Note: This article contains spoilers
Based on the extreme imagination of the "possibility" of imperfect life, the commercial film "Everything Everywhere All at Once" released in North America recently tells the story of a middle-aged Chinese mother who travels through multiple universes to resolve the crisis on the earth. A phenomenal film with explosive box office and high popularity.
It is not uncommon for films that skillfully use the concept of parallel space. For example, "The Butterfly Effect" discusses the inevitability and accident of fate from the different consequences of different behaviors. In the Internet age, people confuse reality and virtuality and worry about the fragmentation of self-knowledge. Different from such films with clear themes, "All Cosmos" uses the shell of science fiction and superhero movies to form a new image style with an extremely rich and even chaotic narrative, which is expressed in "multiverse". different themes on multiple levels.
Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh), who eloped to the United States with her lover despite her parents' objections, still hasn't lived the good life she longed for many years later.
Working hard all day in a dilapidated laundromat, her father was old and sick and came all the way to take care of her; her husband was cowardly and incompetent to rely on her, but he wanted to file for divorce; her daughter and her had a tense relationship, but they only greeted her occasionally, and went home to attend the event for her grandfather. The party also brought gay people. In the face of life's feathers, what makes Evelyn especially anxious is the messy tax bill in front of her. If the tax cannot be sorted out, the laundry will face the doom of bankruptcy. How to deal with these kinds of crises, the film starts the story.
The structure of the whole film is like a typical three-act play, with subtitles to distinguish the three parts of "everything", "everywhere" and "the whole universe". Interestingly, even though Evelyn lives very differently in her myriad alternate universes, each act begins with the same scene as her scrambling over a table of tax returns. The difference lies in the subtle expressions of the characters.
She frowned at the beginning of the story in Act 1, she was thoughtful when she mastered the cosmic shuttle skills in Act 2, and she completed the rescue mission in Act 3 calmly. This reinforces that all parallel universes are the main universe, that is, real life. The setting of projection indicates a path from being in trouble, to thinking about life, to the completion of psychological counseling for the protagonist's self-growth.
However, it is worth noting that many of Evelyn's imaginations actually come from her real-life encounters. For example, harsh tax officials and rebellious daughters are all villains, and sausages, singing and dancing and raccoon chefs are all from the TV shows she has watched. The transformed salesman and cleaning staff are also people she has just met, and such imaginations that are highly related to her own experience increasingly highlight the cramped life scope and lack of life experience, and the mental predicament of middle-aged Chinese women is due to this. be fully displayed.
At the end of the film, along with saving the universe with kindness, the real Evelyn relies on honesty and love to regain her father's understanding, her husband's support and her daughter's love. Some viewers think that such a setting is not only old-fashioned and boring, but also uses fantasy and tolerance to avoid real social problems, so it is light and powerless. As a film with post-modern characteristics, the brilliance of "All the Cosmos in a Moment" is certainly more than that, and the ending also has a more profound meaning.
In addition to the story, "The Infinite Universe" also provides a very rich and interesting text content at the level of cultural research, film ontology research and mass communication, attracting many audiences who originally belonged to different cultural circles.
First, in terms of cultural studies, the film refers to multiple themes. For example, it discusses the female characters represented by Evelyn, who are trapped and unwilling to live a mediocre life, and resist in various realistic and unrealistic ways, highlighting the "she" power dominated by women; For example, the film compares the behavior of characters in parallel universes and real life, showing the self-identity and other-identity mental crisis that Evelyn and all her family have experienced. Issues such as family influence, parent-child relationship, intergenerational communication, and differences in educational concepts between the East and the West. The whole film very skillfully integrates many issues, and does not judge until the point, leaving enough space for empathy and discussion for the audience.
In the form of the film, the expansion of the integration channels of genre elements and the exploration of the boundaries of digital technology expression highly serve the presentation of content themes. The constantly switching parallel universes on the screen are dazzling and self-contained, and the whole film attempts a breakthrough in film language in the sense of film ontology.
The disappearance and gain of "meaning"
Corresponding to the concept of deconstruction of meaning in postmodern collage images, "The Cosmos in a Moment" also carries out a multi-level thinking on "meaning" at the philosophical level.
With the help of the setting of "parallel space", the film first comforts people's difficulties in the present world. The reason why the heroine can quickly learn the powerful abilities of Evelyn in other universes is because she is the most unsuccessful one. However, it is precisely because all immediate failures will be transformed into successes in other universes. In the category, it means that the potential is infinite and even omnipotent.
So, the question is, why is Chubutu Baji, the villain with infinite power, the incarnation of Evelyn's daughter Joey, unhappy, and what is she after?
In the film, to achieve cosmic shuttle, in addition to headset-like equipment, people are also required to do extraordinary and bizarre behaviors such as wearing shoes backwards, eating lipstick, and cutting hands with paper. The parallel space is more different from your current life. This means that once people break through the shackles of secular thinking about success standards and don't care about other people's evaluations, it is possible to gain greater freedom.
Chubu, who transcends all time and space, has created a cosmic black hole that looks like bagel bread. Ordinary bagel bagels can be mixed with various ingredients to satisfy different tastes, while the bagel black hole symbolizes that people fill a seemingly complete life with matter, but they are actually missing. The most important piece is the meaning of life. Chubu experiences all the possibilities of each world at the same time. When everything she sees and feels is reduced to a landscape created by her mind, she eventually loses her sense of morality or belief in objective truth, and is confined to complete nothingness. Chubb's cosmic pursuit of Evelyn is to find a companion who can have the same God's perspective as her, see what she can't see and propose another possibility other than nothingness, otherwise she will enter a black hole Seek complete relief.
The seemingly banal ending actually proposes a way of reconstructing the "meaning" of postmodern society. Evelyn admits that love and hope are equally fading, but love that seems cheap and even bound is not hallucinogen or preaching for losers, but an emotional force that transcends rational logic. We can hope to use this power to free ourselves from chaotic concepts, to feel every fleeting moment, to experience every love. This means caring for and connecting with others, and it is one of the possibilities for us to deal with the crisis of civilization.
Based on the extreme imagination of the "possibility" of imperfect life, the commercial film "Everything Everywhere All at Once" released in North America recently tells the story of a middle-aged Chinese mother who travels through multiple universes to resolve the crisis on the earth. A phenomenal film with explosive box office and high popularity.
It is not uncommon for films that skillfully use the concept of parallel space. For example, "The Butterfly Effect" discusses the inevitability and accident of fate from the different consequences of different behaviors. In the Internet age, people confuse reality and virtuality and worry about the fragmentation of self-knowledge. Different from such films with clear themes, "All Cosmos" uses the shell of science fiction and superhero movies to form a new image style with an extremely rich and even chaotic narrative, which is expressed in "multiverse". different themes on multiple levels.
"The Universe in a Moment" poster
Self-redemption in the imagination of middle-aged womenEvelyn (Michelle Yeoh), who eloped to the United States with her lover despite her parents' objections, still hasn't lived the good life she longed for many years later.
Working hard all day in a dilapidated laundromat, her father was old and sick and came all the way to take care of her; her husband was cowardly and incompetent to rely on her, but he wanted to file for divorce; her daughter and her had a tense relationship, but they only greeted her occasionally, and went home to attend the event for her grandfather. The party also brought gay people. In the face of life's feathers, what makes Evelyn especially anxious is the messy tax bill in front of her. If the tax cannot be sorted out, the laundry will face the doom of bankruptcy. How to deal with these kinds of crises, the film starts the story.
"The whole universe in a flash" stills
Just as "The Fantastic Drifting of Pi" can be read as two intertwined and mirrored stories of reality and imagination, "The Cosmos" also adopts the same narrative strategy. On the surface of the film, Evelyn constantly interspersed in multiple parallel spaces with the help of cosmic shuttle equipment, consciously linked with different herself, and obtained their memories, emotions and skills, so as to fight against the evil forces that destroy the universe with a stronger self. The above describes the self-redemption imagined by middle-aged women.Stills of "All Universe in a Moment", Evelyn who travels through different universes
The stories that happened in all the parallel spaces can be regarded as Evelyn's imagination, and each parallel space has her mirror self projected after splitting her personality according to different dreams. If she hadn't eloped with her husband, her life might have been completely different, becoming a kung fu star, a chef, a theatrical actress, a pizza salesman with a dancing sign on the street, or even an alien with a "sausage hand", any of which is better than In reality, she was even more radiant. Evelyn's anxieties and desires are relieved and her emotions comforted by her daydreaming visions of imperfect reality.The structure of the whole film is like a typical three-act play, with subtitles to distinguish the three parts of "everything", "everywhere" and "the whole universe". Interestingly, even though Evelyn lives very differently in her myriad alternate universes, each act begins with the same scene as her scrambling over a table of tax returns. The difference lies in the subtle expressions of the characters.
She frowned at the beginning of the story in Act 1, she was thoughtful when she mastered the cosmic shuttle skills in Act 2, and she completed the rescue mission in Act 3 calmly. This reinforces that all parallel universes are the main universe, that is, real life. The setting of projection indicates a path from being in trouble, to thinking about life, to the completion of psychological counseling for the protagonist's self-growth.
However, it is worth noting that many of Evelyn's imaginations actually come from her real-life encounters. For example, harsh tax officials and rebellious daughters are all villains, and sausages, singing and dancing and raccoon chefs are all from the TV shows she has watched. The transformed salesman and cleaning staff are also people she has just met, and such imaginations that are highly related to her own experience increasingly highlight the cramped life scope and lack of life experience, and the mental predicament of middle-aged Chinese women is due to this. be fully displayed.
At the end of the film, along with saving the universe with kindness, the real Evelyn relies on honesty and love to regain her father's understanding, her husband's support and her daughter's love. Some viewers think that such a setting is not only old-fashioned and boring, but also uses fantasy and tolerance to avoid real social problems, so it is light and powerless. As a film with post-modern characteristics, the brilliance of "All the Cosmos in a Moment" is certainly more than that, and the ending also has a more profound meaning.
"The whole universe in a flash" stills
The dialectical unity of form and contentIn addition to the story, "The Infinite Universe" also provides a very rich and interesting text content at the level of cultural research, film ontology research and mass communication, attracting many audiences who originally belonged to different cultural circles.
First, in terms of cultural studies, the film refers to multiple themes. For example, it discusses the female characters represented by Evelyn, who are trapped and unwilling to live a mediocre life, and resist in various realistic and unrealistic ways, highlighting the "she" power dominated by women; For example, the film compares the behavior of characters in parallel universes and real life, showing the self-identity and other-identity mental crisis that Evelyn and all her family have experienced. Issues such as family influence, parent-child relationship, intergenerational communication, and differences in educational concepts between the East and the West. The whole film very skillfully integrates many issues, and does not judge until the point, leaving enough space for empathy and discussion for the audience.
"The whole universe in a flash" stills
The reason why it can carry so many complex issues is due to the equally complex expression of the film. Moviegoers can easily recognize the maker's tributes to classics such as Kubrick, Wong Kar Wai, the Wachowskis, Douglas Adams, Ang Lee, Terrence Malick, Jackie Chan and more Fragment. The entire "All Universe" combines science fiction, comedy, action, superhero, suspense, cult, experiment and other types and styles, using parody, collage, mixed animation, opera performance, puppet show, video tape Various techniques, coupled with unrestrained imagination, form a rather innovative image style.In the form of the film, the expansion of the integration channels of genre elements and the exploration of the boundaries of digital technology expression highly serve the presentation of content themes. The constantly switching parallel universes on the screen are dazzling and self-contained, and the whole film attempts a breakthrough in film language in the sense of film ontology.
"The whole universe in a flash" stills
The complexity and diversity of content, forms and dialectical unity of "The Cosmos in a Moment" are like a playground of various styles, attracting audiences with different interests, and it is also worthy of attention at the level of mass communication. For example, feminists who pay attention to the social connotation of films, fans of cult films who pay attention to subcultures and non-mainstream styles, fans of commercial genre films such as action films and Marvel heroes, and fans of various genres including avant-garde experimental films audience. To a certain extent, the attractiveness of multiple audiences of "The Cosmos" has broken the current market strategy of most films focusing on a single target audience. After the spread of the epidemic, short videos, online platforms, and video games have competed for movie audiences. At present, it may provide a more inclusive way for commercial films to break out.The disappearance and gain of "meaning"
Corresponding to the concept of deconstruction of meaning in postmodern collage images, "The Cosmos in a Moment" also carries out a multi-level thinking on "meaning" at the philosophical level.
With the help of the setting of "parallel space", the film first comforts people's difficulties in the present world. The reason why the heroine can quickly learn the powerful abilities of Evelyn in other universes is because she is the most unsuccessful one. However, it is precisely because all immediate failures will be transformed into successes in other universes. In the category, it means that the potential is infinite and even omnipotent.
So, the question is, why is Chubutu Baji, the villain with infinite power, the incarnation of Evelyn's daughter Joey, unhappy, and what is she after?
"The whole universe in a flash" stills
The focus of the conflict between Evelyn and her daughter is that her mother will always interfere with her daughter in the process of growing up with "I'm for your own good". Of course, there are the above-mentioned issues of intergenerational communication, education methods, and life values, but more importantly, At the philosophical level, the film uses Chubb's self-confession to reveal that what people call "correct" is nothing more than a box of concepts after another, and all the worlds in parallel spaces are just digital landscapes that joke about "meaning". Only subject to the constraints of a certain concept, the formation of the concept here will be affected by self, others, especially social judgment.In the film, to achieve cosmic shuttle, in addition to headset-like equipment, people are also required to do extraordinary and bizarre behaviors such as wearing shoes backwards, eating lipstick, and cutting hands with paper. The parallel space is more different from your current life. This means that once people break through the shackles of secular thinking about success standards and don't care about other people's evaluations, it is possible to gain greater freedom.
Chubu, who transcends all time and space, has created a cosmic black hole that looks like bagel bread. Ordinary bagel bagels can be mixed with various ingredients to satisfy different tastes, while the bagel black hole symbolizes that people fill a seemingly complete life with matter, but they are actually missing. The most important piece is the meaning of life. Chubu experiences all the possibilities of each world at the same time. When everything she sees and feels is reduced to a landscape created by her mind, she eventually loses her sense of morality or belief in objective truth, and is confined to complete nothingness. Chubb's cosmic pursuit of Evelyn is to find a companion who can have the same God's perspective as her, see what she can't see and propose another possibility other than nothingness, otherwise she will enter a black hole Seek complete relief.
"The whole universe in a flash" stills
Evelyn, who was influenced by nihilistic thoughts, saw the insignificance, stupidity and cycle of life of human beings, so she chose to despise everything like Chubb. At this time, Evelyn's husband Weimond proposed to deal with nothingness with love and kindness, because this does not mean cowardice or compromise, but a brave act of facing life. Evelyn was persuaded to use her superpowers to make herself and the people around her aware of the cherished people and things in life, and to call back her daughter with understanding and love.The seemingly banal ending actually proposes a way of reconstructing the "meaning" of postmodern society. Evelyn admits that love and hope are equally fading, but love that seems cheap and even bound is not hallucinogen or preaching for losers, but an emotional force that transcends rational logic. We can hope to use this power to free ourselves from chaotic concepts, to feel every fleeting moment, to experience every love. This means caring for and connecting with others, and it is one of the possibilities for us to deal with the crisis of civilization.
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