Multiverse stories are everywhere. Superhero movies, streaming series, animation, and science fiction have all incorporated the concept of alternate worlds, timelines, and different versions of the same character.
However, most multiverse films are tedious. These stories involve more and more characters, portals, timelines, and rules until eventually the plot seems to become a school assignment. More is not always better.
Everything Everywhere All At Once was unique in its usage of the multiverse concept. Even though the different worlds were weird and fun, everything always came down to one main question: how does an exhausted mother connect with her daughter before it is too late?
Personal Meaning Behind The Creation of the Multiverse
In many stories about multiverses, those universes act just like a trick. In addition to bringing in fan-service, the author creates an appearance of those worlds that allows them to bring back some old characters and organize huge battles. Those elements of the plot may be pleasant to watch; however, without an emotional meaning behind it all, the story will become meaningless.
Everything Everywhere All at Once created an emotional background by using different universes to illustrate the feelings of Evelyn Wang. The main character felt regret, fear, anger, love, and lost opportunities, and all of those feelings became reflected in the multiverse created by the author.
In order to analyze why some films are popular while others are not, students majoring in cinematography, writing, or pop culture need time for that work. In case of tight deadlines, some of those students look up “write my research paper for me” to free their time for analysis and watching scenes.
Film and media educator Daniel Parker calls it a successful movie because “Every weird universe keeps pointing to the same family wound”. This is what makes it work. The film could involve anything, from kung fu to hot dog fingers to talking rocks, but the emotional situation is quite straightforward.
It Made the Core Relationship Very Simple
The core of the movie is Evelyn and Joy. Evelyn is an angry, trapped and stressed mother, while Joy is an emotionally damaged child feeling like she's not heard by anyone. The sci-fi universe could be big, but the emotional universe is very small.
This is what makes viewers able to follow the film even when things on the screen become completely insane. The audience doesn't have to understand the rules of all those universes, but they know a mother and a daughter who can't listen to each other.
This is where the vast majority of multiverse films fail. They have an explanation for all their systems, powers, timelines, and dangers. However, they often miss developing a single human relationship. Everything Everywhere All at Once focuses on family relations throughout the whole film. Even the concept of the villain ties into feelings of pain, isolation, and insignificance.
In this way, the multiverse turns into a manifestation of emotional overflow. This is what gives meaning to everything instead of randomness.
The Weirdness Had Purpose
Everything Everywhere All at Once is extremely weird. It involves hot dog fingers, an everything bagel, a raccoon chef, paper cuts, workplace violence, googly eyes, and rocks that speak through subtitles. In writing, it all sounds like gibberish.
However, this level of weirdness serves its purpose.
It makes you laugh when you least expect it. It makes you grasp complex concepts through simple images. It illustrates how chaotic Evelyn's life has become. The film recognizes the coexistence of sadness and humor.
Life is frequently this way, too. There are tears amid laughs. There are laughs in the middle of serious moments. There are discussions of taxes and the weight of the family history. The unique tone of the movie feels realistic because emotions never work smoothly.
The page for the 95th Academy Awards features Everything Everywhere All at Once in all categories that involve significant victories – from Best Picture to Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Directing, Original Screenplay, and Film Editing.
It Did Not Need the Audience to Study a Franchise
A lot of movies based on the multiverse concept rely on certain background knowledge. The viewer should know about the other movies, comic versions, characters, hidden symbols, and so forth. It is exciting for a fan but discouraging for the audience in general.
Everything Everywhere All at Once was unique because it stood alone emotionally. A person did not have to see five movies beforehand in order to connect with Evelyn. They simply had to understand stress, family drama, disappointment, and love.
In that way, the film was more accessible. It was just as rewarding for the careful observer, but it did not penalize those entering it without any background.
This is an important lesson for filmmakers: complex ideas will be more easily understood when the entry point is emotionally easy.
The Action Revealed Character, Not Just Motion
The fight sequences are swift, hilarious, and creative. However, they are not just a spectacle. They show the decisions Evelyn makes and the evolution she goes through.
Initially, Evelyn gets by thanks to her ability to borrow abilities from herself in different realities. She gains strength by recognizing how many alternate lives she might have had. This is both exhilarating and saddening, as each of her abilities represents another path, another regret, another self.
Eventually, the action evolves. After being taught the value of kindness by Waymond, Evelyn no longer just fights people but helps them, too.
This is why the final act is so special. Evelyn does not solve the problems of the movie by hitting harder. She solves them by seeing people better.
Waymond Showed Us What Kindness Really Is
One of the major reasons this movie works so well is that Waymond is one of its main characters. Initially, you might think that Waymond is too soft, silly, and fragile. However, as the movie progresses, his kindness emerges as its strongest theme.
Waymond is not kind because he is innocent. He is kind because the world is cruel. This distinction is important.
In most large sci-fi movies, the concept of strength usually implies dominance, violence, or sacrifice. However, in this movie, strength implies patience and hope for not becoming like the rest of the world. Waymond serves as the moral center of the movie.
Waymond's popular philosophy can be described briefly as follows: be kind in situations where it seems impossible. This idea distinguishes the movie from other cold multiverse stories.
Final Thoughts
Everything Everywhere All at Once succeeded by treating the multiverse not as its central theme but rather as a tool for exploring the topics of family, guilt, empathy, identity, and love.
The movie was weird yet meaningful, chaotic yet careful, and funny yet very emotional. Every outrageous idea was connected to Evelyn, Joy, Waymond, and the difficult desire to stay close despite all the odds.
This is how it succeeded in ways that many other movies about the multiverse have failed. It is understood that people do not care about different timelines but about their feelings. In essence, the movie was not about everything everywhere. It was about one family’s imperfect attempts to choose each other again.