Glass Onion's Start Tells You The End

[@PillarofGarbage]

Latest, greatest Glass Onion video out now: kzbin.info/www/bejne/lamyc31vpaqEe5I

[@fabrisseterbrugghe8567]

The important thing about Miles' Mona Lisa is that the Louvre conned him. It's on canvas, but the real one is painted on board.

[@hypothalapotamus5293]

At the heart of the glass Onion, there is a sculpture called the "portal icosahedron" (which I think of as a glass onion in itself). If you look at it from the side, you will be confused by the complex pattern of reflected white lines. If you look at it straight on, you will see the the lines converge to a hexagon and find that the center of the glass onion is empty. This is the core of the film.

[@davidalexander3320]

I think the point of the puzzle box sequence is even simpler than that. It showed that although these guys called themselves disrupters, Helen was the real disrupter. When presented with a puzzle box, a "system" with rules and tasks you had to do to reach the end, the 4 followed it while Helen took a hammer and smashed the system to bits. The real disrupter.

[@W4TSKY]

Also the fact that the “disrupters” kept the status quo in protecting Miles because they really didn’t want things/their lives to change. It was Helen, the “hick” teacher from Alabama that was the real disruptor, not privileged Hollywood influencers and models or scientists signing off on whatever their boss tells them to.

[@sexytinatrainconductress7791]

I hadn’t thought of it that way that’s interesting

[@billionai4871]

Yeah, Before the puzzle box part we hear Lionel say that "he is the one turning Miles's ideas into reality", then we cut to Helen (who at that point we thought was Andi) and she looks like the practical minded one. No need to do any sort of circus, if I want what is at the core of this, I will just get there and that is that. She felt like the one intelligent person at the end of that sequence.

[@shadedway5277]

YES finally someone said it!!! Um, spoilers, but, It's like Miles himself was saying, you start by breaking something small that no one will mind and people were tired of anyways (the puzzle box), and then you end up breaking the one thing no one wants you to break (the Glass Onion itself), it's been eating away at my mind for the past week this movie is so bad for my health

[@davidalexander3320]

@Shaded Way more spoilers Miles disrupter speech perfectly mirrored what Helen did at the end. You start off breaking something small that everyone wants broken. She started with the little glass statues and everyone was cheering her on and even joined in. They still weren't disrupters, they were copying her. Then when she decided to break the big thing, the Mona Lisa, that no one wanted broken everyone started yelling at her to stop. She even flashed the same double middle fingers with arms crossed gesture at Miles that he did at the end of his speech before running over there. Then her breaking the big thing broke the system. It broke his hold over the others and his empire.

[@Timbeon]

I like the detail that unlike a real puzzle box, none of the steps to open Miles' meaningfully connect, build on each other, or relate to a core design motif, they're just a handful of class signifier recognition tests and riddles copied out of a children's puzzle book, much like how Miles isn't clever or creative enough to combine all the ideas he's copied and stolen into a coherent company or murder plot.

[@silverkyre]

He didn't even make them. Which he only admits after Blanc calls them children's puzzles. He does the same with the murder mystery. He initially says he outdid himself with it, that it's next level. Then after Blanc solves it and degraded it says it was a small thing, he also admits that he hired someone else to write it.

[@elbruces]

"Class signifier recognition tests" is the perfect description, thanks.

[@gaileverett]

Ah, THAT'S what was in the background of my mind about the puzzle box. Thank you for bringing it out of my subconscious.

[@NotFeelingBlauw]

Right? I got frustrated when one puzzle spelled out "O-U-R", because in the Dutch subtitles they even went as far as translating them to "O-N-S" (which is just our/us in Dutch). I thought there must've been significance to this, but then the box went on to be about a compass and I was confused. I kept on to that detail the entire movie but besides them coming together, it was just a useless piece of information..

[@liluziintrovert]

Something I think is crazy about the movie is the fact that he decided to do a murder mystery…literally because he just committed murder and had it on his mind. He told Benoit that his puzzle guy barely had any time to make the boxes most likely meaning it was a last minute idea he suggested, most likely after killing Andi

[@Dishinshoryuken]

It was to give himself a cover story as well as gather them to see who knew he was there What reason would he be the one involved with Andi death if he invited her?

[@sigh824]

@@Dishinshoryuken I think they just mean he easily could’ve made it a scavenger hunt or an island themed escape room instead

[@liluziintrovert]

@@sigh824 yeah, like they mention they do one every year but whiskey mentions last year they just hung out on the yacht. But this year he randomly decided to do a murder mystery RIGHT after actually killing someone

[@liluziintrovert]

@@Dishinshoryuken I don’t think he was thinking of it as a cover story more of just it’s what he normally did. Like this takes place a couple of month after the court case if he didn’t invite her it would of made perfect sense anyways

[@brainfat1]

So, maybe I'm missing it, but why send Andi a box? Especially if he thought she was dead? To cover his ass? How could he know she was dead, he's on the island? But why would you send an honest invitation to someone you publicly buttfucked. Maybe I have the timeline wrong, but the trial was a few months ago, the murder was two weeks ago and the boxes were sent the same week as we see on the island, yes? Let's say I have the timeline wrong, and the boxes are sent before the murder, why would the invitation card be the same as for his friend. Wouldn't it say something like, "But not you, LOL!" And one more thing just hit me, Claire is scared of being revealed to be on this island with Duke, but the world knows from the trial that they are old friends. It's a good movie, but the real glass onion are the plotholes we made along the way.

[@bretsheeley4034]

Another detail from the start I loved with this movie. Blanc starts the movie playing Among Us. Later in the movie we discover there is an imposter among those invited, technically two if you include Blanc, which is the common way to play the game. Two imposters working as a secret team versus everyone else.

[@juststerk]

The lights go out too which is a common sabotage in the game. And miles tries to bluff his way out of being accused this movie really is just a lifelike version of Among Us😮

[@The_Jazziest_Coffee]

@@juststerk fucking hell i cannot freaking believe that among us was actually incorporated into the movie properly and as a genius foreshadowing device i just cannot fathom this

[@HughJanusDaHorseshoeCrab]

I would make the argument that Miles is the imposter

[@michaelsims1460]

And of the two, Blanc is the impostor that gets caught!

[@daelen.cclark]

There’s hidden meanings everywhere. Even in the references.

[@corianne968]

One thing I caught on the second watch was that most of the puzzle boxes were solved by the people around them. At Birdie's party, Yo Yo Ma understood the Fugue, Duke's mom of course, and Peg. The Disruptors needed help to solve them, because none of them were that clever. But they're the ones who get to feel special and intelligent and get to enjoy the reward of an island getaway (yes Peg goes with Birdie, but she's still working for the most part and is pretty much ignored by just about everyone else, Miles can't even recall her name when she confronts him). And then, something I didn't think about until watching this video, the puzzle box itself is nothing special. The puzzles have no connection to one another, they're just a bunch of random puzzles thrown together without much thought or significance to anything. Not even the prize itself. This is a great video, I enjoyed this and the Ben Shapiro one. Here's to making it a trilogy!

[@PillarofGarbage]

Started writing the next one already after seeing the response this one’s had!

[@jopabr24]

Well, remember as well that Miles did not even make the puzzle boxes himself. He hired someone else to design and build them. Which is great, because I think what that ultimately means is that even Miles could not tell that the puzzles were neither A.) Particularly difficult or clever, nor B.) Linked together thematically.

[@hcxpl1]

Between the title of the video and the start I was sure that PoG was gonna say how there's this densely layered puzzle box where you have to peel back each puzzle in order to get the treasure inside and you can only do it with the proper knowledge and then cut to Helen smashing it and going straight to the center of the glass onion. Like, for all it was a test for only worthy people to open it, Miles clearly didn't even think about making the contents of the box actually safe by any mechanism, they were all acessible to those without reservations about destroying the social significance of it all. In the end the puzzle box was about making the recipient feel clever and intelligent, basically a circle jerk bc they would think Miles a genius, when he didn't even project that, like everything else on his empire.

[@mariokarter13]

Reminds me of the Chinese Room thought experiment. You slip a piece of paper with a question written in Chinese under the door for an answer. The person inside the room doesn't understand Chinese, but there are enough books in the room for them to approximate a response. But the person inside the room doesn't understand what's being said or what it means at any point in the process. As you could probably guess, this is how AI works.

[@thatcarlchick7655]

I'd LOVE to hang out with Duke's mom. I'd watch the living hell out of a spinoff movie series where she, Helen, and Whiskey solved puzzles and crimes and respectfully, lovingly shit-talked Duke (RIP).

[@lauraposnett6360]

I think the puzzle that really exemplifies this idea is the chess one. The Disruptors call it an endgame when it absolutely isn't, the endgame is the very late stages where you're trying to use your last few pieces to close the game out. What the puzzle actually is is an opening, one of the more famous openings in chess, literally called fool's mate. The Disruptors have the barest minimum knowledge to be able to solve the puzzle, but it's shown that they don't actually understand it.

[@PillarofGarbage]

yknow this is one of those times I wish I was good at chess. making this link in the video would have been such a slam-dunk Pinning this! Really great observation!

[@Excelsior1937]

I swear I always make observations like these and then they immediately fly out my head as the rest of the movie goes on before I can make something of them. I don’t even know all that much about chess but when they called it an endgame I was like “that can’t be, all the special pieces are in the back, and barely any of the pawns have been moved. This game is just beginning.” But before I could appreciate that fact, whoosh, right out of my brain. The same thing happened with Bron’s malapropisms. “Infraction point? That’s not right. Oh well moving on” 😂

[@BlazeMakesGames]

yeah that was something I noticed on my second watchthrough, I almost wanted to point it out for my friends who were watching it for the first time with me but I realized it might hint towards some spoiler stuff when I processed what it meant lol

[@unvoicedapollo3318]

@@Excelsior1937 This

[@violetlavi2207]

ahh no wonder I couldn’t see a mate-in-one endgame in that 😂 I thought it was just my lackluster chess skills

[@hellothepixel1107]

The part that really sells this to me is when Helen just breaks the box. The puzzle was all for show. There was nothing real at stake. If they hadn't managed to open the puzzle... Well first off Miles would've let them come anyway. This isn't a test of skill, this is a confirmation of an illusion of greatness. But also all the layers hide the fact that it is just a wooden box. And that one can just break it. Miles didn't account for this, didn't reinforce the box, because he wasn't trying to hide anything. And because he didn't expect someone to not play his game. To not respect him enough, to not attempt to get near his supposed level of genius.

[@TheMattVis]

It also implied with this, Miles thinking all his peers would try to "solved" the box normally cause he never reinforced it, or makes the invitation getting destroyed if open by any other means. Which mean, he think all his peers wouldn't feel "worthy" enough if they can't solved the box "normally". He think they would feel embarassed taking the invitation by force, even though from their reaction when they got all the box, they would do anything to go with him (cause they think he is genius). Miles don't even asked when they came to his island whether they actually "solved" the box and just assumed they all doing that, and don't know if "Andi" actually got the invitation by breaking the box.

[@eldritchbidoof]

THIS!! very surprised this wasn't discussed in the video

[@sunsetskye483]

Also, Helen is the only one who didn’t play his game, the true disrupter

[@hellothepixel1107]

@@sunsetskye483 yeah! The other ones follow rules just to get approval of who they respect. Helen breaks the rules when she sees them as the glass onions they are.

[@nailinthefashion]

I just love it. It's so immaculate.

[@UninspiredArtemis]

To add to the “maybe the Disruptors aren’t special, the systems just busted” Birdie didn’t contribute to the puzzle at all, Peg did. Birdie isn’t a genius, we’ve been given this information through the rest of the film but that puzzle scene shows that she is literally nothing without the people around her, especially Peg. However through the rest of the film, Peg is ignored and pushed to the side because she’s not a part of the inner circle.

[@gravitydefining]

More so her only contribution was recognizing a metal as silver. Something we can definitely see as her affinity for jewelry and fashion (more status symbols) more than her having any sort of knowledge or interest in minerals or metal working.

[@damyr55]

Not only her, same goes for Batista's character. It's his mom that contributes to the puzzle solving, not him

[@shadedway5277]

Alexa, Shazam this song

[@EmyN]

Well, she recognized the silver, so class signifier lol

[@fruit4evr]

Peg is such an interesting character to me, she’s an outcast to the rest of the group despite knowing all of them for years. She has high regard for Andi, as we can see when Helen gives her hard kombucha for her to told as she does her monologue. But then, when Helen desperately pleads to the disrupters and peg, Peg doesn’t hold the same regard and doesn’t stick up for her. of course bc she’s employed by Birdie but it just goes to show that who you work for can rly change your actions

[@newdarkcloud]

I also appreciate that Helen solves the puzzle box just by smashing it open with a hammer. Metaphorically, it lines up with her position as the *actual* disruptor of the shitheads' power. She sees the trappings of the puzzle box, realizes there is absolutely no point to it and no need to waste time on the riddles inside it, and just pries it open to get to whatever is obviously hiding inside it. She's also the first person in the movie, not Blanc, to raise the simple question of "Did Miles do it?". She always saw right through them. She always saw right through them all.

[@camipco]

Nice read. It's a perfect character note. It also foreshadows that she isn't Andi since Andi was, to a large degree, one of the shitheads. The character note for Andi would have been that she solves the box all by herself with no help or difficulty, that it's too easy for her and she's bored by it.

[@shunkela]

Oh yea, agree. I liked Helen's "rich bitch" story, encapsulated how she sees what her sister and the other disrupters do/did as child's play.

[@nobody4248]

She used the Alexander the Great method of solving problems.

[@daelen.cclark]

Meaningful, and hilarious.

[@AlbertoGarcia-wd7sc]

@@camipco Not only was Andi one of the shitheads. If you look closely to the famous napkin you'll see it's pretty much garbage. Crypto bullshit and lots of words.

[@coreytoomey7579]

My favorite part of Bron's idiocy is what he thinks a glass onion is. He's clearly a fan of the Beatles and was playing Blackbird when the group arrived. The song Glass Onion, to the first-time listener, may seem like it's about a place away from society where geniuses and artists can bask in the glory of their prestige. Almost like an ivory tower, in other words. But it was Blanc who had to explain what a glass onion is, and from the look on Bron's face, it was the first time he was hearing it. This also shows that despite being a Beatlemaniac, he lacked a sophisticated understanding of their lyrics and music. But man...imagine basing an entire compound, that you designed and funded, on a metaphor that you don't even understand. That's gotta sting.

[@Dachusblot]

He was also playing Blackbird on Paul McCartney's guitar, which he immediately dumped on the ground, showing that he likes having these cultural signifiers just to impress other people but doesn't actually care about them.

[@coreytoomey7579]

@@Dachusblot Here’s something even better: that wasn’t even Paul’s guitar. Paul McCartney is a lefty. 😂

[@silverkyre]

To be fair his compound is actually just taking the idea from their bar, he probably just liked that the beatles had a song with that name.

[@dalellll]

And the song Glass Onion is mocking the crazy conspiracy theories and layers of extra meaning that fans read into their lyrics... its a self-referential song witht he message "it's less meaningful than you think it is..." and the title originally came from the british name for a monocle, and a monocle is part of the Knives Out logo

[@orlock20]

That happens in culture in general. People insult people by calling them a Nimrod, but Nimrod is a great hunter in the Bible. The change in definition was from a Bugs Bunny cartoon where Bugs mockingly calls Elmer Fudd a Nimrod and people not understanding the joke. People use the term American as apple pie as something American, but apple pies originated in Europe.

[@seanmurphy3430]

It really can't be emphasized enough how easy this puzzle box is. Actual puzzle boxes usually require lateral thinking and a rigorous attention to detail - this one has an arrow pointing to a button that opens the box when you push it. I wouldn't have thought of the magic eye thing, but I probably would have solved that puzzle by just feeling for a button or switch. And from there, it practically leads you from one clue to the next, all of which are basically just trivia problems that never get too obscure or require particularly specialized knowledge. Also, I think what makes the whole thing work is that we, as moviegoers, are kind of conditioned to see the solving of these simple puzzles as genius deductions (think The DaVinci Code or National Treasure.) We're so used to media designed to make us feel clever that we struggle to recognize what cleverness actually looks like.

[@silverkyre]

Yeah it's Blanc who calls them children's puzzles that you realize yeah those are the type of puzzles you find in a children's puzzle book.

[@elbruces]

@@silverkyre What's funny is that Blanc hasn't even seen the puzzles. The only box he sees is already completely smashed to pieces. He just said that as a dig at Miles.

[@phantasosxgames8488]

The thing with DaVinci Code and National Treasure is that they presented true puzzles. As cinematic as they are , they actually needs deductions. But for this box , it’s literally just Trivia. Like the atomic number of Silver is not some deep knowledge, it’s high school basic chemistry and can be easily googled. Not you need to even start the Fool’s Mate , as that is already set with the 1 out of 2 moves necessary to a checkmate.

[@OnboardG1]

Around the time the movie came out on Netflix, GCHQ released their yearly puzzle. It's part recruiting tool, part staff challenge and part advertising. For context, GCHQ is the rough equiavelent of the US NSA: they're the codebreakers and signals intelligence specialists of the British state. Regardless of what you think of their methods they are, genuinely, an entire organisations of savants and geniuses who have an outsized impact on the world around us. The puzzles they release are very clever and very difficult. The difference is that they have a practical purpose: to isolate a certain strand of genius that GCHQ needs and encourage people to consider working for them. Those puzzles demonstrate a certain type of intellectual rather than social capital which is valuable to an actually impactful organisation. Miles' puzzles are fluff which a GCHQ codebreaker might not actually be able to solve if they don't play chess or have any interest in music. In the business world, I believe Google recruits using a similar system. If you have the right search terms in your history it will hit you up with an invitation to a series of increasingly difficult coding puzzles that end with an invitiation to a job interview.

[@mcanix]

@@OnboardG1 it’s probably important to mention that the Christmas puzzles are intended for children aged between 11 and 18, so they’re not amazingly tricky but they are significantly better put together than the puzzle box. The ones they put on Twitter can get really fiendish though

[@samfisher6606]

The thing I noticed is that the override button is a “Fool on a Hill” because that’s what Miles is. And someone pointed it out to me but it took Blanc so long to solve the case because he is “very bad at dumb things.” Also, Helen being the only true disruptor and destroying the Glass Onion is foreshadowed when she’s the only one to straight up just destroy the puzzle box.

[@TSDTalks22]

Fool on the Hill is also the name of a Beatles song, like Glass Onion!

[@samfisher6606]

@@TSDTalks22 the song Glass Onion is about how people look for meaning in Beatles songs that are meaningless. That’s why the song has the line “looking through a glass Onion.” Critics are looking for meaning that isn’t there. Also, a bunch of the statues reference lyrics from the song, like the line about fool on the hill and the opening line “I told you bout strawberry fields.”

[@TSDTalks22]

@@samfisher6606 and miles plays blackbird on a guitar he claims is Paul McCartney’s despite it being a right handed guitar and McCartney famously being left handed. There’s loads of Beatles references in this movie

[@beatm6948]

@@TSDTalks22 the layers to this movie keep on unfurling. From the upside down art piece in the living room to the poster Mona Lisa.

[@emilymcplugger]

I love the fact that when the most famous painting in the world is destroyed Miles face resembles the second most famous painting in the world…Edvard Munch’s “the scream”.

[@mariacruz07]

Good eye!

[@leftbower1023]

Damn, nice. I finally saw this movie and it's so much fun to read these details

[@thefool1284]

I wonder if the implication is that he's now reflecting the new most famous painting following the Mona Lisa's destruction, after all he can't look up to the cool looking painting If it no longer exists right?

[@thefool1284]

and further more Miles is so dumb he can't even show shock without directly pulling from something he's seen before, Miles is inherently incapable of creating he can only copy others

[@alephmale3171]

One thing I’ve also never heard anyone talk about yet is that artwork with the fractal mirrors. It’s really an empty dodecahedron whose transparency is multiplied by its smootheness (reflectivity) and emptiness to give the illusion of infinite depth and complexity. It’s fascinating to look at, at first, but it lacks any critical awareness and feels like a gimmick or a hi-tech toy with nothing to say. This also reflects the spirit of the glass onion. I just know Rian could see the perfection of that. Even the Mona Lisa, as it was described in the film, is often prized for lacking any human touch (brush strokes) and any particularly clear expression. She, if Mona is even a woman (some people think she’s Da Vinci himself), is like an android, or an androgynoid, and an icon of human perfectibility through technique, but at the cost of expressive soulfulness. That may be another metaphor for the Glass Onion’s advanced emptiness.

[@PillarofGarbage]

🎯

[@alephmale3171]

Also congrats on the great last video’s success! Keep it up bro!

[@obelustilde9427]

I'm sorry for being that guy, but it's actually an icosahedron. (Ironically I'm kinda doing the cultural capital thing here...) But that's a great point. The one-way mirrors make something like an inside out Glass Onion, where the simple core is the frame on the outside and the act of looking through the transparent layers is what creates the illusion of infinite complexity.

[@alephmale3171]

@@obelustilde9427 Thank you for the geometry correction! Haha, I knew I was shooting from the hip at that part. 😂

[@hcxpl1]

That (specially the "lack of critical awareness" bit) made me think of those people who say they (or their ideas) are better bc they aren't tainted by ideology, but it is in many ways a glass onion in of itself, since it is impossible to work without a frame of reference what they see as impartial is simply something that has become invisible to them, but to anyone looking from the outside the structure is clear to see.

[@N0B0DYSM0THER]

I love that you brought up the Mona Lisa at 11:30 because it is such a massive tell for Miles's character! A painting not initially made famous for its merit alone, but because of how many times it was vandalized or stolen from the Louvre. Watching the scene when he revealed it, I thought it looked too big to be it, It's only like 2.5ft.x1.5ft. Miles has to be overcompensating for something!

[@MadameTamma]

And of course he gives the whole speech as to what's so great about the painting. Talking about her expression and eyes, and so on. It's the exact same things anyone who doesn't know a ton about art/art history but wants to SOUND intellectual and knowledgeable, says about the Mona Lisa. He sounds like he's paraphrasing a script. (I don't want to tell anyone that they can't or shouldn't be moved by any piece of artwork whether it be considered high or low art, but there's a difference between being passionate about something and being a snob who just wants to be seen as superior for liking the "correct" things)

[@goldstarsforall]

The best thing about the Mona Lisa scene is that the painting Miles has is obviously canvas (by how it burns). The Mona Lisa is famously painted on wood which would not burn the way it was shown in the movie. A lot of the modern art paintings Miles had were hung upside down (the red blue Rothko is shown with the blue at the top when it's actually at the bottom). There are many ways you can see this But most people I see analysing this on tumblr think that it shows that Miles is only there for the capitalism of art. There is no actual love and attention to the things around him, he does not care for the history they have (like the history he had with andi) only that it makes them look cool. The Rothko is featured heavily and so is the painting of Miles pretending to be in Fight Club. That Film is often perceived by 'alpha men' as a somewhat Hand Book as it created thr Alpha Beta stereotype, and they have a lot of sex. It also introduces ' the only rule is that their are no rules'. Miles would probably agree with this ans the whims 'disrupting thing' the same way Elon musk completely didn't understand The Matrix. However The Fight Club is actually about classism and whole bunch of other things. I Would love for someone to go further into all the art. I think It's so cool that Miles was protecting a fake Mona Lisa and hung a Rothko upside down and the fight Club Reference. Rain Johnson is a Master mind in using The set to also Tell the story.

[@sighcology]

@@goldstarsforall I wouldn't say it was 'famously' painted on a wood panel, it's not something the average person would know about the painting. The way it burned in the film is just a visual simplification, for the sake of the viewer. Had it burned the way the real one would burn, it would just confuse the average viewer (who, in their mind, knows what a burning painting would look like) We've already suspended our disbelief seeing that Miles has the 'actual' Mona Lisa, we can suspend it a bit more

[@abiean222]

@@sighcology i think i like the idea that the mona lisa miles has is fake, with it being on canvas as the tell. we the average viewer don't know that the mona lisa was painted on wood, thats something only someone who is either an art connoisseur or someone who is obsessed with the mona lisa would know. miles is stated to be of the later option, but also someone who wants to be known as the former too. its a great way of showing just how shallow he is that he couldn't even spot the real mona lisa from a fake, when he believes and acts like someone who should.

[@ianfromthephilippines]

Yes I don’t know that the mona lisa is painted on wood but it also add more layers to the story. I can guess the curators at the louvre are thinking a open invitation to borrow the mona lisa was a mistake especially to a loud and annoying billionaire. So rather than risk it, they give him a copy of the mona lisa and put he real one in storage. And should anything happen to the fakena lisa, the louvre can blackmail the billionaire into stay silent about it.

[@MechanistGamma]

There’s something I realized when first watching the film that wasn’t touched on here, and I think it’s an interesting talking point - just before this scene, during Lionel’s introduction, Lionel tells his superiors(?) that Miles is the one who gives the ideas and Lionel is the one who makes them a reality. But then we see what Miles actually does - spew out some barely-correlated gibberish on a fax machine. Miles is an IDEA GUY, and as far as the company goes, Lionel and his coworkers at Alpha are the ones who actually make his crazy ideas work by turning vague statements into an actual concept.

[@PillarofGarbage]

Good spot - another way the opening tells you the answer!

[@PandoraBear357]

Yes! If you can't bring an idea into reality, than as Homer Simpson said in the Elon Musk episode, "sky pie is lie pie."

[@Tortoise-1a]

also that 'child=NFT' thing made me laugh quite a lot for no reason, i'm not a big laugher either that just got me hysterical

[@michael.471]

Not to mention his ideas sound super dodgy. Crypto for kids is such a ghoulish concept when you actually stop and think about it.

[@silverkyre]

@@Tortoise-1a I knew from that moment it was a classic oh that guy is an idiot lol

[@Plexdet]

The even better part about this is that the real disruptor being Helen, taking a hammer to the puzzle and bringing Blanc in. Also it shows that the only truly skilled person in the whole group was Andi. I’m legitimately surprised they didn’t bring up the fact that Miles sending her an invitation despite her death is probably the ONLY good decision he made.

[@elbruces]

That was a really horrible decision. He would have gotten away with everything if he hadn't sent her an invitation, which she then used to get both her and Blanc onto the island. Given their history, him not inviting her would be perfectly explainable.

[@schoolchild-_-895]

I doubt Miles even considered whether or not to send a box to Andi. He’s been having these trip for years so he probably mailed the invitation as a sort of automatic list of five people.

[@Chirp331]

I’d say instead that it was a dumb decision on his part. Why would you send an invitation to someone you killed? Even if you look at it from the standpoint of “If I don’t send this invitation then later on it looks like I knew something about her death” that strain of logic falls apart. They were on the outs. Dead or Alive, why invite her?

[@ayaretgonzalez27078]

He couldn’t get away with the murder if it was investigated that he unordered andie’s box after her murder he didn’t think he’d have to kill her cause he thought she would never find the napkin after the trial and they would have found her dead before the box got to her, he didn’t count on them hiding her death and he didn’t stay to see her die

[@NancyDrew56]

To be fair, puzzle boxes take a minimum of months to make so he probably had her on the list before any of the trial/klear/company stuff went down and just forgot about it

[@Mario_Angel_Medina]

Another interesting detail in the opening scene is that the disruptors inmediately call eachother after the puzzle arrives to them. Tests like those are supposed to meassure an idividual's intelligence, so it would be cheating and worthless to solve them as a group... and at first it sort of gives an idea along the lines of "Miles Bron is such a genious that you need the combined intellect of four successful people to solve his puzzles"... except I'm not sure anyone of them actually solves a puzzle by themselves, Duke's mom give like three of the answers, Birdie's assistant Peg also recognizes a couple of them, Claire's husband tries to help too (with questionable results) and near the end Birdie looks up one of the answers in google, you end up thinking "this people are idiots and and have neither the intelligence nor the strenght of character to deal with a real murder mystery, this will be a farce on the levels of _Murder, by Death"_ and your suspicions are reinforced when Blanc says that he got an invitation in a wooden box with "children puzzles"... but the main point is, the opening scene shows the problem with trying to implement a meritocratic system: people will cooperate with eachother instead of compete when it's benefits them, because their only real rule is to seek success by any means necessary

[@Phoenix_NH]

To be fair, Blanc doesn’t know what was inside the box except the remnants of destroyed games. You can’t take his “children’s games” comment to heart for what he says.

[@Mario_Angel_Medina]

@@Phoenix_NH good point, is a missdirection to both Miles and the audience... also, later in the movie Blanc says he's very bad at _Clue_ because he can't follow dumb rules (the same reason why he lost almost inmediately while playing _Among Us)_ ... maybe I'm reading to much into a small joke but it could be further proof that those puzzles can't really test the intellect of someone

[@DeathnoteBB]

@@Phoenix_NH …But he’s right. It’s literally filled with children’s games. Magic Eye, a toy abacus, chess. All things kids play with.

[@YonatanZunger]

The use of the Mona Lisa speaks to exactly this, too. It's primarily famous for being famous - for being "the most expensive piece of art in the world." It's honestly... not even that good. It's not _bad_ or anything, but its fame is all about reputation. And Miles' idolization of it takes that even further - he wants to be as famous as it. There's nothing about its intrinsic qualities that even comes up.

[@michael.471]

It actually only became famous *following* its high class theft.

[@evanjuleen]

Mona Lisa is the first Paris Hilton? Famous for nothing. 😂

[@marocat4749]

I like the theory the mona lisa might be based on leos pupil. whi is called little devil lovingly, why she smiles so mischiefous. And wasnt he known by being stolen, or was that another?

[@JohnHughesChampigny]

@@evanjuleen Paris Hilton is actually a successful businesswoman, way smarter than "Miles".

[@michael.471]

@@marocat4749 The Mona Lisa did rise to prominence in it being stolen, yes. It was for a time hung in the bathroom of the French king.

[@marilucs]

Also, about the box: we kinda see half of the puzzles being solved by others, not The Disruptors. Like Duke's mom, or the guy at the party. Besides, they need to call each other to resolve them together, cuz they're not smart enough to do it on their own

[@tashikat9040]

The guy at the party was Yo-Yo Ma, which I thought was pretty funny just for that. He random signifier of class, but someone that none of them recognise or aknowledge as such. And his revelation about the puzzle itself wasn't... Really a logical linking to "Lift the thing in the middle and you'll get more". It honestly felt like a fancy mental masturbation.

[@ChristopherFreeman0032]

@@tashikat9040 yeah it brought me back to those old reading posters in school he was on.

[@LaneMaxfield]

I noticed that too! Lionel solves most of them, and the rest just copy his answers, and whenever he is stumped someone like Yo-yo Ma or Duke's Mom chimes in with the solution. I thought it was an interesting bit of foreshadowing that most of them aren't all that good at anything, just good at spinning a narrative that keeps them in the spotlight while people around them do the real work.

[@tashikat9040]

@@LaneMaxfield There's also the fact that, basically, the two people who actually have done work and built Miles' empire were the only two black people in his social group. He stole Alpha, and relied almost exclusively on Lionel to make the business work. That isn't accidental.

[@LaneMaxfield]

@@tashikat9040 Yeah... Doesn't remind me of anywhere I've actually worked. Nope. Not a bit.

[@dalellll]

It's truly insane timing that the whole Twitter fiasco unfolded after the movie was completed, and as it was coming out...

[@dr.braxygilkeycruises1460]

Also, *Miles Bron* is an anagram for *"Mr B is Elon"* 😁

[@RickReasonnz]

@@dr.braxygilkeycruises1460 Wait... huh... HAHAHAHA... Oh nice.

[@MariaFernandazz]

@@dr.braxygilkeycruises1460 hahahah

[@onbearfeet]

I used to work in college admissions consulting for wealthy families, so I spent a lot of time in mansions full of unappreciated but expensive objects. Every time I walked in and met a new set of millionaire parents, I was expected to prove that I "deserved" to be where I was standing. And every time, I did it by waving the right signifiers: I'd quote an aphorism in Latin, reference Shakespeare, let slip a little of the Mid-Atlantic accent my grandmother learned from books for fancy occasions. (She was a brilliant farm kid from Ohio who needed to sound posh as an adult.) That always worked better than any demonstrations of my actual intelligence--like the fact that I could do complex geometric calculations in my head, or that I wrote my first novel at 8 years old because I was afraid I'd run out of new books to read at the public library. The trick was always to seem smart, but non-threatening. Rich people don't like the idea that their servants might be cleverer than they are; I was acceptable only so long as I made a good status symbol for them. After all, if I was that flavor of classy and clever, I made them seem that much classier and cleverer themselves ... until I did something they couldn't. I laughed myself SICK at Glass Onion. Especially knowing that the people who saw through the facade of class and privilege were a gay man and a Black woman who ended the movie with a Mona Lisa smile.

[@PillarofGarbage]

Great read, thanks for sharing!

[@PaulRWorthington]

That all sounds like a basis for a great novel!

[@Daedalus675]

Who's the gay man?

[@DotRD12]

@@Daedalus675 Benoit Blanc himself. The guy who opens the door at his house is his partner

[@nailinthefashion]

Are you single? Hey, wanna date and marry me???? You writing that book is one of the most charming and whimsical things I've ever seen. How fun. It's like Matilda but even better somehow.

[@trinaq]

I love how in both this film and the original, Daniel Craig receives top billing, with the murderer getting credited secondly, and the murder victim receiving the "And" billing.

[@gabehere]

@@testcase6997 I love how you felt the need to investigate such an insignificant use of idioms in online communication.

[@testcase6997]

@@breadtunes Do you think I’m not calm? How am I “riled up and acting like my dog was shot” for criticizing someone’s banal point?

[@brianmallet2298]

@@testcase6997 I LOVE how much you went out of your own way to be bothered by this. Meanwhile OP still enjoys this movie perfectly fine.

[@testcase6997]

@@brianmallet2298 I didn’t go out of my way at all. I made a reply because his comment is annoying.

[@testcase6997]

@Mr. Unlucky What does that mean?

[@DrW33kend]

I gotta type it here cause it's been stabbing me in the brain since is rewatched the movie. Helen does exactly what miles said "the disruptors" do in a wider sense. She SMASHED and kept on smashing well after the others were comfortable. She FORCED those fools to throw themselves in the fire for some old painting. She broke shit when and where it needed to be broken for all the right reasons. God what a satisfying end.

[@leskrapps7021]

Oookay

[@thoth7858]

I was so confused when the chess puzzle was shown and said to be an "endgame", because these are supposed to be geniuses getting a difficult puzzle box to solve. Yet it's clearly an opening, not an endgame, and it's the objectively worst opening for black. The position is known as "Fool's mate", and is famous for being the fastest way to end a game via checkmate.

[@DeathnoteBB]

I mean, in that sense it IS an endgame, though. The game sure is about to end.

[@enlongjones2394]

Another thing to note; our protagonist smashes the box apart to get to the thing at its center, similar to how she destroys the building to make the truth known in the end. And the fact that the box contains a card, which reminds me of the red envelope at the center of the building.

[@dalellll]

Also the box contained a card inside a glass onion, and the envelope was in the Glass Onion room

[@colonelweird]

I'm surprised you didn't mention another plot parallel: Helen smashes the signifiers of cultural capital both in the opening sequence and in the film's climax.

[@PillarofGarbage]

Yeah, wrote this in another comment but I was planning to do another video around Helen’s role here specifically and didn’t want to repeat part of that here - but in retrospect that was probably the wrong call :(

[@colonelweird]

@PillarofGarbage Well I certainly wouldn't object to another video! I just watched the film again, and there's so much to take in. It's worth analyzing in many different ways. You mentioned Glass Onion isn't moralistic - that's true. But it has a solid moral center. Its takedowns of the absurdity and narcissism of the rich and powerful are relentless and cutting. I suspect that's the real reason Ben Shapiro found it intolerable - he knows the film is laughing at people like him.

[@justaghostinthesea]

One thing I'm just now noticing is that all the statues in the Glass Onion's living room (?) are all made of glass. Objects, created to be admired for their appearance, made out of a transparent substance, defeating the point of having them.

[@PillarofGarbage]

Another great point!

[@merchantarthurn]

...you realise glass artwork is very common because despite it's transparency, it can still be seen, right? glass artwork is often very beautiful, especially when you've got an appreciation for how difficult the craft is. the silly thing about them is that they're on these flimsy little plinths without anything stopping these incredibly fragile pieces from being knocked over - he has little appreciation for displaying them in ways that use light to make them really stand out, and seemingly don't care about the blood and sweat that goes into this sort of work (given how flippantly they're displayed)

[@justaghostinthesea]

@@merchantarthurn Well, I'm speaking from a moreso metaphorical standpoint than a literal one.

[@newdarkcloud]

@@merchantarthurn While true, it also works metaphorically, because even the tables around the living room, and the piano, are made of glass The entire facade isn't just transparent, but fragile. The moment anyone realizes that, the realize that everything about the Glass Onion, everything about Miles Bron, is exceptionally easy to break. The material itself can't stand up to rudimentary force or scrutiny.

[@marocat4749]

Them not being secured bettr even more

[@lrrroftheplanetomicronpersei8]

Yo-Yo Ma's explanation of a fugue also explains the narrative of the story - it layers (like an onion?) back on itself and gives itself new meaning.

[@JohnDavidRivera]

Duke's mom mentions the Fibonacci sequence and later the napkin is found at the center of the Fibonacci spiral.

[@calvinjohnson6242]

I don’t know… I think the puzzle box does test real cleverness to a certain point. Thinking to physically turn the box North is very clever, for example. I think if that is what was intended, the puzzle box would be all high class trivia stuff, as opposed to some of it requiring real thinking. I presume the main purpose of the puzzle box is that we attribute it to Miles, but we learn later he didn’t actually make the box. The secondary purpose is to show that you don’t actually have to solve anything, because you could just open it up with a hammer like Helen does, as another example of a Glass Onion. The third purpose is to misdirect us to think that it couldn’t have been the “Andy” character that invited Blanc, since that was the box that was destroyed.

[@PillarofGarbage]

I take your point, but from what we’re shown, ‘thinkers’ like that seem to be the exception, rather than the norm + I think there’s an angle from the (necessary?) simplicity of the few *real* puzzles (this and the missing tile bit) kinda supports the later point I’m making about the failure of ‘puzzle-boxes-as-justification-for-status’. But yeah, not every part of the opening sequence directly contributes to the reading of it I’m giving here, so I don’t think this is the *primary* purpose of it - the other ones you raise here probably take precedence - but I do think it’s an interesting layer to consider, a layer that works, and one which was (probably?) intentional.

[@calvinjohnson6242]

@@PillarofGarbage I agree that it’s interesting to consider. I’m sure there’s a chance that some of what you said in the video was intentionally set. I still don’t agree that the boxes were put into the movie with high class knowledge in mind, but I do think the puzzle boxes do fail as a justification for status. Thinking on it more, I find that the real message of the box is the exact same as the movie. “It may appear very complex, but it really isn’t.” There is nothing brilliant about hiring a puzzle guy to make some puzzle boxes, and the puzzles wouldn’t even be that hard for your average Googler. Ultimately, you might as well just open it up with a hammer and save yourself the time. I don’t necessarily agree with that, as I like puzzles, but it is fitting for the movie.

[@Narutonarutonaruto85]

Yeah, that was a fun misdirect. I remember saying "That rules out Andi" to my family when Blanc was explaining himself to Miles. Granted I was technically right, as Andi wasn't the one who gave him the box. He also never said he opened it.

[@Katwind]

About the missing tile, that does need some spatial intelligence to beat, but solving it didn't do anything, it was realizing what the N meant that did it. And the thing about that kind of puzzle is that you need to figure out what the solved picture looks like before you can start, which means that puzzle was skippable all along.

[@calvinjohnson6242]

@@Katwind Not necessarily. They could have been moving the pieces around randomly for a while, getting excited whenever they matched up. I don’t think the scrambled N would look like an N at first. And knowing what an N means is only half the battle. You have to actually think to turn the box North. Knowing that an N means North isn’t even high class knowledge. That’s common knowledge. Picking up on it while solving a puzzle, however, requires intellect. I disagree that the puzzle box doesn’t require solving skills.

[@BigK13372]

I think what I like about the puzzle scene is that it all reminds me of that test scene from Men in Black. Basically as part of the recruitment process, a bunch of highly decorated officers who are defined as the best of the best are brought in to see if they are worthy candidates for the program. Most of the men, sans James, assumed they would be tested through their knowledge and skills via the written quiz they must answer and shooting range they partake in; but in actuallity the REAL test is on how much they can think outside the box and displaying independent thinking, which James pass easily in the scene. Basically the Disrupters ARE those officers who blindly follow that test under the false secruity that they are part of some special class who earn the privilege taking part in some special test; wheres more pragmatic ordinary outsiders like Helen and James saw through the bullshit and just went with a simpler solution in the teat they come across.

[@DeathnoteBB]

I mean, those men in MIB were qualified, if the job was normal. The Shitheads aren’t qualified to BE shit.

[@eoinmcnolty5712]

I feel like another interesting is all the other characters, how they are overcompensating, how they strut around like these over the top characters who are extremly sophisticated but as you said in reality its nothing but a facade and what really proves this is how Helen, someone who does not come from this wealth is able to outsmart and outplay them and also figure out everything about them and peel back these layers so quickly throughout the film. I think the fact that she is able to do this shows how disconnected we are to the upper class and how we see them as these gods who are extremly sophisticated but in reality if someone who is smart like Helen or Blanc is put in a room with them they are easily able to peel back the layers of their facade.

[@auraguard0212]

Blanc is essentially upper-class, though.

[@xxmidnight12xx18]

I absolutely loved that it wasn’t the “smart” people who entirely solved the puzzles. It was the people in the background, the ones who were family or friends, not the “disrupters.” While they might have been able to do it themselves eventually, I just thought it was funny that the ones who weren’t on the inside of the group knew how to solve it.

[@DeathnoteBB]

Yeah I love the foreshadowing that the “disruptors” aren’t as disruptive as they want to think they are. They’re the status quo.

[@kafkaesque_666]

it's also interesting to note that Hellen, by simply breaking open the box, is able to see beyond the facade of complexity that almost desperately attempt to solve. Thus reinforcing the motif of the "glass onion"

[@johnsonw.7853]

These points you made reminds me of the scene when Helen is talking about the "Rich Bitch" voice Casandra was using. She tried to use her voice to sound more sophisticated, but she didn't have to. She was really the heart and soul of The Disruptors, and Miles stole her thunder. They didn't realize it until it was too late.

[@brianthomas2434]

When I saw "Cassandra " smash the box instead of solving the puzzles, I immediately remembered the legend of Alexander the Great and the Gordian Knot.

[@PillarofGarbage]

Planning to touch on this in the next video!

[@zac_94]

Something else I think that’s note-worthy is how the scene ends: Helen smashing it with a hammer. Unlike everyone else she isn’t a member of this group. She isn’t interested in the performative BS that Miles and everyone else puts on. One look at this box and she already knew it wasn’t worth much time. By the time we get to the end EVERYONE is tired of Miles and instead of playing along with his game of “make-believe genius” they take a cue from Helen. When she starts smashing even more of his pretty, pointless things they kinda seem shocked like “we can do that?” and it’s all over from there. They bought in to the idea that Miles was a misunderstood genius but Helen revealed just how hollow he actually is. His “genius” is basically undone by a hammer.

[@mycollegeshirt]

Honestly this is what I feel about most intellectualizing, if you can name Beethoven's works you're brilliant but know all Derek Jeter's best plays your normal neither is more difficult than the other but there it is. As a programmer a lot of times your considered brilliant I'd you can understand code but tbh. I've never met a programmer who couldn't solve a problem eventually. Giving up seems to be a larger problem than actual intellect.

[@DeathnoteBB]

Basically yeah. It’s why I love the anime Food Wars. The main character isn’t a genius or special, he just refuses to give up.

[@bernardorosas6878]

I thought it was just going to be a comparison of the "Disruptors" slowly peeling the layers of the puzzle box while Helen just smashes it to pieces, making something seemingly complex actually very simple. But it went so much harder than that and I loved it

[@elkwolf2888]

Reminds me of a math problem in middle school. In order to understand what kind of equation you were working with, you had to understand the baseball jargon being used. I was very angry, because I knew not only however made the problem had a bias, but everyone who approved it and kept using it in their class. Also, the glass union only had one layer. And it shattered easily.

[@soop1641]

The same thing can be said about how they even choose to solve the puzzles, as it is shown there is nothing stopping them from just busting it open with a hammer, but the characters, and at least me at the beginning of the film, assumed there would be for something so impressively made.

[@seakhajiit]

"You will also be competing to solve the mystery of my murder" really takes on a whole new meaning on rewatch

[@adammyers7383]

As always, great work PoG! I didn’t put any of this together. You know, from this angle, it actually is another instance of Miles’ lack of intelligence--because he didn’t design the boxes. He just okayed them when he thought they were good enough. It feeds the image that he understands all of it, but in all likelihood he wouldn’t have been able to solve the first layer of the box.

[@packman2321]

Thought this one was fascinating. I actually watched this movie over new years having seen your Ben Shapiro video on it and found it incredible that, even when I was going in aware that Miles Bron was an idiot, I still overestimated him to such a degree. I had him pegged as a sort of shallow, tech-bro dummy who might have some skill but was overselling it with pretentiousness. So when I got to the flashbacks and his plan is literally 'Yell 'Hey everyone look at that dress!'' and hand the drink off, I was amazed at how far his trick had worked on me. On cultural capital I definitely feel that one in education. The uni I went to assumed that you would know that you had to arrive a week before the term date listed on their website, which we only knew because my brother also went there. I do like that your examples pulled in modes of practice and body comportment too with the fork etiquette (Bourdieu is something of my jam, so I felt very called out by Meg in the first film as someone who's both interested in social justice academically and way more privileged than I probably acknowledge).

[@marocat4749]

Honestly th only thing that should be nessesary is the desert set, and the fish knife. Who the hell has up to 7 sets, like 3 in soup main desert ok, but more? And thats knowing a bit from that. And over that it really gets , very complicated for sake of complicated?! An yeah wine glasses, ar fance, and in good red wine lt it breath better and make the aroma felt, and it feels fancy, (through you can drink anything out of wineglasses too and it be fancy) . Also wine and that can be ist there and regional and , be actually really good, but also like sold as super fancy, but also its fair to just fillit up with water, and its as legit, th white, the red is more having the flavour you houldnt , like good chocolate. I man relatives from a wine area, wine is not high class, its low class too. and ciollege parties, have wine too. Not strictly high class at all. Jut dont strech actually good wine ok.

[@Apudurangdinya]

I agreed, college kids act like they are 10x smarter than they really are, always annoyed me they tried to bring up 'sophisticated' topic in conversation just to show off what they read/watch a day ago with shallow understanding of it, acting like an expert on a subject they barely dip their finger into, in the end just wanting to subject an image into everyone else how smart they are, I am dumb but I am eager not just to learn but also to understand, that's why I learn things, but nowadays knowledge like a status symbol, chasing something shallow just to boost their image. Once a girl came up to me asking what movies I like and then goes full 20 minutes monologue on her favourite director and "movie analyze" she claim she discovered herself while I fully knew some youtuber already uploaded the same analysis, word by word. It's strange and sad at the same time

[@felixvelariusbos]

I think others can say more intelligent things to the rest of what you said, so I just want to focus on one specific thing: I LOVED the fact that Miles distracted everybody from his murder of Duke with "hey look at that dress!" Why do I love it? Because that's Magic 101 Misdirection babyyyy. That's the first thing you learn with magic tricks, how to distract attention from what you're really doing. The core: your eyes are automatically drawn to showy colors, big movements, and movements that are UP. You want a coin to disappear, you "put" it in your hand, hold your hand up high and tell everybody "I HAVE NOW PUT THE COIN IN MY HAND, please keep an eye on it so you know I'm not doing anything fishy". All while with your other hand that's by your side, you tuck the coin away in your pocket. Hell, get people in on it, I once had all the kids that wanted to grip my hand so they could make sure it wouldn't escape (nevermind the fact that it had never been there in the first place). Big movement up, quietly do what you need to do low down and/or as part of another move, make a big deal about something else so anybody who may have started to catch on gets caught up in something else and forgets. Voila! "Magic." This is /exactly/ what Miles does. He starts to sit down with a drink in his hand. As he's doing so, he both points UP at Birdie with her beautiful dress ("This is my beautiful assistant who will aid me in this magical adventure!"). He also as part of the movement of sitting, quietly hands Duke the cup with the other hand, (small movements low down). Bam. Deed is done, nobody was paying attention, and if they did they were too busy watching Birdie to really commit it to memory. That's what Miles is. A showman, a magician. A practitioner of tricks and misdirection and ultimately, pretending to be something you're not. Which to me sums up his character pretty well.

[@BunAndDun]

What I love about the puzzles is that not only are they all only just little puzzles as you said, but there is no connection, no through line, no narrative or central theme. It's the flashy veneer of a genius with none of deeper understanding that geniuses have.

[@concrete_dog]

My favourite part of that puzzle box is how it really only takes one person with a hammer to dismantle this entire farse of sophistication. It's inspiring for sure.

[@Travelling_with_my_dog]

My favorite moments of my first watch were: Duke's mom solving the puzzles right away; Helen smashing the box to "solve" the puzzle. They both are seeing through Bron from the get-go.

[@HughJanusDaHorseshoeCrab]

Something that not a lot of people talk about is how Blanc playing Among Us relates to Miles (no really) Miles is slowly killing off the various people in an enclosed space and is trying to deflect those killings onto the others, and he's defeated by his friends voting him out after an emergency meeting In the same way that Miles is like the imposter from Among Us, Miles is an actual imposter, faking his intelligence and class

[@PillarofGarbage]

that's... brilliant

[@PickledThyme1]

What I really love is his obsession with the Mona Lisa, the most famous painting that only became famous because it was stolen, not because of its artistic prowess. Miles, too, wants to be famous, not for his own merit, but from merely drawing attention. Of course, Miles didn't know any of that; he's an idiot.

[@amalofoto]

This reminds me of Ready Player one in its game of understanding references. While ready Player one plays it straight and venerates merely getting references, Glass onion subverts it by showing how this is merely a surface level game that shouldn't even really call itself a puzzle. The characters in glass onion don't have that classical street cred, but even if they had, it wouldn't be proven by this box. The puzzles are so simple and don't go past the first thought you'd need to solve them, just like Miles art collection. Usually, art collectors want an eclectic collection full of pieces that stand out and have merit apart from being famous - miles is not an art collector, he's a money launderer in love with prestige. The Mona Lisa is the mere CONCEPT of a famous work of art. All the other Art is instantly recognizable to be very famous, too. But it's only about prestige for Miles - he doesn't care that the bathroom doesn't provide the proper climate for a work of art, or to keep the Mona Lisa really safe, or even to look up how that Rothko should be hung properly. As for the "puzzles" - The chess one is an opening anyone who ever started reading a chess book would know (not at all the end game that Claire implied), and especially the fuge one is really disappointing, because its solution is literally just pulling on the knob, nothing as clever as the appearance of yoyo ma would imply. And finally - miles didn't even make it himself.

[@Niojoki]

I loved this analysis and at least it showed me once again that - no matter how high you might think of yourself or how much you have studied in a specific field - if you don't know how life works then all that wisdom is worth nothing

[@remilius1]

When I thought about it, i personally find it more simple. The boxes were a work of art, genuinely sophisticated, however Miles himself says that he didn't make them, and he simply has a puzzle guy to do it for him. As a member of the elite, he is able to use money to bluff to have the knowledge expected of the elite.

[@fnunez]

Another example of cultural capital in the movie is the gauntlet of puzzles the big tech companies used to make you solve as part of the job interview. It was supposed to prove your high levels of intelligence, when in reality if you're a puzzle nerd you can just sail through them because you've already seen them all. Ironically Google, one of those high tech firms, is the biggest reason they don't ask any more why manhole covers are round.

[@MrSilvUr]

Also, Helen takes the direct, simple, intelligent approach if just smashing the damn box open. It was very satisfying. And it's the glass onion metaphor: She doesn't peel away the layers; she smashes her way right to the heart of the matter. It's also a reference to Alexander's chopping through the Gordian knot. She might not have had the background necessary to make the connection, which makes her solution more impressive. I did get the reference though, because I'm sophisticated.

[@randomcenturion7264]

Reminds me of the Orks from 40K. They're not stupid, just simple. If smashing something gets the job done, it's not stupid.

[@rebeccajesse4604]

lol and I only knew the gordian knot reference because I enjoy epic rap battles of history!

[@tinkergnomad]

I'm glad you pointed out Duke's mom starting the whole puzzle solving process. I noticed nearly everyone had help.

[@MegaLickitung]

I love that when Blanc talks to Miles about the glass onion being a metaphor you can tell he had never thought about it that way or ever considered it to really mean anything.

[@tristanskywalker1998]

My favorite part about this film is rewatching it and noticing all the clues and hints that you didn't see before. A first-time viewer with a really keen eye could totally piece together the mystery on their own before the big reveal.

[@TheKrstff]

The infinity mirror D20 in Miles’s office is one of my favorite clues to what is really going on. It looks deep and complex, when really it’s just lights and mirrors.

[@podemosurss8316]

Another point is how the detective (who was supposed to not be invited) solved the puzzle without any issue and called it a "very easy game"... And it kind of is: First: A Stereogram is an optical illusion of a 3D object, but you need to watch it from the right angle in order to do that. They're not uncommon (and there are a lot of "optical games" featuring them). Second: A chess game, which, as mentioned by Laura isn't an endgame but an opening, and one extremely famous (the fool's mate). Third: An extremely easy message in Morse Code (which was and still is extremely important for communications, to the point that it's part of the curriculum at military academies). Fourth: A moving piece game. Those are extremely easy to find, and that one in particular doesn't seem hard. Fifth: The N representing "North" in a compass would be very obvious. Sixth: That's one of Bach's most famous fugues, the "little fugue in G minor". (Also one of my favourites). Also, you wouldn't even need to know the term "fugue" to realise that's what happens with the melody... Seventh: The Fibonacci sequence is one of the most famous math sequences ever, owing its name to the medieval mathematician Fibonacci (who also introduced the Arabic numerals into Europe). It's a kind of sequence in which each number is the sum of the two previous ones. In many European countries it's part of the highschool curriculum. Eight: The atomic numbers are something you're supposed to learn in highschool (as part of the chemistry curriculum), plus one of them is literally a chemist so he should know. A kid could have solved the quizz without any issues whatsoever.

[@MrJCarter8]

Another reason to love this masterpiece of a film!!

[@danielshore6264]

I would say that this is the 'Go Scene' of glass onion it explains each person and their character, most notably how they aren't genius' or disruptors as evidenced by them solving the puzzles by mostly getting help from other people. Basically it highlights how each character is a sham. The smae was with the go scene, harlan says that marta always beats him, marta says it is because she tries to make something pretty (showcasing her worldview and kindness) whereas he is playing to win, which its revealed ransom was the only other person to beat harlan (which in the end he did beat him by killing him) and we assume he plays it like Harlan (with an end goal/ulterior motive).

[@lock_checker4342]

Great writing!!

[@liamfitzgerald1400]

Top notch analysis. Rock on, Pillar

[@PillarofGarbage]

🤘

[@bryh555]

Rian is good at making and flushing out characters. Between this scene and the scene where they arrive on the dock, you learn so much about the central characters just by how they interact and behave. He's really good at this 'show, don't tell' approach to movies. I can't wait to see more Blanc and the future characters we meet in his adventures

[@kidalex77]

You're the first KZbinr to point this out. I said it in a random comment on a video

[@PillarofGarbage]

Great minds think alike 😎

[@marielmorenolarrinaga862]

My mom had a comment at the end of the movie: “well, honestly not even Andi was that bright, if she found Bron and thought he was worth being introduced to the group”.

[@RudieObias]

Rian Johnson is great at foreshadowing. His films tell you everything you need to know at the very start. I’d also put Edgar Wright in that category too

[@friendoftheoyster3906]

My favorite part is that Miles didnt even make the box or the puzzles, he paid someone else to do it

[@seerpou]

i mean the man had a button to remove the mona lisa from its protective glass. that was a huge giveaway of his idiocy

[@Huwbacca]

Haha even worse.... Because it's a murder mystery, that a lot of people watch for the satisfaction of feeling good, it's doing to the audience the same things that it does to the characters. It's gives us things to recognise that make us seem clever and smart, but it's nothing to do with logical skills or deduction but our ability to recognise those particular higher class cultural entities. Just like the cameos, we feel good because "oh how smart am I! I know yoyo ma, and Angela Lansbury, and what a Fibonacci sequence is" The same way the disrupters believe miles is a genius, is the same way a big portion of this audience feel they're clever when watching it and we're directly mocked lol.

[@awesomacher7312]

5:59 It frustrated me while I was watching the movie. The chess endgame isn’t an endgame but it’s rather the fastest way to get checkmated, called the “fools mate” after watching this video it makes more sense

[@benjaminwaters241]

More Glass Onion takes please! Although I'm a relatively new subscriber, not the last video about Ben Shapiro but Peterson the Modernist, so take my feedback with a grain of salt

[@neofromthewarnerbrothersic145]

Every line in this movie hits so much different the 2nd time around. On 2nd viewing I paid closer attention to the puzzle box scene, and started wondering if the whole puzzle could be seen as a representation of Miles, and/or a microcosm of the story. Starting with the first step, the stereogram. In order to enter Miles' world/mind, you can't see things clearly, you have to alter/blur your perspective. I think this speaks to his "reality distortion field", which Andy mentions later. Then the box opens up almost like a venus fly trap and we get the chess board. Someone else in the comments who actually knows chess already broke it down, but if we accept the movie's version, it's an "endgame set up for a mate in one". I think this means Miles is a one trick pony... or maybe it's alluding to how he made them all "checkmate" Andy for him in court? The rest of the puzzles I didn't pick up anything specific. But when it's done, they all ominously flip the switch together and the "venus fly trap" opens again. When Claire grabs the invitation out, the shot is framed with the box much larger in the foreground so it looks like she's caught in it. Then it goes to Helen, and she symbolically smashes the whole thing, just like she smashes Miles' house later. [shrug] Am I reading things that aren't there... or did I miss some things?

[@peterterry7918]

I agree that the argument is what the movie is saying in this box opening sequence. I think that it says a bit more. I think that all of them have doubts about their own legitimacy which is why they follow Miles' rules for getting what they want. None of them are true disrupters, except Helen (probably Cassandra too, but the evidence is strong for Helen) who is given the box and brutally and efficiently solved it like Alexander the Great and the Gordian knot. Both Helen and Alexander were the greatest disrupters of the world they each lived in. While I would agree that recognizing "Signifiers" is not equivalent to or a marker of genius, it isn't mutually exclusive or without meaning. We have no idea about the life, bank account or mental capacity of Duke's mother. We only know that she seems to be a contradiction of Duke's Twitch viewpoint. I would guess that she is more special than Duke and has more self confidence.

[@PillarofGarbage]

Right - on the Duke’s mum point, I’m more going off the fact that her house (while still pretty nice) is by far the most modest dwelling we see in the film, and lots of the decor seems to be Duke’s. Within the film, that does seem to stand in opposition to the lavish world of the ‘disrupters’ we see I’m sure she’s a successful person in many ways none of the disrupters are - but just going off what the film gives us, she doesn’t seem to be on their material level. (And re: Helen as true disrupter, I think you’re bang on - digging into that is what I was thinking of doing were I to make another GO video!)

[@peterterry7918]

Fair enough, movies being a visual medium there is an inherent bias toward judging based on what we see. Our brain uses pattern recognition to assess our circumstances and is so much faster than our thinking processes. This makes presumption a vital tool for any medium where directors worry about how much time it takes to tell their story. As a counterpoint (just some good natured fun) I would offer the real world example of Warren Buffet, and we have no idea how Lionel decorates his domicile. In any case, I like how you analyze and summarize, so I will keep an eye out for more of your vids! Cheers!

[@Dishinshoryuken]

His mother is not any more special. She just comes from a different time. This is shown by her smacking her grown man son She has done these puzzles already since that was what they did in their time- board games, puzzles, riddles. She is showing the old ways compared to the new. All of them had no idea where to begin with the puzzle You can also see how she is old school from when Whiskey asks what is that...the mom tells her she doesn't know when she does. This is an action to Whiskey frowning on feminism so she does not share knowledge with her since she is from the age of feminist birth

[@chrishellize]

Just saw the movie last night and really loved it. The first thing I noticed while watching is that I have known many a Miles in my time, particularly when I was at uni, and of course I instantly recognised him for what he was. The sad/funny thing was I also realised that in my youth I was one of 'his' hanger on's; desperately hoping I would be seen as clever and special just for being in his company, even as I was realising what a douchebag he was. Luckily we outgrow this sort of thing, but it was funny as hell reliving that mentality through a good movie ;)

[@FireMonkey9]

Some people would say that this movie is like an onion, it has layers, and is like glass because it perfectly telegraphs it’s end at the beginning. It’s just so damn detailed. I love it!

[@wiredant6497]

I overall liked this movie, despite preferring Knives Out. However, I’m still awaiting the one mystery where we see Blanc figuring shit out instead of getting told I go by the second main character and putting the pieces together at the end. Hopefully in the third movie, we actually see some real Hitchcock type detective work

[@jamiedoe6822]

The movies are social commentary.

[@djpegao]

But he did figure out both the "Murder" of Miles and how Miles murdered Andi's, it's just that he's used to smart and tricky situation that dumb stuff confuses him

[@wiredant6497]

@@djpegao I’m talking about figuring out a murder by himself without the help of someone like Marta or Andi

[@praguepride9350]

@@wiredant6497 Every Sherlock has their Holmes

[@wiredant6497]

@@praguepride9350 sorry what?😂

[@brendans.9515]

I’ve noticed nobody’s really talking about the song that plays from the puzzle box and the person who talks about how the song is a puzzle that once layered over one another, creates a beautiful new tune that becomes more and more complex. Sort of like how we went through the plot from one point of view, and then went through the plot again from another point of view, filling in all the empty spaces.

[@inquirohaqq1472]

More thoughts on this movie please! Both have been very entertaining and knowledgeable.

[@acookie7548]

that whole bit at the start is called the halo effect in psychology!

[@sevret313]

What I love the most about the puzzle boxes is the later misdirection. Blanc tells Miles that he solved the puzzle box meaning it must be one of the "disruptors" that sent it to him and it couldn't be Andi/Helen that sent it as she just smashed it to pieces.

[@DeathnoteBB]

Except Miles wouldn’t have known she smashed it

[@sevret313]

@@DeathnoteBB We as the viewer knew.

[@DeathnoteBB]

@@sevret313 Oh yeah 😅

[@moviesaredope]

I almost did this myself after my Miles Bron video blew up, but I KNEW someone more talented would do it & do it better than I could. I'm 5 seconds in about to hit play, but I wanted to say: I'm so excited that it was you who ended up doing it. On with the video!

[@thewrench0157]

I love how the “chess endgame” is literally the dumbest checkmate sequence ever that you would only get if your opponent was dumb or intentionally being bad. Then again, I don’t know how you’d make a more complex endgame mate in 1, but this is still hilarious to me.

[@kloii]

I have never watched as many videos about a film after watching that film as I have after glass onion. It's a deeply layered masterpiece of social commentary that is masquerading as light entertainment

[@MariaCJ]

I'm shocked you didn't mention how Helen's destruction of the box mirrors her destruction of the system at the end!

[@PillarofGarbage]

Yeah I guess I thought that didn’t need pointing out explicitly, that’s why I sort of gestured towards it with some of the clips used instead To be honest, the idea for this video making before/during the making of it was more focused on what the puzzle boxes represented and the role cultural capital played here than the ending, and the way this created symbolism is destroyed Plus I was maybe planning to focus on Helen’s destructive/disruptive role in another video down the road, this point would probably have been more useful there, so I also didn’t want to repeat myself But yeah in retrospect I probably should have brought that up here also lol

[@MariaCJ]

@@PillarofGarbage Yes, I picked up on that, I just wanted to hear it because I hadn't heard it anywhere else. I look forward to another video!

[@somebody-xu4mz]

I feel like the Mona Lisa acts as an extention of Miles' fragile illusion of superiority too. It needs a case to protect it, but I think all of the triggers that make the case close are important. One is the lighter which comes into play later. But I think then it closes when Hellen shouts "I want the truth" and again following a similar sentiment, signifying that the truth is all it would take to bring Miles' empire down

[@HackFraudWizard]

The little insert shot of a CSGO mirage smoke execute at 2:40 is amazing

[@jamiefrontiera1671]

I always liked the way helen open the puzzle box, it shows both her own brilliance and her unwillingness to play the game.

[@madz2013]

I feel like I'm literally the only one that was completely disappointed by Glass Onion.

[@korokleafgaming6863]

I feel like I’m the only one that thought Glass Onion was horseshit. Why does everyone think its one of the smartest films ever made: the plot is SO fucking dumb

[@cdubsb3831]

@@korokleafgaming6863 even Benoit Blanc says it's dumb and unworthy of being deemed brilliant.

[@daneshwaranm5733]

You are not alone

[@timpea9766]

If I understand this video correctly (and I'm not sure I do) Glass Onion is a very long and obscure reveal of the vacuous rich. Erm, I think we knew that already.

[@mattlevins305]

The Mona Lisa was consider Leonardo’s worst painting until a janitor noticed a hook on the wall. The painting was gone for 24 hours and no one noticed it. Because of this people started praising it and giving it its value we know it has today. Considering what you covered in the video it seems to be playing to the theme as well.

[@joaquinwaters1810]

And of course, Helen smashing the box foreshadows her destruction of the Glass Onion at the end of the movie brilliantly: despite all of the trappings and performative brilliance, all it really takes to get to the center of it all is to smash it-GENUINE disruption.

[@alexwolfe]

And similar to the end of the movie it can only be answered effectively and quickly with force

[@kingflumph5968]

I'm rewatching this video again, and the point about putting people like Miles on a pedestal automatically reminded me of an arc in 30 Rock. After Tracy is in a highly successful oscar-winning film, people start expecting him to do lots of serious and meaningful work, and he decides that he hates the pressure and wants to go back to being a public joke again. But no matter how he tries to destroy his own credibility, people keep making excuses for him and interpreting the "secret genius" behind his ridiculous behavior. The thing that actually does it is him just going back on network television, then everyone stops taking him seriously. Glass Onion I think shows the same thing; someone's actions matter less than the narrative about them, and any action can be made part of a narrative if you try hard enough. Forgetting of course that the emperor has no clothes, as it were.

[@boredhuman6512]

Funny thing is during that game scene one of the first thoughts I had was "oh its kinda like a puzzle video game I played once" and that pretty much on point, this isn't some proof of anyone's genius that is supposed to impress... its a mildly funny game you can figure out if you know your typical codes and puzzle game tricks.

[@crestren5996]

I love how the puzzle box itself is a glass onion, its just layers. Both in the opening and the ending, Helen destroys both of them.

[@oldasyouromens]

The way this movie should have ended is Benoit testing positive for COVID

[@wertm123]

Probably because of Duke or Birdie.

[@ems9616]

+

[@thiagocerqueira9473]

I like how the movie itself corroborates what the video is saying. Miles wanted to be seen as a genius so he sent the box to everyone and in the beginning of the movie all of them seem to think exactly that. But all it took was for Blanc to call the puzzles “children’s game” that Miles immediately jumped to justify them, claiming he didn’t actually make the box, but ordered them to someone else. As soon as his idea to make others perceive him as genius and better falls flat, he backtracks on it

[@rohithdhar7755]

To add on your idea of the center being empty, one has to look at Miles Bron as a charcter. His whole hare-brained scheme was stolen from Blanc who rightfully pointed out the stupidness of such an action later in the film. He burned the red envelope only after Lionel pointed out the stupidity of keeping the envelope the entire time instead of burning it already. He is an empty vessel of a human being who either willingly takes or lazily absorbs other people’s ideas, suggestions, and creations as his own. Hell, his big innovation of Klear fuel was from a rando scientist he met at a Ayuhuasca retreat in Peru. If anything, Bron has more in common with the likes of PT Barnum than that of Nikola Tesla. Though, Johnson’s larger point is that all of the tech giant CEOs and “innovators” lauded by modern society have more in common with hucksters and conmen like Barnum than true geniuses. Instead of having a circus propped up by clowns and attractions, they have a digital platform propped up by algorithms and graphic design.