Philosophy of the Bagel in Everything Everywhere All At Once🥯

Everything Everywhere All At Once (EEAAO), follows the multiverse as it begins to unravel in a Chinese laundromat store. It follows Evelyn (played my Michelle Yeoh), a Chinese immigrant who struggles to handle the multiverse and is forced to fight its dangers as she lives the lives she could of had.

To be honest, the first time I watched this movie I thought it was weird. It was complex with lots of twists and an intricate storyline, but in the end it was still weird. What I found was that I just needed to digest it and take in the entire movie for a couple hours and even days after. What I realized was that EEAAO was amazing. Just very hard to digest at first, be warned.

The movie follows Evelyn as she first struggle to file her taxes, but then begins jumping around the multiverse and living different lives while still remaining as Evelyn. The movie itself is very unique showing hot-dog hands (this left me feeling nauseous), a bagel that controls all, and some very, very strange fight scenes.

But all for good reason. EEAAO won several Oscars and won three of the four acting awards. It won best original screenplay and best director for Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert.

Evelyn is a Chinese-American immigrant who manages her business. marriage, and relationships as they all begin to fall apart. She fantasizes about the different ways her life could have turned out if she didn't marry her extremely optimistic husband, Waymond (played by Ke Huy Quan) and fighting her daughter Joy (played by Stephanie Hsu).

As Evelyn goes to the tax office she faces an alternate universe Waymond who tells her that the universe is about to collapse because of antagonist Jobu Tupaki and Evelyn must stop it using the power of the other multiuniversal Evelyns and their skills. Its a lot to unpack.

The movie features Michelle Yeoh (I love her) who plays Evelyn. She does nothing short of an amazing job as she plays several different types of Evelyns and even becomes movie star Evelyn who is based on Yeoh in real life.

A fun fact is that the movie follows the storytelling way called Kishotenketsu: a type of storytelling that is typically seen in mostly Japan, China, and Korea. It follows the path of self-realization, understanding, and change. You could also think of it as the Hero's Journey which is typically used in western storytelling.

Kiku - Introduction

Shoku - Development

Tenku - Twist

Kekku- Conclusion

The movie goes into themes of the meaning of life and nihilism. Anything is possible, so nothing really matters. Which is what Evelyn discovers while going through her other lives.

But Waymond, who Evelyn thinks is holding her back and regrets marrying shows another type of philosophy: one based on the importance of kindness.

One of my favorite quotes comes from Waymond - "When I choose to see the good side of things, I'm not being naive. It is strategic and necessary. It's how I've learned to survive through everything. I know you see yourself as a fighter. Well, I see myself as one too. This is how I fight."

Waymond serves as the foil to Evelyn who fights and is agressieve, dominating over Waymond. Even though Evelyn thinks she doesn't need Waymond, in reality she realizes that she does. Waymond keeps the humanity in their relationship.

The Bagel

The Bagel. The Bagel is the center, the heart, the reason for the movie. The Bagel is shown as a regular bagel, that contains every possible path in the universe of all time. The Bagel is the metaphor for nihilism and follows Evelyn throughout the plot. It's on the ring that Evelyn uses, it's on the door of the washing machienes, and it's marked on Jobu's followers.

Waymond places googly eyes on the washing machines, something cute and to laugh at. They are the match to the bagel. While the vast universe is chaotic and nothing matters, the googly eyes represent the small joys to find within it to bring meaning.

In the end peak Evelyn with all her powers, places a singular googly eye on the center of her forehead - an allusion to enlightenment and the third eye. The googly eyes white and the center of the bagel represents yin and yang where light and darkness, happiness and sadness must work together.

EEAAO is an amazing film and by far one of the most unique ones I've seen. I highly suggest watching it, if not for the plot then for Michelle Yeoh. Because she makes any movie great. One of my favorite scenes comes near the end with the two rocks of Evelyn and Joy talking to each other. It's intimate and memorable, contemplating on the meaning of human existence and the possibilities of the thousands of lives in the multiverse we could have been in.