Presentation Schedule
Trilingualism and Flexible Citizenship in Everything Everywhere All at Once (109474)
Session Chair: Chun Lung Ma
This presentation will be live-streamed via Zoom (Online Access)
Friday, 19 June 2026 14:45
Session: Session 3
Room: Live-Stream Room 3
Presentation Type:Live-Stream Presentation
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Everything Everywhere All at Once is a fantastical multiverse dramedy that weaves a cross-generational and cross-cultural immigrant narrative. At the heart of the story is Evelyn, a middle-aged Chinese-American laundromat owner, who navigates the complexities of cultural, generational, and linguistic divides commonly experienced by first-generation immigrants. One standout trait of Evelyn is her constant code-switching between English, Cantonese and Mandarin. As a multilingual Hollywood film centering on an immigrant story, EEAAO can be categorized as both diasporic cinema and Naficy’s multiplex cinema. Existing scholarship on Hollywood’s representation of nonstandard English accents (Lippi-Green) and multilingualism (Bleichenbacher) primarily focus on how languages and accents are used to reinforce or subvert stereotypes. This paper continues this tradition by also bringing in World/Global Englishes theory to apply to cinematic representation. I argue that Evelyn’s trilingualism and the film’s multiverse narrative perform dual functions: to present marginalized linguistic and cultural practices as assets in its creation of a superhero, and to unsettle the centrality of English as the rightful global lingua franca. Evelyn’s unique idiolect reveals her migration journey and negotiation of bicultural identity and is reflective of Aihwa Ong’s concept of flexible citizenship where diasporic subjects adapt and navigate political and economic conditions through adaptable cultural logics. Meanwhile, the film’s multiverse narrative design accommodates parallel realities where greater socioeconomic success is achieved in contexts where English is not the dominant language. This presentation will include a close reading of several key scenes to illustrate the critical thematic function of Evelyn’s trilingualism.
Authors:
Chun-Lung Ma, Hong Kong Metropolitan University, Hong Kong
About the Presenter(s)
Mr Chun-Lung Ma is a University Postdoctoral Fellow or Instructor at Hong Kong Metropolitan University in Hong Kong
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