ARTS & CULTURE

Ongoing

For a couple that fled the British monarchy to avoid the spotlight and persecution of gossip tabloids, Harry and Megan sure do know how to generate headlines. The former prince’s 2023 tellall memoir Spare has become an instant bestseller, and the couple was recently featured in a popular Netflix documentary about their union. Harry and Megan’s split from the Royal Family was admirable, but the surrounding drama has been played out to the point of exhaustion. It is insanely difficult to hold sympathy for a couple that is cashing in upwards of $100 million on petty drama.

STAR OF THE NIGHT Michelle Yeoh, star of action, drama, and indie film Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022), accepts a Golden Globe award for best actress, using her acceptance speech to highlight social issues in Hollywood of race, nationality, gender, language and age.

Michelle Yeoh: actress, icon, trailblazer

This awards season, Michelle Yeoh proves her influential status in Hollywood

Five weeks ago, one woman and just three words blew up society’s expectations of how a 60-year-old Malaysian-Chinese actress should act. She said, “Shut up, please.”

Those three words were voiced by actress Michelle Yeoh. She had just won the Golden Globes’ Award for Best Actress in EverythingEverywhereAllAt Once (2022) and was in the middle of her acceptance speech. She was discussing how her nationality, race, gender, and age had presented barriers in her career— topics that A-list stars rarely talk about— when a pre-recorded track interrupted her. She had run out of time, and the Golden Globes was trying to usher her off the stage.

Her response meant the world to me.

In that moment, Yeoh defied what

Yeoh’s strong stance at the Golden Globes was especially important as the highly popular star of Everything EverywhereAllAtOnce (EEAAO), an A24produced action and drama film about the multiverse, an immigrant experience, and generational trauma directed Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinhert that dominated the box office last summer, garnering $104 million worldwide. Many attribute much of the film’s success to Yeoh’s stunning performance as Evelyn Wang, the main character of EEAAO

Yeoh not only delivered emotive acting in the film, but also comedy and action, taking on the majority of her martial arts stunts in the film.

When the film was first released, my mom told my family: “We have to watch it soon! It won’t be in theaters long.” I was surprised and asked her why, and she explained that Asian-led movies didn’t appeal to big enough audiences and couldn’t last in theaters. So we went to see girl between eastern and western worlds related to my experience. The list goes on.

No matter how good I thought the movie was, my mom’s voice remained: how could this film, something so chaotic and very Asian, be appreciated by others?

Somehow, though, EEAAO reached across the world, breaking barriers of how we, the world, define a successful “global” action film.

Besides extreme box office success, EEAAO received huge critical acclaim, scoring eight Golden Globe nominations, 14 Critics Choice nominations, and 11 Oscar nominations.

Yeoh is the first Asian-identifying actress nominated for a Best Actress Oscar. By bringing an underrepresented demographic into the mainstream, Yeoh has become an important role model for Asians, Asian-Americans, and, really, anyone who’s ever been a misfit.

Michelle Yeoh has encouraged me, even

M3gan: A

The horror movie M3gan explores the dangers of artificial intelligence through a life-like doll that goes on a murderous rampage, and has quickly become a box office hit. Megan herself has become a Twitter sensation, inspiring a wide tapestry of hilarious memes. A horror movie that manages to remain fun and lighthearted, M3gan is campy and hilariously conceived——a must-see for any thriller fanatic.

society and Hollywood expected from a person of her identity: to quietly, quickly, and gracefully wrap up her speech.

Yet, she was not afraid to stand her ground. She had something meaningful to say, and she made sure to say it.

She continued on, powerfully highlighting an important issue about womens’ longevity in the film industry: “as the days, the years, and the numbers [got] bigger, it [seemed] like opportunities [started] to get smaller as well.” it that weekend.

Coming out of the theater, my mind was blown, and my heart was racing. The film was incredible. I was impressed by how the story was so personal and universal at the same time.

Last year, the M&M company revamped their trademarked spokescandies in a quest to increase inclusivity in the company’s branding. However, after outrage from Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who claimed the move would take the sex appeal away from M&M’s spokescandies, the company made the perplexing decision to rollback their changes entirely. In place of spokescandies, M&M’s will now be voiced by comedian Maya Rudolph. Blink twice if you’re being held hostage, Maya.

This instance is a case in point of Yeoh’s characteristic perseverance and tenacity. As an Asian girl who wants to pursue a career in film, seeing these qualities on display was inspiring and motivating. If not for Michelle Yeoh and her effects on the industry, I could not have this dream.

In her 40-year-long career, Yeoh has blazed a fresh path for so many: Asians, girls and women, older people, nonAmericans, and more. I feel represented and empowered by her, and that’s why her moment at the Golden Globes was so extraordinary.

Personally, I felt seen in the story. Evelyn—Yeoh’s character—reminded me of my own grandmother, an immigrant from Taiwan.

Instead of opening a laundromat like Evelyn in grandmother opened a Chinese restaurant. The generational trauma between Evelyn and her daughter, Joyce, presented itself in my family, too. Joyce’s struggle as an Asian-American across the world, and I can’t