Feb. 23, 2023: *Everything Everywhere All at Once*

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Poster image advertising meeting. Text reads: a discussion on EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE Thursday, February 23rd, 3:30 p.m. Burrowes 159. ASIAN AMERICAN READING GROUP. Image is of actor Michelle Yeoh in a martial arts pose in an office. A googley eye is affixed to the center of her forehead.

The Asian American Reading Group (AARG) will meet on Thursday, February 23rd at 3:30 p.m. in Burrowes 159 to discuss the film Everything Everywhere All at Once, written and directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert. This discussion may be of particular interest to persons interested in Asian American studies, visual studies, women’s, gender, and sexuality studies, genre, and popular culture.

While this action/comedy/drama/SF film defies easy classification and concise description, a reasonable attempt at a summary is made in this lead-in to the New York Times review: “Messy, and Glorious; Michelle Yeoh stars as a stressed-out laundromat owner dragged into cosmic battle and genre chaos.”

The film’s accolades, among others, include Golden Globe wins for Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan. It has been nominated for eleven Academy Awards, including Best Picture. The film’s positive reception occasions us to continue AARG’s conversation begun this past fall on the representation of Asian Americans in media, as we interrogate how Everything Everywhere uses the concept of the multiverse to explore issues of identity and familial relationships and as we consider what Asian American visibility means in this historical moment, one that includes both this blockbuster Hollywood success and a marked increase in anti-Asian racism.