“The Instant Universe”: Multiple Interpretations of the Multiverse
The movie “The Transient Universe” directed by Kwan Ka-yung and Daniel Schnatter won 7 awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actor at the 95th Oscar, becoming the biggest Oscar of this year. winner. With this film, Michelle Yeoh won the first “Little Golden Man” in her life. This is also the first Asian actor to receive this honor.
”The Universal Universe” tells the story of a middle-aged Chinese woman who reconciles with her child, husband, and father, but it uses a way that opens up the mind – if every choice creates a brand new universe, when When we have the ability to travel through time and space, will we still stay in our present life?
”The Universal Universe” integrates the real situation of a typical Asian family, narrates the different identities of the characters in the multiverse, and constructs the warmth and thinking of the home narrative from the real space to the multiple thinking space.
In the process of de-labeling the reality of typical Asian families, the film presents to the audience the process of individual identity, the multiple paths of individual development, and the emotional value of the family.
Evil forces are spreading in the multiverse, and the world is about to be destroyed. Only Evelyn, who is “useless” in this universe, can save the multiverse.
Shuttle between phantoms
Different from the real world observed by human eyes, the frame of the camera and the frame in the screen frame limit the world in light and shadow.
In the predicament of the protagonist Evelyn (played by Michelle Yeoh) at the beginning of “The Transient Universe”, the director deliberately chose the indoor locked space as the background, presenting the scene of Evelyn’s cramped and complicated home life, as well as the whole of uneasiness and panic keynote. From the cat’s-eye view of the fisheye lens to the messy indoor space, to the narrow space of the elevator and the frame structure of the tax declaration hall, the director deliberately uses the depth of field in the indoor space to create a strong sense of oppression for the protagonist Evelyn. Framed daily life.
In the different scenes about the picture of domestic life, the interior structure in the picture frame forms an invisible “frame”. Evelyn has always been slightly hunched and frowning, as if she was overwhelmed by life. As a typical Asian middle-aged housewife, Evelyn seems to be trapped in the trivial and complicated picture of family life. This state of life surrounded by a mess is the epitome of many Asian mothers.
The important turning point in the film is that in the Alpha universe, under the explanation of her husband Wymond, Evelyn learned of the parallel existence of multiverses, and also learned that there is an evil devil who wants to destroy the world, and Evelyn is the one who saves the world. “The one” of the multiverse. Evelyn went from self-shocked to gradually accepted, and connected with herself with different identities in the multiverse space, trying to eliminate this “devil”. And this process is also the process for Evelyn to save herself and her family. In the process of “rescue”, the film transforms Evelyn’s multiverse identity, deconstructs the dilemma in her family life picture, and seeks the reconciliation of individual identity from it. The director’s vivid shaping of the personalities of different characters vividly and wonderfully interprets the living conditions and value pursuits of the little people.
The imaginative multiverse and identity setting in the movie “The Universal Universe” has more realistic power precisely because it is based on the mother’s fantasy of home in a typical universe. The process of Evelyn acting as a “savior” through different identities in different universes is a process of contending with her family and the contradictions derived from her homeland, and it contains the true original intention of looking for a beautiful homeland. What Evelyn in reality presents to the audience is a “rootless” state.
In the different parallel universes of the movie, we see the infinite possibilities of the protagonist Evelyn after her identity is exchanged. She can be a kung fu superstar, a teppanyaki chef, a famous Peking opera actress, or a training genius in the Alpha universe. Scientist…
In the chef universe, Evelyn’s co-worker is the “King” in “Ratatouille”; in the hot dog universe, Evelyn has undergone a “2001 Space Odyssey”-style evolution , came to the scene of “Dancing with the Dragon” again; and in the Kung Fu universe, her life is the scene in “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and “The Great Master”.
The construction of the multiverse is actually a product of disappointment with the worldly situation. Therefore, the director’s deconstruction of Evelyn’s idealized picture and the construction of the fantasy home are in the form of a scene-by-scene movie. Before reconciling with reality, Evelyn is actually a character whose “imaginary domain” and “real domain” are idealized and stitched together. The imaginary dimension is our direct experience of reality, as well as our dreams and nightmares, it is the realm of appearances in which things appear to us. The dimension of reality is the actual collection of external real world and unconscious, subconscious, irrational and other factors. The “imaginary domain” and the “real domain” are actually separated.
Evelyn hopes that her father will recognize her, that her husband will be like a real “man”, that she will have the right life, and that her daughter will walk on the right path. This shackle of rightness made her breathless, which was also the reason for Evelyn to escape into absurd fantasies. The best way to break the deliberate “stitching” and predicament is to accept its randomness and absurdity. The multiverse is actually someone else’s movie; and your own movie is your life and your home in this world. This is why the film finally gives a “reconciliation” ending, that is, returning to the present and embracing the desire for reconciliation.
To love you in thousands of possibilities
Different from the “superhero movies” that travel through the universe to save the world, “The Universal Universe” uses mother Evelyn to show that love is understanding, understanding and empathy. The core of this worldview is still based on the theme of “going home” throughout the film. film, but this “home” is different from the concept of saving “everyone” in the Marvel series of movies, it is more biased towards the “small family” and embraces everything with love.
As a Chinese mother, Evelyn is about to be suffocated by the trivial life of tax filing difficulties, taking care of her elderly father, cowardly husband Wymond, and rebellious daughter Joy, but she is suddenly drawn into it by her “husband” Alpha Wymond from parallel time and space. Saving the vortex of the universe, only to find that the biggest villain is actually his “daughter” – the evil Joey who can travel through all parallel time and space. In the battle to save the universe, Evelyn aims to save her daughter and becomes a “superhero” who can travel through parallel time and space like her daughter. Daughter Joy, saving the world by using home as a bond of love.
”The Universal Universe” presents the current crisis of parent-child education, and the traditional family education model is no longer suitable for modern reality. The rapid development of electronic equipment and the Internet, the integration of Eastern and Western cultures, and diversified education have given young people a strong sense of self-protection and independence. Recognition, understanding, and love have become a new way of parent-child education.
The education of love is teaching by precept and deed, not self-sacrifice and absolute obedience. Evelyn presents the characteristics of greatness, dedication and sacrifice typical of traditional oriental women, but all these sacrifices are not recognized until Evelyn learns to acquire any of her own skills in parallel time and space in order to protect her daughter and her husband. Only when she found the value of her own existence and truly understood her daughter’s pain, did she truly realize these things.
After experiencing different encounters with her husband in parallel time and space, Evelyn also felt her husband’s love and kindness, and she firmly chose to stay in the present time and space, and chose to save her daughter at all costs, so as to win her embrace and finally save the world . This ending stems from Evelyn’s courage to face her heart. Alpha Wymond told Evelyn that she was the most failed Evelyn in all parallel time and space, but since Evelyn awakened her inner bravery, she was invincible. It is also Evelyn’s words and deeds to express love bravely and protect love bravely, so that her daughter Joy no longer suppresses her inner emotions, sees her mother and family who love her, and feels the bondage of family affection.
In the early stage, the “rookie” Evelyn was weak and incompetent, and had been receiving help from Alpha Wymond, asking the evil Joey to return her daughter, and begging the Alpha father not to hurt her daughter Joey; in the later stage, “Fighter” Evelyn first used The superb kung fu resisted Alpha’s father, and then used love as a weapon to feel the lack of each dark force character’s heart, understand their pain, meet their needs, and become an invincible existence.
The film finally returns to the family drama, from disintegration, to loneliness and anxiety, and finally reunion and harmony.
When Evelyn turned into a stone and her daughter Joy began to discuss everything in the universe, she had a new understanding and understanding: the first level of understanding is Evelyn’s understanding of the universe as a human being. The second level of understanding is Evelyn’s understanding of her daughter Joy as a mother. Evelyn knew that her daughter found her not to kill herself, but to let herself feel her pain. Only then did Evelyn realize her own pain. The harm traditional thinking caused to her daughter. The third level of understanding is Evelyn’s understanding of her husband Weimond as a wife. After seeing herself as a martial arts star in the parallel world and meeting Weimond, she heard Weimond say that whether it is running a laundry room or filing taxes In the boring days, when he wanted to be with her forever, Evelyn chose to understand her husband’s love and kindness. The fourth level of understanding is Evelyn’s understanding of her father as a daughter. After she felt her oppression of her daughter Joy, she bravely expressed it to her father, hoping to get his approval. Finally, in the process of rescuing her daughter Joey, Joey’s grandfather also participated in the rescue, allowing Evelyn to understand her father’s love for her. The last level of understanding is Evelyn’s understanding of herself. When Evelyn was able to travel through parallel time and space and be as invincible as the evil Joey, she did not choose to ignore moral and legal rules, but chose to return to the present time and space to enjoy Living with my family, I understand the meaning of my own existence, and understand that loving and being loved is the value of living. True understanding is to empathize with the suffering of others and find what you need, which is also the reconciliation and redemption of the individual and the world.
In this film, everyone’s sense of independence is very obvious. This is the epitome of a diverse society – the pursuit and search of individuality, but the lack of tolerance. Whether it’s the stuffy IRS staff, the boss who likes special experiences, the boy who is controlled by a raccoon, or the laundry man who teases Evelyn every time he comes to the laundry room, everyone is driven by inner insecurities. . And Evelyn wearing “Google Eyes” actually represents swallowing their inner darkness and anxiety with the power of tolerance, which just corresponds to the symbol design of Google Eyes wrapped in black in white. Of course, it was precisely because of this kind of tolerance that Evelyn no longer objected to her daughter’s choice in the end. The staid staff of the tax office also opened up to Evelyn about their unfortunate lives, thus giving up their prejudice against her.
At the end of the film, Evelyn is still sitting in the hall of the tax bureau, lost in thought, and the overgrown weeds of life cannot stop the meaning of life under love and tolerance.
