Mo Kim

“When I choose to see the good side of things, I’m not being naive. It is strategic and necessary. It’s how I’ve learned to survive through everything.”

Waymond Wang, Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)

Waymond Wang, as my friend Crystal would put it, has big loser energy. At the beginning of Everything Everywhere All At Once, his struggling laundromat is one tax audit away from bankruptcy. His marriage, already long-dormant, is close to breaking under the financial strain. And his wife and daughter really, really want him to stop putting googly eyes on all of their things.

But it’s all of those things that make him the unsung hero of the movie – and one of my favorite characters of all-time. That’s why today, I chose to create my outfit based on him!

It’s hard to talk about this without sounding precious, but I’ve always struggled to find a place for my softness in this world. As a child, I was often bullied for being a dork: I was so unabashedly enthusiastic about my special interests in Magic Tree House and ocean liners that I rarely recognized when my peers were making fun of me. The adults around me cautioned that being too outwardly earnest would make me an easy target for mockery. Besides, it wasn’t very mature. Sincerity was the domain of babies, something you were supposed to grow out of once you grew older and wiser.

Despite my attempts to wise up, though, I grew further and further into sincerity. In college, I was the classmate who spent most of their free time at open mics and brought my stuffed animal, Mr. Caterpig, to lecture. (I also brought him to my first day of work at a school. He’s a VERY comforting presence.) Even when I became a teacher, I found it near-impossible to emulate the stern, unfazed energy I saw from the veteran teachers around me; it didn’t fit me as well as it seemed to fit everyone else. Although I made great connections with my classes, both students and colleagues often warned me that I was “too kind,” that my generosity and patience would make it easy for others to take advantage of me. Cute, their doubt suggested, but you should know this isn’t how the real world works.

Secretly I still wonder if they were right. I still have days when I feel out-of-place in this world: I worry my goofy sense of humor and my upbeat energy make it hard for people to be around me. I wonder if my friends or co-workers will get tired of me someday soon – or worse, that they already have. Those days are lonely. They make me feel like I’m back in fourth grade, like everyone around me’s laughing at the same joke and I’m too slow to realize I’m the punchline.

But Waymond doesn’t care if he’s the punchline. In fact, his best quality – the same quality that saves the multiverse from ruin – is his unwavering sincerity. Though many look down on him as the owner of a failed laundromat, his bumbling, soft-spoken demeanor obscures a man who stubbornly cares for those he loves, most of all his wife, Evelyn. Even when she literally stabs him in the front, he remains steadfast in his values: “We must be kind,” he insists, bleeding out in front of an army of mooks. He can have his heart broken in universe after universe and he will still show up for his family every single time because that is the kind of person Waymond is.

It’s this radical dedication that breaks both Evelyn and his daughter Joy out of their nihilism. Whereas Evelyn and Joy can’t stop ruminating on all of the disappointments and missed opportunities of their lives, Waymond grounds his life in the everyday happiness he finds all around him. He doesn’t need to live in the reality where he’s a movie star; he would much prefer to be doing laundry and taxes, as long as he can be with the people he loves. Instead of being consumed by the Everything Bagel and all of its possibilities, he meets it with a pair of googly eyes: even in the middle of all this bullshit, he argues, there is beauty if you are willing to look. This is where he draws his strength. This is how he fights.

It’s how I hope to fight, too. As I grow older, I can see all the ways that my softness has protected me: it’s helped me develop genuine relationships with others, deepen my intellectual interests, and maintain hope when I needed it the most. So I’ll try to continue bringing my stuffed animals to work. I’ll try to cultivate spaces for my students that are full of laughter and care. And above all, I’ll try to stay earnest, curious, and open to the world around me. If that makes me a loser, I’m happy to be one.

Steal the look:

• GAP long-sleeve polo shirt, striped (Sad to say I don’t have that exact shirt, but this shirt hopefully still has the same dad energy that Waymond’s shirt does!)
• Brown leather fanny pack (I’m sorry – I can’t hear your hate over all the things I can fit into this bad boy.)
• Elephant keychain (Because it never hurts to have a friend with you.)
• Banana Republic slim-fit chino pants (POCKETS! The more, the better!)
• Levi’s leather sneakers, brown (I feel like this is an incredibly appropriate choice – Waymond would definitely find these shoes at Ross, and he would definitely be thrilled to see them on sale for $19.99.)

Coming tomorrow: I dress up like a boba drink. I know, I don’t know what the means either.