“If nothing matters, then all the pain and guilt you feel for making nothing of your life goes away – sucked into a bagel.” - Jobu Tupaki
*spoilers? maybe? not really...more thoughts generated by the movie*
Last night I saw Everything Everywhere All At Once, a movie that, on its surface, can be laughed through for the absurdity of the plot and cast of wacky characters in all of their multitudinous iterations. Yet, within the comedy, there's a poignant message about the lives we lead. Not only do we see through the eyes of the characters all the different possibilities for their being, strewn across the multiverse, but how their choices affect the lives of others as well.
Philosophically, the movie dealt with the tensions inherent in existentialism, a broad philosophical school, that can vacillate from the religiously-infused Kierkegaard to the absurdism of Camus to the positive nihilism of Nietzsche. All of the branches of existentialism share a core value of existence preceding essence. All existentialism without perspective veers dangerously into nihilism.
What does that mean? In short, existentialist beliefs are borne out of the same desolate thought that there's no rational explanation for our existence. Our existence just is. Nothing truly matters because there is no higher power and we will all be dead one day. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, full stop. When we do not couple that belief system with a consistent perspective that we're doing all this living for something beyond just existing, then all that we can be is a temporary, swirling mass of atoms in a sea of interminable emptiness.
In the movie, Evelyn in our world lived to please her father - succumbing to the belief that his approval was all she needed to unlock her potential at a fulfilling life. When she explored other universes, she was able to see all of the different ways in which she could have achieved his approval besides running a successful coin laundromat. Interestingly, we never did see her in a scenario where she totally rejected her desire for his approval, because even in her current state, despite having disobeyed him, she was still seeking it after disobeying him earlier in life. The perspective she gained by the end of the film helped her to actualize her own desires for the life she was leading. She could move forward and actually allow herself to feel something.
Her husband Waymond, throughout all the multiverses we saw, maintained his love for her and people in general, choosing to see the good. Despite the absurdity of life, divergent paths and unexpected occurrences, he was the one who was able to continue to see the good in Evelyn, to give her the benefit of the doubt.
Finally, her daughter, Joy, represented someone who lacked the essence of her name. In one of the multiverses, Evelyn had pushed her too far and she was "broken" mentally. Yet her break provided clarity and insight into every iteration of her being(s). To avoid being confronted with all she could be but could not simultaneously achieve in one lifetime, she decided to create a void in which to escape. The void would give her peace of mind and eternal rest from the drama of reflective awareness, ending her existential crisis.
Ultimately, it is Evelyn who is able to reach out to Joy, but only after accepting her own faults as well as the unconditional love of her husband, as well as experiencing very real interactions through her other selves, selves that had completely different trajectories and outcomes far different from her own.
The full weight of the philosophical implications of this film take time to sink in. I most definitely empathize with Joy's character in the ease of ending it all for the great quiet of nonexistence. But Camus already expounded that suicide or retreat doesn't eliminate the existential dilemma of life, it just sidesteps it. The only way through the pain of existence is to experience it, for within the slog of life, there are moments of joy, beauty and wonder; sometimes they come in the form of people, other times in artistic expressions, or even more simply reflected in nature or the stillness of a peaceful moment.
Musical Epilogue from the absurdist masters, Faith No More:
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