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In Everything Everywhere All at Once
Two recurring icons stand in opposition to each other
There is The Bagel
A black ring with a white core
A symbol of destruction
A tool to suck life away
And there is The Googly Eye
A white disk with a black core
And it gives life to everything it touches
(Everything Everywhere All at Once)
Everything Everywhere All at Once is an action-comedy
About an ordinary immigrant mom
Using skills and memories from across the multiverse
To save the world
On its surface, the film may appear to be a silly excuse
To have Michelle Yeoh fight two YouTubers wearing butt plugs
But there are actually a lot of deep and intriguing details
That parallel Buddhist philosophy
Such as a desire to escape from suffering
And the treasuring of life
It's a dense movie
And it takes me weeks to start seeing the symbology
No doubt, I over-analyzed this film
To be clear, this is NOT a Buddhist movie
And the parallels are likely unintentional
But they are interesting nonetheless
So, let's talk about them
This video will assume you have watched the film
If you have not
...
Bruh?
And with that
Let's take a look at Everything Everywhere
All at Once
[The Hidden Meaning of Everything Everywhere All at Once]
[Chapter One]
1.0 What is "The Bagel"
In the film, it's a black circle
With a white dot at its center
It's a loop
Like the way lives circle around without a destination
It's made of everything, yet it's hollow
It's the ultimate meaninglessness
1.1 The story of Joy
Joy is the Daughter of Evelyn
She's a lesbian
But she's forced to keep her relationship a secret
From her conservative grandfather
"She's my..."
"Good Friend. Becky is a very good friend,"
Joy's life is not hers
Even her relationship is not announced by her
She's forced to live her life for others
While her own feelings are often ignored
This loss of control is paralleled and amplified in the Alphaverse
The universe where the multiverse jumping tech originated
In that universe, Evelyn was a successful scientist
And Joy was one of Evelyn's subjects in her multiverse experiment
"You saw her potential"
"So you pushed her, beyond her limit"
Evelyn forces Joy to jump through the multiverse repeatedly
Until her mind fractures
As a result
She's able to see every possible universe at the same time
And experience all the chaos of it
And she comes to a realization
"The truth..."
"Nothing matters"
1.2 Nihilism in Buddhism
As the story goes
After meditating underneath a tree for months
Prince Siddhartha achieved enlightenment
He became the Buddha
And one of the "Four Noble Truths" he began preaching
Is that suffering is innate to all life
One would grow up, grow old, grow sick, and die
And would then reincarnate And the cycle of suffering begins anew
There is no controlling it
Indeed, Alpha Joy, after essentially becoming one with the universe
Experienced her own form of enlightenment
The endless multiverse is like the endless reincarnations
Suffering is innate to all of them
That is why one of the only universes she likes
Is the one without life
Without life, there is no suffering
The ultimate goal of Buddhist pratice Is to end this suffering
To remove oneself from the endless cycle of reincarnation
And Joy's way of removal
Is The Bagel
"I wanted to see if I went in"
"Could I finally escape"
Side note here, self-destruction
Is not really how you escape the cycle in Buddhism
Like I said, the parallels are likely unintentional
Nevertheless, the similar nihilistic views on life
Fuel the same desire:
To escape
1.3 The Decision
Towards the end
Joy summons the Bagel to destroy herself
It no longer has a white core
Even its last-ditch of hope is no more
Now, she just needs to jump it
And it'll be all over
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[Chapter Two]
2.0 What is "The Googly Eye"
In the film, it's a white circle
With a black dot at the center
In both its design and function, The Googly eye is the antithesis of The Bagel
It can be placed on anything
And it'll make that thing look alive
It brings meaning to whatever it touches
2.1 The story of Evelyn
Evelyn is a busy working mother
Like Joy, her life is not her own
Although, she accepts it as the reality of living
In the opening sequence, whenever there is time for her to think
Something would happen, and demands her attention
"Customers. Eat, fast."
Her time is not her time
So, she rejects the Googly Eyes
"No more Google Eyes"
Evelyn is, in essence, rejecting the experience of life
She's too preoccupied with the work of staying alive
Represented in the form of taxes
This is why she's so drawn to her movie star persona
It's her first glimpse into having a life that is her own
Her similarity to Joy
Is why when presented with The Bagel
Evelyn also succumbs to nihilism
2.2 Life in Buddhism
While Buddhism does believe suffering is unavoidable
It, however, does not believe that "nothing matters" in life
There is one thing Buddhism values greatly:
Life itself
One of Buddhism's most recognizable aspects is its pacifism
As Tripitaka once said to Sun Wukong
"Watch for the lives of bugs when you sweep"
"Save the lives of moths by covering up your lamps"
All lives are valuable
And Evelyn's Tripitaka
Is her husband
"In another life,"
"I would have really liked..."
"just doing laundry..."
"and taxes with you"
Waymon rejects the notion that life and reincarnation
Are something that should be escaped from
While the English subtitle translates it
As an ambiguous "in another life"
The Mandarin dialogue is a very explicit
"If there's a next life"
Guess who put all the Googly Eyes everywhere?
"See, they are happy right here!"
Waymond brought life to a bag of laundry
They are "happy" right there
To Waymond, happiness, like suffering
Is also an innate part of life
That changes Evelyn
2.3 The Decision
Upon seeing her life's meaning
Evelyn puts the Googly Eye on herself
And so, she's no longer just alive
But she lives
Even in a universe where life shouldn't exist
And everyone she touches
Is given a life as well
She confronts Joy
Who's on the verge of disappearing into the Bagel
"Then I will cherish these few specks of time"
And the icons...
Collide
[Conclusion]
Before we go, I want to raise one last point about this movie
About self-harm
All of this talk of Buddhist belief and Nihilism
Makes the movie seem extremely pretentious
And, indeed, I have seen that criticism being raised quite a lot
But don't let all the grandious blindsides you
From seeing a simple, and rather scary story
Hidden underneath its comedy
Joy is not a believer in Nihilism
She's depressed
As the film marches towards its climax
Hidden in all the funny multiversal imageries
Are not so subtle references to self-harm and suicide
"But I'm..."
"I'm tired."
It's one of those "if you know, you know" details
"Just let me go"
In fact, in one universe
She died
"Wait"
Had Evelyn really did leave her alone that night
Joy would've left
And she would've been gone
Forever
It's depression
And I think most people didn't realize that
All they saw was a kid being pretentious and self-centered
I know after this video, a lot of you will rewatch the film
And if you do
This is the one thing I want you to truly pay attention to
Yes, Michelle Yeoh is amazing
Yes, it's nice that Ke Huy Quan
And James Hong got major recognition
But I want you to look at Joy
Look at Stephanie Hsu's performance
Look at the story from her perspective
And try
Try your best to see it
Because if you don't see it in the film
It likely means you can't see it in real life
And that's a terrifying thought
So, if you are a bagel lover
Remember to reach out when you need
Because you are not alone
And for everyone else
Please
Be The Googly Eye of this world