La Ron S. Readus
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How Glass Onion Calls Out Capitalism (VIDEO SCRIPT)
🕑 Added 2023-01-11 21:00:02 +0000 UTCThis video is sponsored by Skillshare
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While there are definitely some things about this timeline I DON’T care for and makes me wonder what a variant one would look like if everything happened the way I wanted to, I’m glad we all can agree that one of the best things to happen in it is the release of Glass Onion.
/It’s such a great follow-up to Knives Out, in that its able to display its ability to tell a smaller, non-linear story in comparison to the original movie, but make it feel just as grand, puzzling and satisfying with its execution and focus in order to properly compare/
And while it’s clear with this progression of Benoit Blanc that its mirroring a tactic similar to Doctor Who -- introduce the series’ main character by using a “companion” of theirs as the POV for the entire story in order to build up enough intrigue to give the “doctor” more focus in more stories after said story is over...
Glass Onion does it in such a way that while you know Benoit’s client -- his companion -- is only going to be in THIS film, you end up still caring about them just as much as you do about Blanc and seeing him solve the case.
It’s also clear, now that there’s more than one of them to properly witness them, that there are patterns in the mysteries that Benoit Blanc’s involved in.
From the underlying socio-political issues that ends up being the root of the mystery to begin with, and Blanc’s “companions” -- to continue the Doctor Who comparison -- usually being women from backgrounds and ethnicities that are usually heavily affected by said socio-political issue that the mystery is rooted in.
/The issue that Knives Out covered? White liberalism. Or as I called it in the video I made for it back when I didn’t know the proper terminology, being a wolf in liberals clothing./
That being said, I appreciate every Reader who made me aware in my Knives Out video that calling Ana de Armas’ Marta a person of color when she’s actually a white Cuban of Spanish descent is part of the reason why the Hispanic discourse is so muddled
And while I ABSOLUTELY see the Miles Bron and Elon Musk comparisons, and AGREE with the Miles Bron and Elon Musk comparisons, the existence of dumb yet powerful billionaires is only a BRANCH attached to the true root of Glass Onion’s mystery.
/And for today’s lesson, I wanna focus on what that true root is; not the dangers of dumb yet powerful billionaires, but the dangers of capitalism itself. Let’s begin/
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Hey, Readers. La’Ron here. Offering you analysis and perspective on your favorite bits of geek and pop culture media
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Capitalism Is Control
And that is an angle that Glass Onion runs with the moment its concept is introduced to the story.
/Yes, we see the fancy and very expensive puzzle boxes that hold within them invitations to Miles’s yearly retreats./
/Yes, we see Miles’ luxurious home and his giant homage to where his career all started./
/Yes, we see his capability of purchasing the unpurchasable; a fantasy that a lot of us have only dreamed of/
But while those are definitely testaments to Miles’ wealth in a way that highlights the comparison to Musk for those of us who can easily spot the pretentiousness and privilege, while others are simply mad the comparison exists because they still believe we live in a society where they can be just as “successful”...
You have to hone in on exactly what makes Miles the very stand-in for capitalism and how it entraps.
/What pointed me in that direction is when he explained to Benoit the very point of the “disruptors” as he called the lot of them and what he factored into both their separate and collective success/ (when you wanna shake things up, you start with something small. You break a norm, an idea or convention...you go with things that people are kinda tired of anyway...you're busting up something that everyone already wanted broken up in the first place)
To explain my train of thought right quick, this line immediately reminded me of the video I made about the role that modern-day Batman movies play in promoting copaganda; specifically regarding what I stated about The Dark Knight Rises.
/Through Bane and Talia Al Ghul’s master plan to destroy Gotham, the movie villainizes the disruption of societal norms that while oppress the lives of a lot of regular people, a good amount of individuals who benefit from it are used to said norms -- regardless of where they say they stand politically -- and don’t want to see them disturbed./
Capitalism, at least here in America, is one of those societal norms. And, ironically enough, it is one that individuals who DO benefit from it, are constantly trying to convince others that it’s fine as is; that the real “disruption” needs to be the way previous individuals have been doing things within the system, not of the system itself.
So when I heard Miles utilize talking points usually associated with that of oppressed peoples revolting against a form of systemic oppression, or one so heavily connected with it that at this point it might as well be a form of systemic oppression itself..
All I was able to see -- especially as the film progressed and we got a glance at the very nature of the cast of characters in question -- was an individual who, while an idiot, is aware of and benefits from capitalism so much, that he’s able to utilize the traditional speaking points against it in order to constantly preach its necessity...
/And provide a select few individuals that he ALLOWED to know what it’s like to finally reach the level of success that most defenders of capitalism crave in order to prove his point/
Because as we learn later on in the film, that’s all that these “disruptors” are; individuals that Miles put on so that it doesn’t disturb capitalism, nor does it make things uncomfortable for those who benefit from it
If anything, it’s actually Miles’ actions -- his wealth and power as this movie’s human representative of capitalism -- that’s what’s keeping them from TRULY being disruptors
Because as both the movie and real life has shown, capitalism just doesn’t control...
Capitalism Corrupts
One of the biggest lies it has told and was able to convince the masses is that through capitalism, ANYONE can be part of the one percent; that millionaire and billionaire status is within their reach.
And, as we've seen play out in real life, It's because of that impossibility that certain individuals go on and defend said millionaires and billionaires -- whether from criticism or taxation -- since they've seen the system work for so many others before them and hope to be in their number one day.
The reality is that all of those individuals that are being coveted and worshiped by the members of the common people who wish for excess, do not know that there is a selective distribution of wealth among their own to give off the impression that obtaining one percent status is possible among the disillusioned members of the working class.
They always focus on the humble beginnings of the business they built that has since become the successful multinational corporation that it is today, instead of the insanely large sums of money nepotistically given to them in order to do so.
/So large most of the time that they'd still be financially fine if the venture ended up failing./ (his first venture was moviephone for foot massages. Did it work? NO!)
As I stated before, if Miles here represents capitalism as it currently exists, the "disruptors" represent the individuals who are chosen by capitalism to perpetuate the lie to the masses that it works. That ANYONE can reach this level of wealth and power with the right level of determination, regardless of your upbringing, when in reality it's truly because you had the right connections to get you there.
And as Glass Onion has shown with the "disruptors," once you choose to be an actor in capitalism's commercial to help sell the lie of possibility to the masses, it's never just a "favor for a favor" contractual obligation in order to keep your place.
Now you have to cater to any and all of its demands, knowing that if you refuse, your privilege as a benefitter can be just as easily taken away as it was given.
This was realized among the core group of Miles's entourage after they successfully secured their new places in society and betrayed the Brands in favor of not ruining their positioning with him not once, but TWICE.
/When Andi sought justice in claiming she -- not Miles -- was the creator of the company's concept in order to keep him from fully investing in Klear with a K and they sided with Miles,/ (that’s a lie!)
/And when Heather, her twin sister, sought justice for Andi's death at the hands of Miles once she found the much-needed proof that the concept of the company truly was her baby./ (yall will lie for a lie, but yall won’t lie for the truth?)
The irony here, is that while Miles deemed them the “disruptors,” both efforts from the Brands seeking justice against Miles would’ve ended up “disrupting” their own position with capitalism if they didn’t side with him.
/And let’s not forget that the second time they all sided with Miles was even after it was revealed he murdered Duke Cody -- one of their own -- right in front of them, in an attempt to blackmail Miles into becoming the face of his upcoming news network thanks to piecing together that he killed Andi thanks to being at the right place at the right time./
While it provides a perfect analogy that it never plays out the same way when you try to game the system the way the system successfully games you, it’s incredibly telling that the surviving “disruptors” were still unwilling to give up their goose that lays the golden eggs, despite piecing together that the goose in question is extremely dangerous
/This was why seeing them finally be willing to stand up to Miles at the end of the movie didn’t get any praise from me. Because not only did they do so after realizing that thanks to the plot device of Klear with a K being too volatile as a fuel source disrupting so much of their status quo that their connection to capitalism was severed enough for Miles to no longer have any leverage against them, the fact remains that they were willing to keep silent about the Brands twice so that they could keep the promise of privilege given to them by capitalism; so that the justice Andi initially sought didn’t “disrupt” or make things uncomfortable for those who benefitted from it. Not to mention that two people died by the time it was guaranteed Miles no longer had a chokehold on their statuses, when those lives could’ve easily have been spared back when Andi was alive and well, and made the initial call to action./
But that once again brings us back to looking at Miles as both a critique of billionaires like Elon Musk and also as a human embodiment of modern-day capitalism and how it works. Because not only can both be true at the same time, but it IS true. Especially when you consider the fact...
That Capitalism Covets.
So I completely understand why the comparisons to Elon Musk were made when it comes to Miles Bron, especially the aspects about him that were made apparent near the end of the movie.
/After all, there are plenty of real-life instances of people originally thinking that Musk was a genius due to not knowing the field of study he refers to, only to show how privileged and dumb he actually is when he DOES talk about something that someone has spent most of their lives learning about to the point where they can competently answer the world’s hardest question on the matter./
And this is prominently displayed multiple times over the course of the film. Benoit Blanc pointing out the way he either uses the wrong word or makes up new ones to sound smart and sophisticated is the obvious fan-favorite.
This is also referenced whenever Miles is criticized for both purchasing things from other, smarter people instead of making them himself once the wool of his genius has been removed from our eyes, despite us receiving hints to that being the case over the course of the movie.
/Like with the puzzle box (pause), the murder mystery (pause), and the idea on how to eliminate Helen Brand when he thought it was her sister Andi./ (that’s like bringing in a loaded gun and turning off the lights)
And while all of these comparisons regarding Miles and Musk are accurate, you must remember that with Miles also being the human stand-in for capitalism itself in Glass Onion, all of these things that he does in this film in order to show off and pretend that he’s smarter than he actually is also highlights a very important point about its current state
You see, one of the biggest EXCUSES about the necessity for capitalism as it exists here in America, is that Capitalism breeds innovation. And everybody and they mama ‘n ‘em knows that’s a fucking lie.
Because when you dive deeper, past the pagentries and his palace and his invitations, Miles’s inability to come up with an original idea all on his own and his ability to take the credit for everything he claims perfectly reflects the current state of capitalism.
/Everything he had, he either bought or stole. Not even his ideas for a weekend of leisure were his true brain-children./
Just like we’ve seen from multiple corporations over the course of the previous decades, buying up smaller businesses, absorbing other larger companies and corporations into themselves, buying intellectual properties that were only created with the hopes of being bought out by a larger company from jump, capitalism is less about what you can create, and more about what you can control.
/Even if what you control is people/
Conclusion
Readers, it’s obvious that Glass Onion does a great job at telling its story through both the lenses of Benoit Blanc out to solve the next great case -- both before and after finding out that Helen Brand was the one pointing him in the directions where to look -- and Helen herself seeking justice for her sister’s discredibility and even her death.
And it was all done with the majority of people and news outlets reporting that the only thing that they’ve noticed regarding the film’s hidden message was the commentary it was making on Miles being a stand-in for Elon Musk
But once you see how Miles also acts as a human manifestation of modern-day capitalism itself -- how it manipulates, how it corrupts and how it truly breeds laziness instead of innovation -- it becomes clear with everyone involved in the overall mystery of Glass Onion that it is also acting as a warning of how these steps are being played out in reality if you truly pay attention.
And while the “disruptors” in the movie may not have TRULY been exactly that, one thing the film got right about what it’ll more than likely take to put a stop to the real world antics of capitalism...
/Is the tenacity and determination of a black woman willing to burn it all to the ground/ (disruption. Fuckin a)
But I digress, Readers; your homework assignment for the day:
Write in the comment section below what you thought of Glass Onion if you’ve seen it
Or, if you feel like sharing with the rest of the class, a film you’ve seen that the majority of people clearly saw something in but you ended up seeing something MORE
Whichever question you decide to answer, I’d love to know your thoughts.
/A HUGE shoutout to my Patrons both big and small for helping make this channel possible.
Make sure you check out the card at the end of the video to join, or click the link to it or any of my affiliates in the description box below.
But until then, this is Readus 101. Class dismissed./
