In this section of our Colossus Movie Guide for Everything Everywhere All at Once, we talk about themes that help us understand the film.
Cast
- Evelyn Quan Wang – Michelle Yeoh
- Waymond Wang – Ke Huy Quan
- Joy Wang – Stephanie Hsu
- Becky – Tallie Medel
- Gong Gong – James Hong
- Deirdre Beaubeirdre – Jamie Lee Curtis
- Debbie – Jenny Slate
- Written by – Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert
- Directed by – Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert
The themes and meaning of Everything Everywhere All at Once
Generational trauma
The themes of Everything Everywhere start with generational trauma. Evelyn’s father was hard on her. His distance and lack of approval not only hurt her but shaped her entire adult life. There’s an intense desire to be close to her father. To fulfill that urge, Evelyn behaves like her father. We see that in how she treats Waymond and Joy. Joy receives the same distance and unrelenting criticism that Gong Gong gave to Evelyn. And because Gong Gong rejected Waymond, there’s part of Evelyn who also rejects Waymond.
Evelyn’s negativity is a byproduct of a lifetime of pressure. And we see how a similar despondency has built up in Joy. When Everything Everywhere starts, Joy’s at an existential breaking point. The same way that Evelyn fled China for America to prove something to her father, you can imagine Joy being in an equivalent place. But the implications are much, much darker.
Nihilism, depression, the bagel
At the core of Everything Everywhere, there’s the bagel. The bagel is a representation of nihilism, a belief that nothing matters or has value. Joy’s depression has led her to worship this negative outlook on the world. She’s on the brink of self-destruction.
This awful feeling is something that Evelyn also knows. She’s been fighting against it her entire life. It’s the result of the parental pressure both women have felt. The lack of love. The craving for acceptance. The constant denial. There’s a section of Everything Everywhere where Evelyn stops fighting and gives in to the nihilism. Finally, she and Joy are on the same level. But it’s a bleak place to be. A hopeless place. Thankfully, there’s Waymond.
Positivity, kindness, the googly eye
Waymond gives a speech to Evelyn where he says that he’s fighting a similar battle as her, but doing so in a different way. Where she keeps everyone at a distance to feel a sense of control, Waymond embraces goofiness. Laughter. Spontaneity. It’s his method of warding off the negative feelings. His trauma and fear may not have the same “I had a mean parent” foundation. But he still has trauma and fear. We all do. And we all have the choice of how we engage. Fall into it like Joy and it can consume you. Close your eyes to it like Evelyn and it will control you like a Raccacoonie. Or, like Waymond, you can give it a smile, make a joke, then walk on by.
It’s not a coincidence that the bagel of nihilism and the googly eye of positivity are visual inversions. The bagel is a black ring with a white hole in the center. The googly eye is a white ring with a black iris in the center.
Yin and Yang, integration
The bagel and googly eyes are extensions of the classic Chinese concept of yin and yang. This famous idea is visualized as a circle broken into two tear-drop shaped halves. One half is black with a white eye, the other white with a black eye. It’s the embodiment of the notion that opposites can be interrelated or harmonizing. Light and dark. Hot and cold. Love and hate. Strength and weakness. One is not better than the other. Rather, balance is important.
For example, Evelyn thinks she’s being strong and that Waymond is weak. She scoffs at the fact that Waymond brings cookies to Deirdre at the tax office (something Deirdre appreciates). To her, it’s an act of submission rather than doing the “sensible” thing and standing up to this woman. Which is why Evelyn keeps employing a bullheaded “I’m doing it my way” methodology that only makes the situation worse. Another way of looking at this is vulnerability. Someone might think “being strong” means never opening up to anyone about their fears, weaknesses, concerns, etc. But being “weak” and opening up to loved ones, relying on them, is often the very thing that begins a journey to real strength.
But Waymond isn’t an ideal. He’s been incredibly passive when it comes to Evelyn. He has lacked the strength to tell her what he wants, what he needs, why he’s upset. He has hoped that positivity/kindness would be enough to make it through the bad times, the awkward times, to weather a storm he thought would pass. Except it never did. To be fair, it doesn’t seem like Evelyn would have listened to him. So he resorts to filing for divorce in an attempt to get her attention. You wonder what would have happened if he had taken a stronger stance 5 years ago, 10 years ago?
It’s not through Waymond alone that Evelyn comes to realize how awful she’s been. Joy’s melancholia plays an important role. Because it’s a mirror to everything Evelyn has felt due to her dad. By exploring each of these forces—the yin and the yang—and integrating them into her own self, Evelyn becomes whole. She finds catharsis. And she rediscovers who she really is.
Breadth can be good
One thing of note is that Waymond says that because Evelyn started and failed at so many careers and hobbies, it created branching universes where other Evelyn’s succeeded in those careers and hobbies. Martial arts. Dancing. Singing. Cooking. Etc. Etc. Being a master of none may have made her feel like a loser. But, really, it was a source of strength, because it gave her a wider range of skills and perspectives that she could bring to bear in solving this crisis.
Of course, Everything Everywhere defamiliarizes this into action sequences. But it’s something that has a real world equivalent. Like, someone who wanted to be a writer in college but stopped once they graduated might become a parent and entertain their kid with made-up bedtime stories. Or someone who spent a year learning how to juggle might use it as a party trick and it’s the icebreaker that introduces them to the person they end up marrying. Even if we don’t become famous for these things, they’re still important experiences and resources and impact our lives in ways both big and small that we may not appreciate.
What are your thoughts?
Are there more themes you think should be part of the Colossus Movie Guide for Everything Everywhere All at Once? Leave your comments below and we’ll consider updating the guide.
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