After director Noah Baumbach’s previous, more grounded, Netflix Original movie, Marriage Story, his latest release, White Noise, has left some disappointed— and many more, confused. Here’s what Britt Gorman, had to say upon viewing:
“If you asked me what White Noise was about, I genuinely could not tell you. Every time I thought it was about one thing, it turned into something else.”
Britt Gorman
Josh Martin-Jones, similarly said,
“There is so much happening at once during many points of this film which made it an incredibly difficult watch.”
Josh Martin-Jones
Neither Britt, nor Josh— or anyone really— can be faulted for their experiences because White Noise, indeed, is a confusing movie. It’s an absurdist, 80’s-soaked fever-dream that seems nothing short of a bombastic (Baumbachstic, perhaps?) spectacle, with enigmatic themes hiding beneath the surface. But, is it possible that those themes are much clearer than most realize, when we parse through the noise?
Personally, I felt like I could see right into many of the themes woven into the story of White Noise, and that they could see into me. That doesn’t mean that anyone who didn’t see it the same as me is wrong or stupid though. It just means we’re different, unique individuals, with our own perspectives we bring to the table. But my aim here is to show you the meaning I found in this film, through my lens. Dissecting through the chaotic noise of everything happening everywhere, a specific scene stood out to me, and all at once it hit me— I found characters and struggles I could deeply relate to, and it left me thinking back to another absurdist movie that released in 2022. One with an even greater amount of chaos, with everything… everywhere… all at once.
Everybody Loves Waymond
Everything Everywhere All At Once is one of 2022’s defining cinematic experiences. A monolithic achievement by directors, Daniels (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert), a massive financial success for A24, and a cultural touchstone for Gen Z. Most who saw it were impacted by it. If you weren’t impacted by it, you were at least entertained by it. And if you weren’t entertained by it, you at least respected the handiwork of Daniels, the actors, the stunt choreographers, and the VFX team. But what I want to focus on here is the emotional core of the movie— the driving thematic force.
Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh) hates what her life has become. She realizes all of the other potential lives she could have lived, and is filled with regret and longing. Its a gnawing fear of living a life beyond her control— one where everything isn’t as fun, glamorous, and satisfying as it could have been. Her husband, Waymond (Ke Huy Quan), has a different mentality within the same circumstance. Its one of love, happiness, and little joys. He loves living out even the most mundane tasks, such as laundry and taxes, because he gets to do them with someone he loves. Everyday is a good day for him, because his joy reaches beyond circumstance. He loves life. Everything Everywhere All At Once leaves you with the idea that you can either choose nihilism— where everything is meaningless— or you can actually process and address your dissatisfaction with your life, choosing joy despite circumstance, and finding happiness in the little things.
A Matter of Life and Death
What does all of this have to do with the meaning of White Noise? One specific scene was the catalyst that made me realize how they’re connected. When Jack (Adam Driver) confronts his wife Babette (Greta Gerwig) about the pills she’s been (not so) discreetly taking, she starts responding anxiously, and alludes to a condition she discovered that she has. Seeing how worried she appears, Jack confusedly says, “I’ve never seen you like this. This is the whole point of Babette. She is a joyous person. She doesn’t succumb to gloom or self-pity.” All at once… it hit me. Babette is incredibly similar to Waymond. They’re both joyous, glowing characters, who don’t tend to let negativity best them. They’re loving to those around them, and always a shining beacon of happiness.
Here’s where the difference lies. Waymond was the antithesis of Evelyn. He was an example of the (or perhaps— a?) correct way to process a life that isn’t as incredible as it could have been. His way of thinking brought closure to Everything Everywhere All At Once. He was without any faults… he was the solution. White Noise, on the other hand, decides to explore a potential flaw in the Waymonds/Babettes of the world, rather than the Evelyns. Babette’s one big glaring fault is revealed when she finally tells Jack, “I’m afraid to die. I’m afraid of my death.” Both absurdist films explore two massive, existential, interconnected concepts— ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’ explores the gnawing dread of not being in control of the circumstances of your life, while White Noise explores the gnawing dread of not being in control of the circumstances of your death. We all live— we get to make decisions that have an impact on how we live, but there’s always circumstances about our lives beyond our control, that we have to learn how to process. And we all die in the end— we get to make decisions that can have an impact on how far in the future we die, but there’s always uncertainty about when or how it will really occur, that we have to learn how to process. What is completely up to us as humans— in either matter— is whether we choose to process the issue healthily and look for joy beyond the circumstance, or whether we let it consume us to no end.
A Hard Pill to Swallow
There appear to be quite a few intriguing analogies regarding the theme of death in White Noise, but the movie isn’t always as upfront about its meaning as ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’ is. Of course, these things are up to interpretation, but one such example is the way in which Babette tried to cure her fear of death with pills. Because, on the surface, it simply looks like a depiction of the placebo effect, I think there was a larger aim with the concept. Death is an incredibly hard pill to swallow. Meaning, it’s something you wrestle with, and it takes time, energy, and often, grief. There’s not a fast-forward button or a cheat code to just get past it. There’s no artificial way to avoid the concept. But Babette tried just that. She acquired pills to cure her fear— an artificial means to avoid it. But, they didn’t work. Later we saw the dealer basically eating them like candy… Meaning— ironically— they’re quite easy to swallow. Not only that— but seeing the extent to which her daily life was affected but the pill’s side effects, she was left living as a shell of her former self. She couldn’t remember the simplest of things… even her own children’s names. It’s an incredibly ironic point, that by spending her life wasting energy trying to artificially numb her fear of death, it left her living a waking death… A droning shell of a life.
Another idea I loved was the escalation of the discourse surrounding the cloud of black smoke. First, it’s being referred to on the radio as a “feathery plume”. Then it quickly evolves to “a black billowing cloud”. Only three minutes later it’s labeled as “the airborne toxic event”. Through the frantic worries and observations of his family members, Jack attempts to rationalize everything they throw at him about the potential dangers of the cloud and its side effects. But he does so in a slightly nervous way— one where he’s not just trying to calm their fears… but also his own. He’s trying so hard to convince himself everything is okay, against every mounting piece of evidence that it’s not. As they sit down for a family dinner they see police lights flashing… and then emergency sirens… and then a fire captain announcing over a loudspeaker, “Evacuate all places of residence!” Everything continues building up, but Jack is still in denial— trying to prove to himself that it’s fine and all going to go away. While I think there may be a metaphor to uncover here, I actually prefer to take this scene at face value, because what is literally happening in the scene and how Jack reacts, is incredibly relatable for me. It’s exactly how my brain attempts fearful situations.
Two Kinds of People
I may have pointed out some thematic ideas in White Noise that you missed, or maybe I’ve simply shown you something I interpreted differently than you. But I have yet to point out much of how *I* specifically related to the film, and why the connections to Everything Everywhere All At Once mean so much to me. Rewinding back to the release of ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’… upon my wife and I’s first viewing, I really liked it, and everything it stood for. But my wife— she fell absolutely in love with the movie. It quickly became her favorite film of 2022, and one of her all-time favorites. Why? She related so deeply to Evelyn. She’s had a lot of struggles throughout her life that have sidelined hopes and ruined dreams. She’s battled cancer (and won), she’s had to give up her dream career because of a list of medical issues, and through it all, she’s dealt with waves of depression and anxiety. When she saw ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’, she immediately could relate to Evelyn’s more pessimistic outlook and dissatisfaction with all of the things she missed out on in her life. But in the end, she was also greatly impacted by the hopeful message of the film, and it helped her to better see the joy in living the life she’s been given.
I, on the other hand, deeply related to Waymond’s positive outlook on life. Everyday is a good day for me. Something extremely drastic would have to happen to alter my view of the day. But as long as I have the chance to spend time with my wife, watch or read something entertaining to me, and do something productive… it’s a good day. Now, I don’t want to leave you with the idea that my wife processes everything wrong, and that I process everything perfectly. That’s not true, and the ways in which we handle emotions, face our demons, and react to both good and bad circumstances are incredibly nuanced. She has her strengths and weaknesses, and I have mine. Here’s one of mine… I not only relate to Waymond— I deeply relate to Babette (and Jack, and even the kids a little bit) in White Noise. I constantly seem happy, not “succumbing to gloom”— and I am— but I have a massive internal struggle with my fear of death.
Panic! at the Death-co
Last year I had a panic attack. That may not mean much, as I know there are plenty of people who deal with severe anxiety on a daily basis (my wife included). But for me, panic attacks are few and far between. I feel kind of embarrassed by the cause of this particular one, but basically… a strange coincidence in my cell service and my wifi both having an outage at the same time, caused me to worry there was something strange going on. On top of that, I didn’t have a TV antenna, and my car radio happened to stop working. My mind went spiraling downward, and after a few minutes my whole body was violently shaking, and I was hyperventilating. Looking back it seems silly but, in the moment, I remember being terrified and panicking over an ambiguous fear of dying. Dying from what? How? I don’t know. But in the moment that’s all I could think about. That was one severe circumstance, but I’ve also dealt with nightmares involving death, and am always grappling with the concept of my own mortality on a regular basis.
White Noise made me feel seen. It brought about this idea we’re all connected by death. I believe humanity is connected by a lot more than that, but when it comes to death, we all have it coming at some point. So we all also struggle to process it, to varying extents. I’ve always thought internal struggles with processing it should be restricted to grieving the death of loved ones, and that it was selfish or cowardly to wrestle with my own mortality. But White Noise made me feel validated in my anxieties. Not only that, but the film also helped me inch a little bit closer to prohibiting it from consuming me so much. There have been so many movies about people mourning over friends or family dying. This was the first I’ve found that really decided to focus on one’s own mortality… and it did a damn amazing job. The way my wife felt both validated and uplifted by ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’, I felt from White Noise. In my eyes, these films are two parts of a whole. Just as my wife and I watched both, and gained something from each, I believe everyone should see both… because when you dig beneath the absurdist hilarities of everything happening everywhere, there’s a beautiful message to be found amidst the noise of it all.
