Rhys Mitchell 33753411

Everything Everywhere All At Once is a wild ride through the chaos of modern life, wrapped up in a mind-bending, multiversal adventure. The film follows Evelyn Wang, an overlooked laundromat owner, as she’s thrown into a dimension-hopping journey that’s as emotionally overwhelming as it is visually dazzling. It’s messy, weird, and deeply relatable – capturing the rollercoaster of living in today’s overstimulated, mediated age.

Steven Shaviro’s concept of post-cinematic affect helps make sense of this madness. He talks about how modern movies don’t always adhere to traditional narratives but focus on hitting us with intense emotions and sensory overload (Shaviro, 2010).

Everything Everywhere All At Once collapses linear storytelling into a kaleidoscopic experience, hurtling viewers through a barrage of rapidly shifting realities. The constant oscillation between absurd humour, intense action, and gut-punch emotion exemplify the affective overload Shaviro describes. The sensory onslaught – quick cuts, jarring tonal shifts, and surreal visual effects – eschews coherence in favour of immersing the audience in Evelyn Wang’s journey.

Post-cinematic affect also speaks to the film’s exploration of broader cultural anxieties. Evelyn’s disorientation confronting infinite versions of herself mirrors the precarity of life in a world saturated with endless possibilities and pressures. Each universe offers new opportunities and regrets, heightening the emotional stakes without offering resolution. This embrace of ambiguity and open-endedness aligns with Shaviro’s idea that post-cinema thrives on uncertainty.

The film’s affective excess deepens its emotional resonance; by juxtaposing ludicrous elements – like racoon puppeteers and googly eyes – with profound themes of love, family and existential despair mirrors the emotional whiplash of modern life. This chaotic mix of humour and heartbreak avoids tidy resolutions, instead using raw affect to conveys its core message: that even in the midst of disorder, meaning can be found through human connection.

References:

Shaviro, S. (2010). Post Cinematic Affect. John Hunt Publishing.

Bibliography:

Casetti, F. (2015). The Lumière Galaxy Seven Key Words for the Cinema to Come. New York Columbia University Press.

Catherine Grant, ‘The Audiovisual Film Essay as Performative Research’ Necsus Journal, Autumn 2016: https://necsus-ejms.org/the-audiovisual-essay-as-performative-research/