Two stones dwell on the cliff of a ravaging canyon, staring into the oblivious horizon of concave mountains, conversing like a mother and daughter purely through subtitles with a hollow silence. Few films convey such novel film language on screen. Aside from its filmographic creativity, "Everything Everywhere all at Once" guides its viewers with a reminiscent memory of teenage existential crisis, something that every Chinese Gen Z can relate to in some way. The story revolves around the protagonist, Evelyn's family struggle with her queer, rebellious daughter, Joy. The story stems from the concept of multiverse travel, where one can experience their alternate self through a momentary jump into consciousness. With too many jumps, however, one can shatter their reality and link every alternation into one person; such is the case of Joy where, in one alternative, Evelyn pushed her to test the potential of this technology. Omnipotent as every version of herself connects, Joy saw the truth of the universe: nothing matters. Confused and tired, she intends to wipe out all of existence through a "bagel-black hole." Joy's nihilism is a prevalent attitude amongst Gen Z teenagers. The confusion caused by a world of fast-flowing information, changing politics, and potential war threats can make our life seem bleak and lifeless. Our lifestyle is being invaded by the rise of New Media, such as streaming media, YouTube shorts, and TikTok; information is being exposed hundreds of times more compared to a hundred years ago. While we are glued to our mobile devices, mental issues caused by cyberbullying, social anxiety, and FOMO have risen dramatically within our generation, causing depression rates to spike. Political anxiety blooms as global relations are tight as ever. Two global powerhouses, China and the United States, race to take over as the title of the most powerful country on Earth. Other impactful events such as COVID, the Russian-Ukraine War, and political turmoil within China only aggravate our mental pressure and our belief that the world is a place for us to shine. We are, in fact, living in the crevice of a world that seems to be falling apart from our normal consensus; this is especially true for international students, as our identity and consciousness face constant shock. The incomprehensible conflict between Evelyn and Joy is also something that many Chinese families experience. The generational cultural gap provokes tension between the pair of daughter and mother, as both cannot comprehend the norms and values they hold. Joy represents a new generation of Chinese Americans who have been immersed in American culture. Like many American teenagers, she strives for independence with her queer identity, which is a concept as foreign as when her mother first arrived in America to follow her American Dream as a laundry owner with her husband, Waymond. Her frustration, created by her mother's stereotypical expectations of "do well in school," "be thinner," and "don't disappoint in social conventions," only aggravates her aimlessness and the disconnection between her and Evelyn, as Evelyn believed she should achieve more due to the rich opportunities she had in America. Such familial discontent is far more frequent than most think, as international students like us have even less time to reconcile, talk, and sympathize with the people that hold us dearest. I have shared resonance with such feelings. As COVID developed, the world I once knew seemed to be grim and expressionless rather than burning with possibilities. Just like Joy's absurdist disciple who wore only black and white costumes, under the threat of COVID, everyone shielded in their own concave fabric shackles and silenced the world into a black and white painting. Confusion runs rampant as Shanghai gets shut down for four months. Following the growing unrest and chaos with displeasure over China's Zero-Covid policy, I fear for my family, and I grew increasingly depressed as the reality seemed to be more fictional than novels. As the world rioted through a bewildering series of events, absurdism slowly became my doctrine; what's life's meaning? If so many seemingly unlikable happenstances occurred, what's the meaning of life? Just like Joy wanted to create a big bagel to destroy it all, I wanted to lie in the coffin of dreams, leaving the realist brutality of the world. But the fragrant smiles of my friends and family fueled me to walk forward in this blizzard of depression, just as Evelyn drags Joy out of her oblivion. In the film, in contrast to Joy's philosophy of "nothing matters, so why exist at all?" Evelyn comes to the realization of "nothing matters, so why not embrace that and have some fun while we're here?" And this consciousness, although never relieving and answering, is perhaps the right one to be assured of.
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