Everything Everywhere All at Once
Nora Quinn and Jessica Sullivan
Embedded Files
Background
Recipient of seven Oscars out of eleven nominations in 2023
Including Best Picture, Best Actor/Actress, and Best Original Screenplay
Grossed over $141 Million worldwide
Currently regarded the most awarded movies of all time
266 awards out of 405 nominations
Content
Main Characters
Evelyn Quan Wang
Overwhelmed and dissatisfied woman who lives above the laundromat her family runs, she eloped and immigrated to the U.S. to be with Waymond.
Waymond Wang
Evelyn’s gentle and light-hearted husband. Recently served her divorce papers in an effort to draw attention to their marital struggles.
Joy Wang
Nihilistic daughter of Evelyn and Waymond. Currently in a relationship with her girlfriend and is afraid of Gong Gong finding out.
Gong Gong Quan
Evelyn’s demanding and judgemental father who is visiting the Wangs for Lunar New Year. Disapproves of their marriage because of Waymond’s humble background.
When the movie begins...
The family runs a laundromat, and lives above it
Evelyn’s father is currently visiting for Lunar New Year, and will soon wake up
The family is preparing for a lunar new year party that evening
Their morning is overall chaotic, dealing with frustrated customers and preparing to go to the IRS
They are being audited, as well as Joy trying to ask if her girlfriend can come to the party
Major Plot Points
In the elevator up to the IRS meeting, Waymond becomes possessed by himself in another universe, and gives Evelyn this note
4. Jobu Tupaki turns out to be Joy, and Evelyn can not kill her, instead verse jumping to gain powers. Jobu Tupaki shows Evelyn the “everything bagel” with everything on it, which along with the verse jumping, causes Evelyn’s mind to break like Jobu Tupaki’s.
2. Following the instructions, Evelyn makes her first verse jump
5. Jumping across universes, Jobu Tupaki briefly convinces Evelyn of her nihilistic perspective, but hearing her husband’s kindness in her own universe, realizes this is not right
3. Evelyn learns she must defeat Jobu Tupaki, who exists in all universes at once
6. In every universe, Evelyn refuses to let Joy give up/leave, telling her small moments of happiness are what matter
Major Themes
Family
Learning to be content where you are through the support of others
Family’s love and bond can overcome anything
Nihilism
The idea that nothing really matters
Jobu Tupaki (Joy)’s nihilism is causing the collapse of the universe (see: bagel)
Generational Trauma
Pressure to succeed through wealth, happiness, and maintaining honor
Impact of immigration on mindset and mental health
The "Everything" Bagel
The "Everything" Bagel
The everything bagel theme is based around theoretical physics… yes, really.
The Schwarzschild Radius is the radius of the event horizon surrounding a non-rotating black hole. Any object with a physical radius smaller than its Schwarzschild radius will be a black hole.
Jobu Tupaki uses the bagel as a metaphor for nihilism– when everything is put into one thing, nothing really matters because everything then becomes nothing.
Analysis and Review
Impact of Cinematographic Choices
Use of Color
Different universes have a different overarching color (pink in the hot dog finger universe and green where Evelyn is fighting in the staircase)
Colors show the contrasts of the universes and are representative of their own universes
Jobu Tupaki, who exists in all universes, wears extremely colorful and chaotic outfits
Use of Lighting
The movie starts using mixed lighting (warm and cold) to convey the sense of chaos
Fluorescent lights in IRS building, vs filtered lighting in other scenes
Use of Sound
The sound team focused on making each universe sound distinct, but still showing clear sounds from every universe visited, as something was truly happening in each of those universes
They also included many “swells” in sound to demonstrate rising emotions
In a universe where Evelyn didn’t follow Waymond to the US and instead became a wildly successful movie star...
“In another life, I think I would have really liked just doing laundry and taxes with you.”
What does it mean to be successful?
What does it mean to be successful?
Part of Evelyn’s escape and traveling through the multiverse is experiencing her life’s “what ifs”
Evelyn views her life working in the laundromat as one of missed potential
Gong Gong wanted her to be wealthy and successful, and she feels as though she failed him
In another universe, Waymond shares that to him, she is his happiness
He doesn’t care if they are poor, if they are ‘working class’, he just wanted to be with her
This is widely regarded as one of the most emotionally moving scenes in the entire film.
This scene was initially supposed to have spoken word, but Yeoh asked the director to remove it
Increases the impact tenfold
The Role of Culture
Mental Health
Evelyn tries to understand the feelings and emotions of Joy across the multiverse
Stigmatization of mental health makes it challenging for Joy to find an outlet
Queer Identity
Many cultures, including that of the Wangs, looks down on or away from queerness
Evelyn struggles to understand Joy’s identity
Fears her father finding out due to his judgmental nature
Honor
Family is incredibly important in collectivist cultures (in this case, Asian cultures)
Part of Evelyn’s central conflict is making Gong Gong proud
Joy’s life is a reflection on Evelyn (and Waymond)
Real-World Implications
Inequality and Oppression
Proved to the world that minorities in film can be as successful and influential as their white counterparts
Michelle Yeoh is credited with this being “the best performance of her career”
First Asian woman to win an Oscar for Best Actress
Ke Huy Quan experienced difficulty finding jobs as an Asian actor and ended up leaving the spotlight until this film
"We just have to rock the boat and say, look at us; give us a chance - because guess what? We exist in your society. We are part of the society and very, very much an intricate part of this whole community. This is the only way we will get more opportunities — if we fight for it and no longer be able to say, OK, I'll turn the other cheek. Dang — no more turning the other cheek."
-Michelle Yeoh
“My journey started on a boat. I spent a year in a refugee camp. And somehow I ended up here on Hollywood’s biggest stage. They say stories like this only happen in the movies. I cannot believe it’s happening to me. This is the American dream.”
“Hollywood didn’t want me. There were no roles for me, so I spent the majority of my time in my late teens and early 20s just waiting for the phone to ring, and it rarely rang. The difficult part was to say goodbye to the dream that I always wanted, but it was just difficult to be an Asian actor at that time.”
-Ke Huy Quan
Breaking Down the Glass Ceiling
Glass Ceiling: An invisible barrier to advancement in a profession, especially affecting women and members of minorities, brought about by systemic racism and discrimination.
Hollywood has a history of overlooking actors of color and actors of gender minorities
Female protagonists are rare, especially strong female leads
Even less success for female directors
References:
- Brangham, W., Davenport, A. A., & Thoet, A. (2023, March 13). How the Oscar wins for “everything everywhere all at once” could change Hollywood. PBS. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/how-the-oscar-wins-for-everything-everywhere-all-at-once-could-change-hollywood
- Deikova, M., & Lapidot, K. (2023, March 6). Across the Multiverse – World-Building Cinematography of Everything Everywhere All At Once. CineD. Retrieved November 9, 2023, from https://www.cined.com/across-the-multiverse-world-building-cinematography-of-everything-everywhere-all-at-once/
- Giroux, J. (2022, April 12). The Everything Everywhere All At Once Sound Team On Enhancing The Movie's Most Spoilery Moments [Interview]. Slash Film. Retrieved November 9, 2023, from https://www.slashfilm.com/829945/the-everything-everywhere-all-at-once-sound-team-on-enhancing-the-movies-most-spoilery-moments-interview/
- IMDb. (n.d.). Everything everywhere all at once. IMDb. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6710474/plotsummary/
- Kuegler, T. (2023, February 8). Why Everything Everywhere All At Once Is Addicted To Color — And What It Means. Tom Kuegler. Retrieved November 9, 2023, from https://tomkuegler.medium.com/why-everything-everywhere-all-at-once-is-addicted-to-color-and-what-it-means-cdb07dd475c0
- Kwan, D., Scheinert, D., Russo, J., Larocca, M., Wang, J., Quan, J. K., Yeoh, M., Slate, J., Hsu, S., Shum, H., Jr., Hong, J., Curtis, J. L., Medel, T., & Newman, R. (2022). Everything everywhere all at once . Lionsgate.
- NBCUniversal News Group. (2023, March 13). Ke Huy Quan of “everything everywhere” wins the Oscar for best supporting actor. NBCNews.com. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/ke-huy-quan-everything-everywhere-wins-oscar-best-actor-supporting-rol-rcna73583
- O'Falt, C. (2023, March 6). EEAAO Color: The Different Visual Worlds for the Daniels' Multiverse – IndieWire. IndieWire. Retrieved November 9, 2023, from https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/eeaao-color-daniels-multiverse-interview-1234816211/
- Weldon, G. (2023, March 13). Michelle Yeoh is the first Asian woman to win Best actress oscar. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2023/03/12/1158764789/michelle-yeoh-best-actress-oscar-everything-everywhere-all-at-once
- Zornosa, L. (2023, March 13). “everything everywhere all at once’s” path to the Oscars. Time. https://time.com/6261965/everything-everywhere-all-at-once-oscars-frontrunner/
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