La Ron S. Readus
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The Beauty in Joy's Breakdown (VIDEO SCRIPT)
🕑 Added 2022-07-13 20:00:05 +0000 UTCLet me tell you I HATE that I didn’t catch Everything Everywhere All At Once in theaters.
And I had EVERY intention of doing so. Albeit under the condition that the obvious weekday matinee I went to allowed me to be in a damn near empty theater so that I could lower my risk of getting Covid like i’ve been doing ever since gaining the nerve to go back to movie theaters
Unfortunately, the movie’s theatrical runtime was right in the middle of coincidental 2-month collision of work burnout and seasonal depression, where the only time I could bother myself to leave my apartment was to take out the trash. And even THAT felt tedious.
Don’t worry, by the time this video is out I’ll have went to my doctor and ask them to set me up with someone to get tested for stuff
As a matter of fact, the DAY this video comes out, actually! And I’m SO excited; I haven’t had health insurance in such a long time, and I’m bout to get EVERYTHING checked! (not a bit)
/But considering I was so blown away by the concept of the movie when the trailer initially came out and the fact that it starred Michelle Yeoh and featured the return of Short Round himself Ke Huy Quan, along with the fact that it was declared the best Multiverse movie out of the two that were released this year, there was no way I was allowing myself to miss this film/
So I rented it, watched it, and immediately fell in love with it
Not only because of the overall laws of how multiverse travel works in the world the film takes place in, but also because of the journey Yeoh’s character Evelyn undergoes when it comes to love and acceptance
But what surprised me most about the film is how it takes themes and philosophies that I’m not necessarily a fan of thanks to the way they’re interpreted in OTHER popular media, and critiques it in a way that allows it to be challenged and seen as they were meant to be
And that’s all thanks to the film’s antagonist, Jobu Tupaki
Who, for today’s lesson, I want to dive deeper into what specifically motivates her actions throughout the film; what specifically makes her tick.
And two of the best ways we have to help explain the characters' motives, ironically enough, come from both Eastern and Western animation. Let’s begin.
____________
Hey, Readers. La’Ron here. Offering you analysis and perspective on your favorite bits of geek and pop culture media
If it wasn’t obvious from the intro, this video will in fact contain spoilers for A24’s Everything Everywhere All at Once. It’s currently available to rent or own digitally, so give it a watch before continuing here if you haven’t seen it yet and don’t want me to spoil pivotal points of it for you in this video.
Other than that, if you end up liking what I’m putting down after this video is done, there’s multiple ways you can show some love
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That’s the syllabus. Now onto the lesson.
Jobu Tupaki is an Amazing Antagonist
And out of everyone it could’ve been, I at the time honestly didn’t expect it be Joy, although it was a nice surprise.
/The way they alluded to her being Jobu Tupaki, only for the overall reveal to show that it was her I thought was a brilliant way to show that there would soon be familial conflict in the overall story. Not to mention the way Evelyn learns that her daughter is Jobu was absolutely wonderful to watch/
Now I will admit that I should’ve realized Joy was Jobu from the way things played out between Joy and Evelyn earlier on in the movie.
/Evelyn choosing to keep Joy from coming out to her grandfather because of her own complexities toward him by introducing her girlfriend to him as her good friend was an obvious plot beat. Not to mention the NON apology she gives Joy when she chooses to leave soon after./
All these sequences and how brilliantly well Stephanie Hsu displays the complexities of her emotions regarding everything drove home the point in retrospect, that Joy was hurting, and she’s been hurting for a while.
So well, that when we find out that Jobu Tupaki is actually the Alphaverse Joy who was pushed too far to become the universe-jumper we see her as later on in the movie by Alphaverse Evelyn, it’s a believable dynamic considering what we saw regarding their relationship in the universe this story takes place in.
/It also explains why despite now being able to experience every universe at once, she’s fallen victim to nihilism and decided to create the Everything Bagel; a black hole-like entity that can cause the multiverse to collapse within itself, destroying it/ (Nothing matters)
Now it was only when I witnessed Alpha Joy’s sense of nihilism over the course of watching the rest of the movie and witnessing the true purpose of both the everything bagel and her journey, that certain other bits of media began to flood my brain in order to better make sense of Jobu’s overall mindset and Joy’s struggle.
And, unfortunately, what helped me make sense of where she gained her sense of nihilism from were a handful of episodes from season 1...
Of Rick & Morty
One of the episodes that helped me make sense about how one like Joy who has an infinite amount of universes at their disposal can still think that nothing matters, was the episode Rick Potion #9.
In it, Morty gives his crush Jessica a “love potion” that Rick whipped up for him consisting of Morty’s DNA and a cocktail of pheromones. In taking the potion, it attaches itself to Jessica’s flu virus that Morty didn’t know she had, quickly spreading around the world so that everyone not directly related to Morty would fall in love with him.
/And in two attempts in trying to create a cure, Rick caused those infected to turn into praying mantis like creatures, and then...this./
Rick then decides that this universe is beyond saving and chalks it up as a wash, finding a universe similar to theirs but a, figured out how to solve the mutation problem and b...
/That universe’s versions of themselves died so they can sneak in and occupy the rest of their lives as if nothing happened./
Not only is Morty traumatized at how everything happened -- including how easy they can continue on with their lives and how things and how fickle things end up proving that they are -- but it's through that experience, among many more that allows him to take his first steps toward the same avenue of nihilism as Rick...
/That in sharing with his sister that he’s from a different universe an attempt to talk her out of running away at the end of the episode Rixty Minutes that he utters THIS infamous line/ (“Nobody exists on purpose. Nobody belongs anywhere. Everybody’s gonna die. Come and watch TV?”)
Now with that example, you can see how it could be pretty easy for Jobu to find herself nihilistic considering her circumstances, regardless of having so many realities at her beck and call. But it’s even MORE realistic when you realize that when you take a look at how both characters react to the universe jump in Rick Potion #9, Joy doesn’t really share elements with Morty in this case. She shares them with Rick.
Like Rick, Jobu is a passive nihilist. They’re the ones who blink when they stare into the void-slash-pit and they see it stare back.
Upon learning that life has no inherent meaning, they succumb to despair and depression as a result thinking that there’s no point in anything that they do.
And while Rick tends to present himself like an active nihilist in this case -- someone who rejoices of the freedom granted by learning the same truth that nihilism delivers...
/Not only does he actively scoff at and ridicule people who truly try to live a life in active nihilism -- similar to what Jobu Tupaki does with Evelyn’s multiversal attempts at applying active nihilism in order to combat her/ (See? It’s only a matter of time before everything balances itself out)
/But his catchphrase Wubba Lubba Dub Dub is literally a mask meant for him to hide the depression passive nihilism provides/ (I am in great pain, please help me)
Now one of the main reasons why I don’t necessarily care for Rick and Morty is because, thanks to how its both written and explores its themes, the fanbase it attracts tends to hold Rick Sanchez to a degree of reverence that the character was never meant to have, thus placing this very uncomfortable limelight on nihilism that only really focuses on the passive aspects of it and present it as a positive due to it being initially a comedy.
/While he doesn’t really focus on Rick and Morty in it, my YouTube colleague FD Signifier recently produced 2 videos on the overall Manosphere, in which part 1 talks about the nihilism that attracts those who would see Rick’s characteristics and philosophy as a blueprint for how they tend to view the world before finding mentors on said side of the internet. I recommend you give both parts a watch./
But despite there being very heavy similarities in how Joy and Rick see the multiverse and how one can find passive nihilism within it and everything that they do, while still important in ways I’ll elaborate more on in a minute, that’s pretty where the comparisons stop.
While Rick is an asshole who’s passengers are steadily realizing they’re on a sinking ship and chooses to abandon it, at least that’s what the show is initially trying to present...
The Alphaverse officials’ interpretation of Jobu Tupaki is that she’s intentionally causing the ship to sink and wants to make sure everyone goes down with it.
When in actuality, unlike Rick who always just wallows in it and keeps it masked, Joy was only trying to find a way for her Wubba Lubba Dub Dub -- her “great pain” -- to stop. And in order for us to understand why...
We have to Get In The Robot.
If Rick and Morty can serve as the companion piece to understanding the root of Joy’s nihilism and depression despite her abilities, then one of the best companion pieces we have in pop culture that can help us understand how Joy’s depression has evolved as we see it in Everything, Everywhere All At Once is the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion.
/Especially if we’re looking for more understanding regarding the Everything Bagel./
While it’s an anime about a group of teenage mech pilots fighting celestial kaiju in order to keep from bringing about the end of the world as we know it, every aspect of media that Evangelion touches relies on very heavy themes of depression that come from loneliness and longing
/For those of you who HAVEN’T experienced Evangelion -- whether it be the original anime and End of movie, the manga, or even the rebuild films -- the philosophical entity in the series that these three themes come from is the Hedgehog’s Dilemma; beings that want comfort, warmth and love from others, but always get hurt on each others quills every time they try to get close to each other, so they don’t even bother./
In Evangelion, a good amount of its main and side characters experience this over the course of anime as the countdown to the apocalyptic event that is the Third Impact -- or Fourth if you watched Rebuild -- draws ever closer.
Shinji Akame, being the main character, experiences this hedgehog’s dilemma MULTIPLE times across MULTIPLE characters over the course of the series, despite it being obvious from the first episode alone that he’s already lived a majority of his life already knowing what it feels like to be pricked by someone he wants warmth from.
/And by the time he’s forced to kill Kaworu in the anime -- or Kaworu dies from the collar in Rebuild -- he’s been pricked so many times that he’s just ready to give up and welcome Evangelion’s version of Sigmund Freud’s Death Drive, which is the SEELE’S organization’s Human Instrumentality project; uniting humanity in a unified singularity in the form of LCL fluid via the Third/Fourth Impact so that he can no longer concern himself with issues of the self./
Both Joy and her Alphaverse self Jobu go through the same thing, and seek peace through a variant of the same pleasure principle.
/Just like one of the individuals Shinji struggles to grow closer with over the course of the series despite preconceived feelings is his father, Joy experiences this version of the hedgehog’s dilemma with Evelyn, her mother. We see this early on regarding how Joy reacts when she keeps Joy from telling her grandfather about her girlfriend along with how she reacts after a failed attempt at reconciliation, which only adds more fuel to her depression./
Jobu on the other hand experiences the Hedgehog’s Dilemma as a hail mary, sort of speak.
/Because the Evelyn we follow in the movie is technically the overall failure out of all of the multiverse variants out there, she has the potential to beat Jobu and decides to do so by becoming her equal. And, as if already knowing this potential in her, Jobu seeks her out not to destroy her, but in hopes that she’d join her once she’s able to see the multiverse the same way that she sees it./
And because of this, Jobu is able to form the perfect union of the passive nihilism reflected in the relatability of Rick’s cynicism, and the want to be close to someone despite feeling the inevitable prick of the hedgehog’s dilemma like Shinji, with the multiple layers of depression they form and the desperate want to no longer suffer from them being the ties that bind the two halves together
Because that’s what the Everything Bagel is; it’s Sigmund Freud’s Death Drive. It’s Evangelion’s third-slash-fourth impact that Shinji debates whether or not he should welcome because he’s tired of suffering the way that he has been, and feels like a forced collective singularity is better than suffering from individual despair.
And while the Everything Bagel IS powerful enough to destroy the entire multiverse and force others into the same death drive she seeks and is treated by Alphaverse higher-ups as someone merely seeking chaos across the multiverse because of it...
/Jobu instead seeks the peace and tranquility of the death drive it provides with a variant of her mother -- one that initially provided said peace and harmony to her once upon a time with her womb -- that has grown capable, and is understanding of, her desire to no longer concern oneself with the issues of the self, thanks to being exposed to the same truth of the multiverse that birthed Jobu’s own passive nihilism./
But when that fails, when Evelyn refuses to give in to passive nihilism and chooses to see the world though the same active nihilism her husband Waymond chooses to view the world...
/Jobu experiences the hedgehog’s dilemma all over again, and opts to go into the death drive that is the Everything Bagel herself. And it isn’t until Evelyn CHOOSES to be with Joy instead of trying to force her not to give in to the death drive, that she opts to leave it on her own accord, realizing that her life is worth living HERE./
Conclusion
Readers, as much as I can’t stand the concept of Nihilism -- mostly thanks to the way it’s marketed in today’s media -- the fact that Everything Everywhere All at Once is able to tell such a beautiful story using it as its focus and properly challenging the bits of it that are currently popular with the ACTUAL takeaway of the philosophy is the most boss move imaginable.
And I’m glad that it was the boss move that it ended up being. Because Everything Everywhere All at Once took aspects of different angles of depression that have previously only been exposed to very specific niche audiences, and expounded on them in a film that everyone can understand, relate to, connect with and enjoy.
/And considering how many people I’ve seen online being moved to tears by the way the film combatted said combo of nihilism and depression, along with how many people I know personally told me how much the movie moved them, I’m glad that thanks to Evelyn and Joy’s journey through the multiverse, people now can say “nothing matters” in a different tone of voice and perspective of everything, everywhere, all at once./
But I digress, Readers. Your homework assignment for the day:
Write in the comment section below what YOU thought of Everything Everywhere All at Once if you’ve seen it.
Or, if you feel like sharing with the rest of the class, a film or television show YOU’VE seen that reminded you of themes and philosophies you’ve seen elsewhere that did a great job interpreting it for their own narrative.
Whichever question you decide to answer, I’d love to know your thoughts.
/A HUGE shoutout to my Patrons both big and small for helping make this channel possible.
Make sure you check out the card at the end of the video to join, or click the link to it or any of my affiliates in the description box below.
But until then, this is Readus 101. Class dismissed./
