after the dream. If they can really write memories so we’ll, they could write a whole different scenario completely unrelated to the events at rekall, so to me this makes it highly unlikely it was a dream. also the question of rekall during the “dream” would amplify the possibility of psychosis so i feel that would be avoided in this perfect vacation dream
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, my friend! Total Recall truly is a film that opens the door to an array of differing interpretations and possibilities.
It's definitely real. The scene at Recall when he wigs out before they implant the dream is the smoking gun in my opinion.
Your brain wont know the difference!
This was 100% a dream there's a Looper video explaining everything
Don’t fuck with your brain, pal.
Be hard to turn down Sharon Stone.
This isn't a very good video. You should go through the scenes in the movie which either persuade or dissuade us from thinking in either direction. What you've done is just pour out a load of babble, which doesn't really go anywhere.
The remake sucked ass.
The only obvious understanding is both realities are equally possible.
Its a dream.