| This excellent 2025 film did not get a lot of attention during its brief run in movie theaters. That may partly be because it is difficult to say much about the plot without spoilers. Consequently, I knew almost nothing about it when I streamed it last night. In particular, I had no idea that there would be an impassioned argument for mathematics delivered by Chuck's grandfather.
This scene occurs about one hour and twenty-five minutes into the film. The grandfather, an accountant, has just checked Chuck's arithmetic homework and found two mistakes. Chuck, who is more interested in the after-school dance club he has joined than in his math class, is not happy with the prospect of having to correct those errors:
| (quoted from The Life of Chuck)
Chuck: (sigh)
Zayde: You don’t need to sigh. You’re good at this you know. You’re really good at it.
Chuck: But it’s boring.
Zayde: Boring? What, you mean math?
Chuck: Yeah:
Zayde: I wonder if maybe next semester you might want to try out for Math League after school. I did it all high school in fact and it was so great.
Chuck: Yeah.
Zayde: Hey, hey, put that down for a second, will you? Just a little about math, because people start out thinking it might be boring and that’s their first mistake. It’s used in every career, in every job, in every facet of life on this planet. That’s a fact. Hell, the planet. How do you think we figure out how long a day is?
Chuck: Everybody knows how long a day is.
Zayde: How long?
Chuck: 24 hours.
Zayde: They say there it’s 24 hours but they’re wrong. There are 23 hours and 56 minutes in a stellar day plus a few odd seconds*. Math proves it. How do we know how old the Earth is? How old the universe is, how long people have been here? Or how to build a bridge or a skyscraper? Or how far apart the stars are? How did we land on the moon? The stars themselves. Why they burn, why atoms split and fuse, and all the rest is just math. Hey, stars are just math. When you look at the night sky, you’re seeing the greatest equation in the universe. Heck, your dancing, that’s math too. I mean, what’s the language of dance? How do you learn your steps? It’s even in the name. I mean, they call it “the count”. One and two and three and four. What’s a waltz? One two three. One two three. Just numbers, just math. And more than that, there’s an art to it. What I do, all these files here, all these folders, these are all people’s lives. Every choice they made. Last year, last 10 years. Everything that’s important to them. Every weakness they have, every vice, every dream, it’s all here in numbers. Some schmuck comes in, takes those numbers, does math without artistry, someone loses their house. I take those numbers, do a little art, I save someone’s life. That’s what I do. That’s what accounting is.
Chuck: Well, maybe they should teach that, the cool stuff, and not just all the boring stuff.
Zayde: Hmm. (Takes a drink and pauses.) Math is something else too. Some math, math that’s called statistics or probability, it can tell you stuff about your future. It could tell you, for example, you’re more likely to be drafted by a major league sports team than to make a real living as a dancer. The world loves dancers, it truly does. But it needs accountants, so there’s much more demand, so there’s much more opportunity. I know that might hurt, but it’s the truth. Math is truth. It won’t lie to you. It doesn’t factor in your preferences. It’s pure that way. Math can do a lot of things. Math can be art. But it can’t lie. So, take another run at those two because, Chucko, you are good. You…have art in you.
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Now, that's not the best pro-math propaganda I've ever heard, but it isn't the worst either. Some of what it says is true, even if exaggerated. Moreover, Mark Hamill's delivery makes it even more compelling.
I wonder how different audiences would react to it. I'm guessing mathematicians and math teachers would feel that the Chuck is being taught valuable lessons about the beauty and importance of mathematics. Others might view taking a young boy who seems destined to become a great dancer and steering him instead to a career in accountancy as being a form of child abuse.
I have another thought about this monologue that I would like to share, one which suggests a mathematical interpretation for the entire film. But, I can't explain it without saying more about the plot. So, if you want to hear what I have to say, you'll have to read past the "spoiler alerts" below.
One last "spoiler free" comment: This movie is based on a short story by Stephen King in the 2020 collection If It Bleeds. However, the grandfather's mathematical monologue was added for the movie and does not appear in the original story.
Spoiler Alert: Do not read further if you want to watch the movie without knowing some of the surprises in advance.
- Chuck seemingly follows his grandfather's advice as he does grow up to be an accountant, albeit one who spends one glorious afternoon dancing in public with a stranger.
- The monologue by the funeral home director in Act 3 bears some similarity to the quoted passage above from Act 1. In particular, it includes the idea that someone who is "good at math" can figure out the length of a day and that "math doesn't lie". (BTW An unusual feature of this film is that it starts with Act 3 and ends with Act 1.)
- Double Spoiler Warning: Really, don't read this one if you do not yet know the plot and want to be surprised when you see/read it! Okay, so maybe I'm overthinking this, but I wonder if one of the key ideas in the movie is mathematical, even if it doesn't initially seem to be. As we eventually learn, the grandfather is able to predict how people will die by visiting a certain locked room in his home. He sees the deaths of some neighbors, his wife, and even himself before they happen. That, alone, doesn't sound mathematical. But remember this line from the quoted passage above:
| (quoted from The Life of Chuck)
Some math, math that’s called statistics or probability, it can tell you stuff about your future.
|
I like to think that the room where he sees visions of the future is just a metaphor for using probability and statistics. Further evidence for this hypothesis is that later Chuck -- who is said to have mathematical talent like his grandfather and follows in his footsteps as an accountant -- also is able to foresee a death in the same way. Also, isn't Chuck's death predicted statistically/probabilistically when he receives a horrible diagnosis? If so, then the whole film is arguably about how we deal with waiting for unpleasant future events that have been predicted by probability and statistics.
Have you seen the movie? Do you strongly agree or disagree with my interpretations above? If so, please write to let me know. I'd be happy to post alternative viewpoints here.
* It's not terribly important IMHO, but I don't think it is correct to say that a stellar day is 23 hours and 56 minutes (plus a few odd seconds). That's the time it takes the Earth to complete one rotation about its axis. However, since it is also moving around the sun, one complete rotation around its axis would not put the sun back at the same position in the sky, which is what most people think of as a day. (See here for more info.) |
