QIs this movie based on a book?
ADark City is based on a story by Australian film-maker Alex Proyas, who also directed the film. It was adapted for the screen by Proyas, English screenwriter Lem Dobbs, and American writer David S. Goyer.
QHow does Dr. Schreber remember the coming of the Strangers if he'd erased his own memories?
AIt's entirely possible that he does not, in fact, remember it, but might well have learned of it after his enforced self-erasing. He spends most of his time amongst the Strangers, and had obviously learned enough about them to be able to implant Murdoch with the knowledge of how to control their tuning machine. He quite probably learned a great deal about them from their constant company. It's also worth noting that his description of the event, "First there was darkness; then came the Strangers," is very nonspecific in detail. When pressed by Murdoch, he admits that he no longer remembers when this happened, or where the inhabitants of the city originally came from.
QIf everyone's memories are changed every twelve hours, how do Bumstead, Emma, etc. remember what's been happening?
AWhile a common objection to the film's continuity, it is never said that every person in the city has new memories implanted each night; in fact, it seems quite unlikely. While the city itself is repeatedly re-tuned every twelve hours (or at least it is during the relatively short period of time shown in the film), it appears that the process of "reprogramming" people with new memories is carried out on a person-by-person basis, with Dr. Schreber personally administering each injection. If every denizen of the city was altered in this way each night, the "sleep" period would have to last for months or even years in order for this to be carried out, and the film shows nothing of this sort. Therefore, it seems evident that only a select few persons are re-implanted on each night. If everyone was given new memories every twelve hours it would also be difficult for the Strangers to collect very much information regarding how a person behaves after each implant, since the persons in question would have only twelve hours in which to demonstrate new behaviors. Director Alex Proyas states as much on the Director's Cut DVD commentary, mentioning that the "rags to riches" couple we see reprogrammed are one of probably several new experiments begun that night, while the Murdoch/Emma/Bumstead dynamic is ongoing and is allowed to play out over time. It's also possible that the characters only think they are remembering the previous day's events, but have still been minutely altered. This is possibly alluded to by the "untied shoelace" incident. Near the start of the film, Bumstead advises another officer that his laces are untied. Later, the same officer advises Bumstead that his laces are untied. It's possible that this means to indicate that this is not the same Bumstead as earlier, and that his and the subordinate's behaviors have been swapped.
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