The Hero's Journey of Evelyn Wang in Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) Film
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.30872/jbssb.v10i2.22107Abstract
This research focuses on finding out the hero’s journey of the main character, Evelyn Wang, seen in Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) film. This research used Christopher Vogler’s hero’s journey theory to find out how Wang passed all the hero’s journey stages to finally become a hero. Qualitative method and structuralism approach were used in this research. The data taken in this research is in the form of words, phrases, sentences, dialogues, images, and actions which are seen throughout the film that indicate the hero’s journey of Wang. The result of this research reveals that Wang went through all 12 stages of the hero’s journey by Vogler and her journey is most likely unique. Unlike typical heroes that conquer their enemies through destruction, Wang’s journey focuses on self-acceptance, love, and finding meaning in an overwhelming world. By embracing her chaotic life experience, she becomes a hero not through physical strength, but through understanding and human connection. This is represented through her transformation from a stressed and overwhelmed woman who constantly fear to face her problems, to a courageous individual who embraces her difficulties with acceptance and understanding, illustrating her growth into a true hero.
References
Amalia, A. (2020). Hero's journey experienced by Jason in Brandon Mull's Beyonders: A world without heroes [Undergraduate thesis, UIN Maulana Malik Ibrahim Malang].
Allison, S. T., Beggan, J. K., & Goethals, G. R. (Eds.). (2024). Encyclopedia of Heroism Studies. Cham: Springer International Publishing.
Allison, S. T., Goethals, G. R., & Kramer, R. M. (2016). Handbook of heroism and heroic leadership. Routledge.
Allison, S. T., & Goethals, G. R. (2010). Heroes: What they do and why we need them. Oxford University Press.
Al-rikabi, A. D. H. (2025). Character Development and" The Hero's Journey" in Epic Narratives: Homer's The Odyssey. Path of Science, 11(4), 9001-9007.
Barnes, B. (2023, March 13). ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ dominates the Oscars. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/13/movies/oscars-everything-everywhere-all-at-once.html
Bordwell, D. (2013). Narration in the fiction film. Routledge.
Bordwell, D., & Thompson, K. (2009). Film art: An introduction. McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages.
Brown, B. (2012). Daring greatly: How the courage to be vulnerable transforms the way we live, love, parent, and lead. Gotham Books.
Campbell, J. (2008). The hero with a thousand faces. New World Library.
Creswell, J. W. (2017). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (4th ed.). Sage Publications.
Denzin, N. K. (2017). The research act: A theoretical introduction to sociological methods. Transaction Publishers.
Fatmawati, F., Lailiyah, S., & Thahara, Y. (2024). Last Night in Soho: A study of narrative structure and characterization. Last Night in Soho: A Study of Narrative Structure and Characterization.
Faqih, A. F. (2022). Hero's journey as portrayed by Jack in J.K. Rowling's The Christmas Pig [Undergraduate thesis, UIN Maulana Malik Ibrahim Malang].
Flick, U. (Ed.). (2013). The SAGE handbook of qualitative data analysis. Sage.
Goethals, G. R., & Allison, S. T. (2019). The romance of heroism and heroic leadership. Emerald Group Publishing.
Goodrum, M., Prescott, A., & Smith, S. L. (Eds.). (2019). Gender and the superhero narrative. University Press of Mississippi.
Hafizah, A., Lorise, G., & Khansa, S. (2023). Unveiling temporal dynamics: Analysis of semantic relatives tense in “Everything Everywhere All at Once” dialogues. Philology: Journal of English Language and Literature, 3(2). https://doi.org/10.32696/pjell.v3i2.2387
Hawkes, T. (1977). Structuralism & semiotics. University of California Press.
Kohen, A. (2018). Untangling heroism. Routledge.
Maharani. (2023). Hero's journey of the main character of Ready or Not film [Undergraduate thesis, Mulawarman University].
Maslahatin, A. (2022). A hero's journey analysis of the main character Ben Cash in the Captain Fantastic movie [Undergraduate thesis, Sultan Agung Islamic University].
Murdock, M. (1990). The heroine’s journey: Woman’s quest for wholeness. Shambhala Publications.
Muthalib, K. A., Amelia, P., & Achmad, D. (2023). An analysis of characterizations of the characters in Turning Red movie. Proceedings of AICS-Social Sciences, 13, 128–135.
Petrie, D. W., & Boggs, J. (2017). The art of watching films.
Putri, P. W., Karima, R. F. H., & Kustantinah, I. (2023, March). Characterization on Not Cinderella’s Type movie by Brian Brough and its contribution to teaching literature. In Proceeding of English Teaching, Literature and Linguistics (ETERNAL) Conference, 3(1), 210–227.
Rizkia, A. (2023). The impact of stereotypes on the portrayal of Asian Characters in the film Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) (Doctoral dissertation, UIN Sunan Gunung Djati Bandung).
Sobari, M. Y. (2024). An analysis of hero’s journey and archetype by Christopher Vogler on main character in Enola Holmes (2020) movie [Doctoral dissertation, Universitas Islam Sultan Agung Semarang].
Swanson, R. A., & Holton, E. F. (2005). Research in organizations. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
Vogler, C. (2007). The writer’s journey: Mythic structure for writers (3rd ed.). Michael Wiese Productions.
Downloads
Additional Files
Published
Issue
Section
License
![]()
Every work in Ilmu Budaya: Jurnal Bahasa, Sastra, Seni, dan Budaya is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Under the following terms:
Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
ShareAlike — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors can enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).