Meryl Streep plays an interesting role in this film about Chinese students who come to America to gain an education, and to assimilate within the college culture. This movie is stark. It is humorous to me. I have had many connections to the Chinese community of yesterday but each generation naturally has its own lifestyle, problems, and solutions since changing times and changing ways seem to occur regularly as one ages. I was reminded of a time I stayed in a Chinese motel in Southern California by the opening scenes. This particular motel provided adult movies on t.v. so that I was able to watch real porn there, and this movie opens with the older male stealing from television lines to watch a porn show on t.v. Very amusing as it reminded me also of an incident in Florida where I learned how the black people steal and use communication lines with telephones hooking up to unknowing and unwitting paying customers.
This is an inside joke in Southern California in the film industry since blacks and Chinese have often been switched in the television sitcom shows of yesteryear as well. Hollywood does this all the time to any number of subjects that it uses in its sitcoms...not only do filmmakers switch sex, race, and place and time, but to those in the know it soon becomes obvious who is who when one can hear it all come back as well as be able to recognize all the set designs using specific items to indicate who is who.
Being specific a Chinese friend of mine years ago gave me a pillow as well as her entire family, and that pillow was made famous on a television show. I could always think of her whenever I saw the specially made pillow. It was featured in a black television show featuring black people instead of Chinese. That was one place where I could know for certain the game that Hollywood plays.
So it is with this film that this kind of thing does take place in this film where the Chinese who come to a college university to further their own education, and to advance their own causes becomes the plot for a very tragic film. It is based upon a true story which did happen at the University of Iowa in 1991 I just read on the search engine.
In this particular plot line, the young graduate student in question threatens the security of his adviser, and alienates him so that the young graduate student does not only not get his doctorate as he had wanted but he also gets into a personal kind of animosity with the adviser who frankly appears to be jealous of him.
The movie juxtaposes the American college community with the Chinese community back home, showing how the young Chinese student adapts to American life, has difficulties with fellow students, and how he tells a strange story to his parents to cover his own pride and humiliation.
The student is very likeable and very naive appearing; however, he is surrounded by people who are not naive but rather practical and sensible, so that he does receive sound advice. However, his own theory about the universe's beginnings is in conflict with his advisers who will not let him use his own ideas for his dissertation for the doctorate program. This creates a tragedy which is based upon the real life story that occurred in Iowa.
I did read that the young man in Iowa is not quite so sociable and likeable, and naturally, the Iowa University supported the adviser in the case of the real person who did not like the fact that he seemed to be cheated out of some award that he had wanted.
In this case, the message is to suck up to the adviser to get what you want which worked so effectively that the man who was so willing to change his ideas, his name, and all else to please the adviser is who won the prize in this fictionalized drama. In truth, this is the case of most universities when graduate students practice the art of kiss up, suck up, and do what the professor wants, so that Americans do often get cheated out of the better students who will not do that kind of thing to stick to their own principles. It is fairly common, as human nature is the same no matter where in the universe, and while someone like this young Chinaman might have been able to solve it all, it is due to the innate pride and bigotry of the professor whose personal animosity blocked him from doing so.
I reacted to this movie in many ways. One, I feel for the Chinese who do come to America as well as the Chinese who make the Ipads and Ipods and computers for Apple. The American system is condemned to take advantage of the poor in China, working them to death so that the ceo's at companies like Apple can make huge profits while sticking it all to the purchasers of the Apple computer systems.
I had disliked this in Mary McFadden, a fashion designer, who did the same to people of India in fabrics and clothing styles years ago. She would use the low cost Indian worker to make great gowns and fashions but overcharge silly rich Americans who would pay her exorbitant prices. I find this business tactic deplorable, and so when I learned through ABC that Apple does the same with Chinese workers, I turned against Apple for that. I would not be surprised to learn that windows does the same in some ways...I don't know for a fact that that is the case, but it would not surprise me at all.
At any rate, the movie Dark Matter is about Chinese superstars in the world of physics and science, and in this case, cosmology. This young man may have had the gift to be able to explain the big bang theory and to explain the beginning of the universe. The scriptwriter brought up some very interesting points in the film so that it did pique my curiosity.
(Spoiler) The movie has a tragic ending. It comes as a total surprise. I shall not reveal it, but it written and directed so that it parallels Madame Butterfly. It did make me think of my friend who gave me the pillow. I am certain there is intent to do that. I do recommend this movie. It is agonizing in its blunt and forthright portrayal of the poor versus the rich, and how one can achieve the goal of becoming successful in America. Reminding me of a statement by the Dalai Lama most recently on facebook. Could it be coincidence? Doubt it.
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