Comments on: Dark Matter 《暗物质》preview http://chinafilmjournal.com/2008/03/10/dark-matter-%e3%80%8a%e6%9a%97%e7%89%a9%e8%b4%a8%e3%80%8bpreview/ 華語電影刊 Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:23:23 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: philip http://chinafilmjournal.com/2008/03/10/dark-matter-%e3%80%8a%e6%9a%97%e7%89%a9%e8%b4%a8%e3%80%8bpreview/comment-page-1/#comment-2 philip Tue, 11 Mar 2008 12:35:09 +0000 http://chinafilmjournal.com/2008/03/10/dark-matter-%e3%80%8a%e6%9a%97%e7%89%a9%e8%b4%a8%e3%80%8bpreview/#comment-2 Well the movie (and the characters) are *inspired* by* rather than *based on* a true story. In American films that means it's more loosely connected to the actual events. Less like "Boys Don't Cry", and more like say, "Better Luck Tomorrow" (off the top of my head, perhaps a better example is out there). According to this <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/27/science/27dark.html" rel="nofollow">New York Times article</a>, the move away from to a slightly different subject (cosmology, instead of plasma physics) and a fictional setting ("Valley State University" instead of Iowa) was done partly out of respect for victims' families, but also because Chen Shizheng wanted to explore the dynamics involved in academia, particularly with the first wave of mainland Chinese students who came to the U.S. (of which Chen was one). It's widely known that science graduates are treated little better than serfs. Apparently with immigrant grads, even more so. It should be said that, these were not necessarily the dynamics surrounding the real-life Gang Lu and the university. That's evident from the Times story and this article from <a href="http://www.iowaindependent.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=1985" rel="nofollow">a local paper</a>. The film gets a theatrical release in the US next month. It was delayed last spring due to the killings at Virginia Tech, which were committed by a Korean-American. Well the movie (and the characters) are *inspired* by* rather than *based on* a true story. In American films that means it’s more loosely connected to the actual events. Less like “Boys Don’t Cry”, and more like say, “Better Luck Tomorrow” (off the top of my head, perhaps a better example is out there).

According to this New York Times article, the move away from to a slightly different subject (cosmology, instead of plasma physics) and a fictional setting (“Valley State University” instead of Iowa) was done partly out of respect for victims’ families, but also because Chen Shizheng wanted to explore the dynamics involved in academia, particularly with the first wave of mainland Chinese students who came to the U.S. (of which Chen was one). It’s widely known that science graduates are treated little better than serfs. Apparently with immigrant grads, even more so.

It should be said that, these were not necessarily the dynamics surrounding the real-life Gang Lu and the university. That’s evident from the Times story and this article from a local paper.

The film gets a theatrical release in the US next month. It was delayed last spring due to the killings at Virginia Tech, which were committed by a Korean-American.

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