We cannot believe that nothing matters.
It is impossible to just be a rock.
We cannot ignore reality.
We cannot believe that nothing matters.
In the movie “Everything, Everywhere, All at Once” you experience the battle of what could be, what has been and what never was. A cultural struggle and a generational struggle, always confronting what is new to balance with the ways that came before. If you haven’t struggled to some capacity with these, you will. Race, wealth, health – they don’t protect you from going through the pain of life, the pain of loss, the difficulty in relationships and the constant changing of different versions of yourself as experience transforms you.
From the first encounters with Russians, French, British and Europeans to the constant battles with the American Government, Indigenous people have faced many battles. To hold onto their culture, to hold onto their children, to hold onto their language. Americans today feel threatened by immigrants from other countries but are blinded to the reality that apart from the Indigenous nations, we are all immigrants. The same battle, but on different sides. A cultural stand-off, who is an American?
The Wife and Husband, the mother and daughter, the daughter and Father, different generations, different hopes and dreams, different disappointments – but all the same struggles. The power of saying, “I love you” in all the ways possible, being present, taking the time to listen and saying the hard things, the truth matters. The movie embraces some stereotypes of Asian culture in the U.S. such as owning a laundromat and most of their lives are centered around that. I think stereotypes are powerful, they can be used negatively, and they can be used positively – to provide a basis of relating. Stereotypes that divide people are often shaped out of fear, misinformation, jealousy, or a failure to seek understanding.
The husband/father within one universe of the movie says to the woman who in another universe is his wife, “You tell me that it is a cruel world, and we are just running around in circles. ...I don’t know what the heck is going on. ...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.” Survive. There is much that the Indigenous people have survived and have thrived, their languages survive, their cultures (although different) have survived. Even though there is countless broken promises, betrayal and loss – facing the future with the strategy of survival is strategic and necessary. Education, buying back land, fighting against a government constantly failing to uphold promises are the strategic battle plans.
Despite the younger generation feeling lost, unloved, unseen, and like “nothing matters” the parents find love for each other and within the family unit to battle for the pull of “nothingness” on their daughter. Native Americans fight for their children and the youth of their culture, so that the stories live on, the lineage of ancestry remains, the knowledge is not forgotten, love is shared, prayers are said aloud, dances bringing joy and tears. The Great Creator knew we would all be bathed in these struggles, knew that humanity would lose its way and knew that love would be what could and would be the power to renew promises, heal from loss, rebuild relationships and forge bridges for cultures rather than dividing fences.
-written for an Ethics class for extra credit-
