Creating the Extraordinary out of the Ordinary

“Everything Everywhere All at Once” broadens Asian representation through creative cinematic narrative

Released on March 11, the film “Everything Everywhere All at Once” sparks a new introduction of a superhero multiverse film. Unlike a Marvel movie, this film is packed with creativity and doesn’t require a plethora of previous films to be understood.

The film is split into three parts: “Everything,” “Everywhere” and “All at Once.”

Centered around Evelyn Wang (played by Michelle Yeoh), a Laundromat owner, and her husband Waymond Wang (played by Ke Huy Quan), the couple struggles to keep their Laundromat open due to issues involving unpaid tax forms. Their daughter, Joy Wang (played by Stephanie Hsu), also deals with her own internal struggles as her parents fail to recognize and embrace her lesbian identity.

As Asian immigrants, both Evelyn and Wang work to build a life based on the American dream. While working has created constraints on their marriage and relationship with Joy, they do their best to sustain a life in America.

As for Joy, she struggles to depart from the demands of her parents. Being a first-generation Asian American, she departs from the typical image her parents have set out for her. Unfortunately, her departure causes a drift between her relationships with her parents, specifically with her mom, to whom she struggles to open up with about her sexual identity.

The lack of understanding between immigrant parents and first-generation Asian Americans is a feeling identifiable for any Asian-American individual. Where one generation still holds onto the traditions of a country they left behind, the other has to enmesh the two cultures.

The superhero narrative begins when Evelyn finds out that she is the one of many Evelyns in a multidimensional universe. As an Asian immigrant, all her dreams have been shattered due to her parents’ expectations, which she eventually subconsciously inflicts on her daughter.

Nonetheless, these alternate timelines provide a glimpse to Evelyn’s alternative successes; thus, showing how her ambitions can exist outside the limitations of her Asian female identity. Such timelines include Evelyn as a famous kung fu actress, a hibachi chef and a non-anthropoidal rock.

In Evelyn’s timeline as a kung fu actress, her fame is replicable to the many Asian kung fu stars such as Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan — paying homage to Asian cinema. In one scene, an alternate Evelyn and Waymond speak to one another in a seedy building corner.

The scene between the two is heavily lit by building signs, as passerbys mirror mirages and the coupling glances evoke a time gone by. While the scene departs from the fast, quick-paced editing of the action intensive fighting scenes, it is a tribute to the Hong Kong cinema director, War Kong-Wai: a director known for his intimate portrayals of lovers and gloomy atmosphere of the Hong Kong night scene. Its homages to Asian directors and actors add a layer to the deep familiarity and representation that the directors are pulling for this film. While representation of Asians in the media is necessary, there needs to be meaning behind their representations.

As the film carries Asian representation and themes at its root, there is significance to the actors and actresses chosen for the film. Michelle Yeoh initially rose to the screen in Hong Kong cinema, but her biggest impact came from her international roles such as “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” “Crazy Rich Asians,” Memoirs of a Geisha” and James Bond’s “Tomorrow Never Dies.” Her many roles not only reveal her talent, but they also disclose the impact she has on watchers overseas.

As for Ke Huy Quan, his name may not be well-known to many viewers, but he has graced many cult-classic films. As a child, the Vietnamese-born actor went along with his brother to an Indiana Jones audition. Quan’s presence made such a strong impression to the casting director that he was casted as Short Round in “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.” So, watchers may recognize him as the child sidekick to Indiana Jones or his role on the ensemble cast in “The Goonies” where he played Richard Wang.

Together, the casting of Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan highlights the media impact of older Asian actors and actresses that have paved the way for younger generation Asians.

As “Everything Everywhere All at Once” heavily induces authentic Asian representation and a relatable Asian American narrative, the film also includes creative elements captivating the audience by its plot. On several occasions, ordinary objects are transformed into something entirely different: such as a fanny pack turning into a weapon, a bagel into a black hole and hot dogs as fingers

If film has the potential for audiences to empathize with conditions outside of their positionality, it is evident with the ongoing Anti-Asian American hate crimes that there needs to be Asian American depictions in cinema.

In the multiverse of “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” anything is possible and the strangeness of it all encapsulates the humor of the film. For the Wang family, they’ve come to accept the strangeness and identities of their family.

Asian American families like the Wang family struggle with a sense of belonging and acceptance. However, films centered on the Asian American experience provide discourse for levels of Asian American acceptance.