People
Can we actually “know” the universe? My God, it’s hard enough finding your way around in Chinatown.
— Woody Allen
Behind the line May contain spoilers.
Our reading
An editorial interpretation.
The question of knowing the universe is abruptly compared with finding one's way around Chinatown. A vast philosophical ambition meets an everyday difficulty. That change of scale supplies the joke, allowing ordinary confusion to puncture the confidence implied by a much grander search for understanding.
Context reviewed