Everyone Everywhere Needs Waymond Wang (and Ke Huy Quan)

by Panzer
I walked into a movie theater to see Everything Everywhere All At Once
expecting a genre bending multiverse movie infused with many interlocking
layers of philosophical and cultural meaning
And I was not disappointed
What I was not expecting however was to witness one of the most challenging and
subversive representations of masculinity that I’ve ever seen in any genre
In order to explain what I mean we’ll need to shift the focus away
from the film’s protagonist, played by the incredible Michelle Yeoh
and over to the character of her husband played by actor Ke Huy Quan
Ke became famous as a child actor in the 1980s for the roles as
Short Round in the Temple of Doom and Data in The Goonies
Despite that early success, he couldn’t find many opportunities for
a young Asian American actor in Hollywood
So he eventually quit acting altogether
In his triumphant return to the big screen, after nearly two decades
he's brought to life a truly extraordinary example of empathetic manhood
If you were to only watch the first half of Everything Everywhere All At Once
the idea that Waymond Wang could be an avatar for positive masculinity would
seem a little strange
Evelyn: Sometimes I wonder how he would have survived without me
When we first meet Waymond, in his original incarnation
he appears to be sweet, almost childlike, but ultimately naive
Evelyn: She puts a lean on our laundromat and you know what your father does?
Evelyn: He brings her cookies!
A goofy, silly, bumbling father whose marriage is in the process of failing
Evelyn: No more google eyes!
He’s timid, conflict averse, and perfectly content to let his wife run their business
Waymond: We'll talk later?
These traits are often associated with a range of familiar subordinate male
archetypes in Hollywood media
In interviews, directing duo Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert
referred to collectively as Daniels have said they wanted to turn
a “beta male” character into a hero
Daniel Scheinert: We needed someone who was convincingly sweet, kind of beta male,
Daniel Scheinert: who you'd almost laugh at and dismiss
That in and of itself isn’t unusual, most movie heroes begin their journey as
someone decidedly un-super, who then grows in power over time
Mary Jane: Wow!
Waymond is different