This episode is sponsored by

Squarespace

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

[Sponsor Message]

Before we continue

I'd like to thank today's sponsor Squarespace

Yeah, no fancy segue this time

Not exactly the right video for a snarky joke

But something as good as Squarespace

Needs no snarky jokes anyway

If you are looking to build a professional-looking website

Whether for a band, a brand, a restaurant, or a wedding

Look no further than Squarespace

Just pick a template that you like

And edit away

Here's a tip

The process is so quick and easy

You can make a bunch of websites

And let your friends decide which one you should go with

Start your free trial at squarespace.com/accentedcinema

​And use code ACCENTEDCINEMA

To get 10% off your first purchase

Want your works or your business to be seen by everyone

Everywhere all at once?

Visit squarespace.com/accentedcinema​

And build your website right now

[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