Glass Onion (2022) is a sequel to the 2019 crime film Knives Out that follows detective Benoit Blanc as he solves the mysteries of difficult cases. The film was written, directed, and produced by Rian Johnson. The film stars Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc, Edward Norton as Miles Bron, and Janelle Monáe as Helen Brand.

Disruption of the Status Quo

The term ‘status quo’ refers to the current state of affairs in society and how things operate. The film directly uses the word disruption in Miles Bron’s speech to Benoit Blanc:

“Okay. If you want to shake things up, you start with something small. You break a norm or an idea or a convention, some little business model, but you go with things that people are kind of tired of anyway. Everybody gets excited because you’re busting up something that everyone wanted broken in the first place. That’s the infraction point. That’s the place where you have to look within yourself, and ask: Am I the kind of person who will keep going? Will you break more things? Break bigger things? Be willing to break the thing that nobody wants you to break? Because at that point, people are not going to be on your side. They’re going to call you crazy. They’re gonna say you’re a bully. They’re gonna tell you to stop. Even your partner will say you need to stop. Because as it turns out, nobody wants you to break the system itself. But that is what true disruption is, and that is what unites all of us. We all got to that line, and crossed it.” – Miles Bron (played by Edward Norton)

Currently, we see how idolized rich celebrities can be in our world and we see how they attempt to stray above the rule of law and above social criticism. There have been many people throughout history who could be considered a disrupters, civil rights activists and protesters are types of people that come to mind when I think of disruption. The speech is also forshadowing for the film’s ending, where Helen Brand ‘disrupts’ Miles Bron’s life. She starts small by breaking small glass sculptures, then she starts setting fire to the place, and then she goes for Mile’s prized possesion the Mona Lisa.

The Glass Onion

The term ‘Glass Onion’ refers to how complex situations might not be all that complex. Onions have layers and the more you peel them back the more that is revealed. A glass onion doesn’t need to be peeled back, all you have to do is look at it at face value. If you were like me and thought that it would be too obvious for Miles Bron to be the villain, well then you also got caught in a glass onion situation. There wasn’t any need to analyze and peel back the layers of the film to discover the villain, he was right infront of us the whole time!

While the film gives a mostly satirical portrayal of extremely wealthy and powerful people, it does a great job of exploring the idolization of the rich and powerful and how wealth doesn’t necessarily equate to intelligence. The character Miles Bron is a prime example of this, he steals ideas to further his own personal gain while not having any genius ideas himself. He also frequently misuses words or just makes up words that don’t exist to sound eloquent. It is almost like an actual onion, if you peel back the layers of Miles Bron you realize that he is not the genius he tries to present himself as.

Works Cited

IMDb.com. (2022, December 23). Glass onion. IMDb. Retrieved January 24, 2023, from https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11564570/?ref_=tt_ch

IMDb.com. (n.d.). Glass onion. IMDb. Retrieved January 24, 2023, from https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11564570/characters/nm0001570

Morgan, A. (2022, December 23). Should you watch ‘glass onion: A knives out mystery’ on netflix?? What’s on Netflix. Retrieved January 24, 2023, from https://www.whats-on-netflix.com/what-to-watch/should-you-watch-glass-onion-a-knives-out-mystery-on-netflix/