The Man Who Knew Infinity
| Fandom | |
|---|---|
| Name: | The Man Who Knew Infinity |
| Abbreviation(s): | |
| Creator: | Director - Matthew Brown
Screenplay - Matthew Brown Based on - A biography by Robert Kanigel |
| Date(s): | 2015 |
| Medium: | Film |
| Country of Origin: | U.K. |
| External Links: | IMDb |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
The Man Who Knew Infinity is a 2015 biographical drama film written and directed by Matthew Brown, and starring Jeremy Irons and Dev Patel. It tells a fictionalised account of the life of Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan and his collaboration with British mathematician Godfrey Harold "G.H." Hardy.
Canon
The plot follows Ramanujan's life from 1914 to 1920, told in part through the perspective of his British mentor G.H. Hardy.
A promising self-taught mathematical genius, Ramanujan travels from his native Madras to the University of Cambridge where he intends to publish his mathematical researches. Soon, problems arise due to racial prejudice among the university staff and Ramanujan's difficulties in adjusting to a new culture. Additionally, Ramanujan is plagued by homesickness after leaving his wife behind in his native country.
The main conflict of the story develops between Ramanujan and Hardy, and their different personalities and methods of work. Lacking a formal academic education, Ramanujan insists on arriving at his results intuitively, while Hardy implores him to adopt a more formal rigorous approach to give his published work credibility. Despite these differences, the two men eventually arrive at an understanding and develop a deep bond, which transforms into romantic feelings on Hardy's part.
Eventually, Ramanujan triumphs over the odds and is made Fellow of the Royal Society and Trinity College. His health has suffered under poor wartime conditions, however, and he returns to India where he passes away, and a crushed Hardy upholds his legacy by giving talks about his work and their collaboration.
Fandom
The film gained particular attention among mathematicians, who praised it as staying true to the profession and for representing mathematics accurately. Several academics have written extensive reviews of the movie.[note 1]
In more mainstream online fandom, fannish engagement involves fans of actors Dev Patel and Jeremy Irons, and fans of Dark Academia aesthetics, along with fans of the historical background on which the film is based and/or of the work itself.
Fanworks
There is a good amount of gifsets on social media platform Tumblr, along some little meta and fanart. The film also has some fanworks on fanfiction archive Archive of Our Own.
Example Fanworks
- fanart by orb02
- fanfiction The happy couple by ainsel
- meta Tender sentiment at Trinity by wintersknight
Pairings
The main pairing is Hardy/Ramanujan, with meta and fanfiction dedicated to the ship.
Adjacent Media and Fandom
Due to the film being based on true history, there is fannish overlap with fans of other works fictionalising Hardy and/or Ramanujan, as well as RPF fans. Examples of this include fanfiction and meta about the BBC radio play The Protégé by Jan Hartman, and RPF fanfiction.
Links
Fanfiction
Fansites
Social Media
Wikis
Notes