Glass Onion is not not about Elon Musk, says Rian Johnson
Although Rian Johnson says he didn't directly base Edward Norton's Miles off of the Tesla founder, he admits Musk's antics give Glass Onion a "weird relevance"
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If Edward Norton’s Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery’s character Miles—a tech-bro billionaire who loves fancy toys, expensive homes, and his own too-big-to-fail ideas—looks familiar, well…
According to director Rian Johnson, the man-child at the center of Glass Onion’s murder mystery isn’t based on Twitter’s tech-bro-in-chief, Elon Musk— but the timing of Musk’s rise at Twitter draws a clear comparison. When asked in a recent conversation with WIRED’s Angela Watercutter if he would ever make a Knives Out-style mystery about the downfall of Twitter, he responded with a laugh: “Didn’t I just do that?”
“It’s so weird. It’s very bizarre,” Johnson opines about the overlap between Musk’s tenure as Twitter CEO and the release of Glass Onion. “I hope there isn’t some secret marketing department at Netflix that’s funding this Twitter takeover.” (Now that would be an exposé).
Although Miles and Musk come off as unbelievably similar (right down to the dramatically casual wardrobe), Johnson says that he didn’t exactly base Norton’s character off of the Tesla founder. After all, as Johnson points out: “There’s a lot of general stuff about that sort of species of tech billionaire that went directly into it.”
He continues: “But obviously, it has almost a weird relevance in exactly the current moment. A friend of mine said, ‘Man, that feels like it was written this afternoon.’ And that’s just sort of a horrible, horrible accident, you know?”
As far as horrible accidents go, Glass Onion certainly makes for one that’s hard to look away from—as of this writing, the Knives Out mystery sits as the #1 film on Netflix with over 82M hours viewed. Now the real question: how many of those hours were Musk himself, furiously preparing the perfect trolling reply tweet to shoot in Johnson’s direction?
39 Comments
Watching this film, it was eerie how well the Musk stuff started blowing up just in time. And this goes beyond the Twitter takeover, but his disasterous public forum talk was on the same week as this came out on Netflix.However, I’ve seen a good point made online in that getting too lost in the Musk comparison misses the larger point. In that movie is about the larger foolishness as just accepting tech billionaires as brilliant and that Musk is just a symptom of that larger problem.
Yes. Johnson’s movie proposes the theory that all the self made tech genius billionaires are neither self made nor geniuses. The timing of the movie’s release and Musk’s Twitter saga is coincidental, but if Johnson’s theory was indeed correct the odds that *some* tech genius billionaire was currently stepping in it while the movie was in the public eye weren’t zero.If Zuckerberg had been in the middle of some insane self implosion shit with Meta or Jack Dorsey had made himself relevant again in some giant self own type way right now instead of Musk everyone would be saying “Jesus how did Johnson write a movie about Zuckerberg/Dorsey???”The movie isn’t about Musk, but Musk just currently happens to be proving Johnson’s point.
glass onion is about being a steaming pile of shit
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Broke this whole issue caused by an pseudointellectual illiterate’s Art Snot, eh Jazz Pickles?
I mean, I know Elon is a jerk and people would like to compare this character to him. But there is NOTHING really comparable about Musk and Bron aside from them both being rich CEO’s. A few years ago the comparison would be to Ellison (who actually DOES own an island) or Bezos (the guy everyone loved to hate before Musk stole all the headlines).
But there is NOTHING really comparable about Musk and Bron aside from them both being rich CEO’s.
They’re both idiots who have a ridiculously over-inflated opinion of themselves, they both got to where they are by taking credit for the ideas & work of others, neither have actual friends, both prove themselves as frauds by pushing stupid ideas…
Most of those things would perfectly describe Steve Jobs or Zuckerberg as well.
Go ahead and try to become as rich as Musk by taking credit for the ideas & work of other people. I expect you’ll find it difficult.Part of the irony with Musk’s recently deflated image is that Tesla stock has gone down with a poor decision of his contributing to that… because it’s worth more with Musk actually involved in the company rather than being excessively distracted with yet another venture.
Go ahead and try to become as rich as Musk by taking credit for the
ideas & work of other people. I expect you’ll find it difficult.yep without mummy and daddy’s money most people would find it difficult genius
Elon’s net worth appears to be more than 50000 times his father’s.
The axiom “making your second million is far easier than making your first” is even more applicable the richer you get. Change “million” to “billion” and it’s just the same.When I started working for a tech company and started enjoying the benefits that accrued from business travel (air miles, hotel points, credit card points, etc.) my parents, who were both teachers their entire careers, astutely observed that even at my level, having money and access greased the wheels that carry you toward more opportunities to accumulate wealth and reap its benefits.
Yes but you can’t become the richest man in the world through dumbness and seed money. Far more people waste the seed money than become the richest man in the world.
That’s true… but Elon’s dad doesn’t have that first “billion” and Elon has a lot more than 2 billion. People born poor are unlikely to become rich (after all, most people aren’t rich), but people born rich are unlikely to become as rich as Elon Musk.
Sure, and you can say that about just any uber rich successful CEO. Have you ever met Mark Benioff? WAY over-believes his own press. Totally insufferable. So is Ellison. So is Zuckerberg. Not sure on the taking credit for others ideas thing on Musk.
But Bron is truely portrayed as a complete and utter idiot who cannot think of one thing on his own and has a shit vocabulary. That is not really Musk (or to be fair Benioff who I disparaged earlier). And you and I really have no idea what their friends are really like (but that observation could apply to many rich people).Musk has proved himself to be a complete asshole. But dumb? Nah. To be fair, almost EVERY character in Glass Onion aside from Blanc and Brand and one or two of the side characters, is a complete idiot.
Musk is an absolute idiot. He truly is dumb as rocks. He’s not managing anything; he has baby-sitter managing him while grown ups do the work (there’s an article with words from someone working there that describes exactly that). His secret is he’s born from MONEY goddamnit why is it so hard for people to get that?
Musk is FAR richer than his parents. Why is it so hard for YOU to get that?
Musk is FAR richer than his parents.
So what? Doesn’t change the fact that he came from money.
It matters with regard to whether he’s an idiot.
It matters with regard to whether he’s an idiot.
No, it doesn’t. How much money he or his parents do or don’t have doesn’t change the fact that Musk is an incredibly stupid person.
It matters because Musk was able to multiply the maximum possible amount he could have gotten from his parents by a VERY large number, which is rare & hard to do. He’s been involved in multiple companies (prior to Twitter) that became much more valuable after he joined, which becomes implausible to chalk up to coincidence after a while. In the case of Space X, it wasn’t just government space agencies like NASA whose costs for achieving orbit they had to beat, but other rich guys’ space companies like Bezos’ Blue Origin and Branson’s Virgin Galactic (plus more traditional aerospace companies) which had employed plenty of competent engineers to work on the problem. If it was easy to do what Space X did, they would have done it, but they didn’t because it isn’t.
If it was easy to do what Space X did, they would have done it, but they didn’t because it isn’t.
Musk has very little to do with running SpaceX. It’s the only reason why SpaceX is successful. All credit goes to Gwynne Shotwell. Let’s look at his other companies. Musk is burning Twitter to the ground for some inexplicable reason, Tesla stock is tanking, Tesla is being investigated in multiple countries, and Boring Company is a joke.
Tesa “is tanking” relative to a high point where Musk was more focused on that rather than Twitter. And Musk founded Space X before Shotwell joined.His other companies include PayPal, which is how he got rich enough to venture out elsewhere, and the aforementioned Tesla which is still worth a huge amount of money. There’s also OpenAI, which hasn’t been a profit-maximizing organization but did just release ChatGPT.
Tesa “is tanking” relative to a high point where Musk was more focused on that rather than Twitter.
Shareholders don’t care. The stock price is tanking, having lost 65% of its value in 2022, and Musk is directly responsible.
And Musk founded Space X before Shotwell joined.
Doesn’t mean Musk is responsible for the success of SpaceX. Shotwell runs it, Musk doesn’t. SpaceX has a team of people who’s job it is to handle Musk when he visits, just so he doesn’t fuck up day-to-day operations.
His other companies include PayPal
No. Musk sold what would later become PayPal. PayPal then brought him in as CEO and got rid of him within a year, because he had no idea what he was doing.
which is how he got rich enough to venture out elsewhere
No, his parents’ money is what gave him his start.
the aforementioned Tesla which is still worth a huge amount of money.
Less and less every day.
There’s also OpenAI
Musk hasn’t been a part of OpenAI since 2018.
Typical of a Musk fanboy, you have no idea what you’re talking about.
You’re talking about how much the stock has gone down from 2022 (a time period when a number of tech stocks went down and companies had layoffs), but the relevant question is how much is it worth relative to the amount Musk first invested in it.I am just making an argument of this sort:By someone who is hardly a Musk fanboy:https://www.slowboring.com/p/elon-musks-business-ties-deservehttps://www.slowboring.com/p/elon-musk-is-the-latest-victim-of
You’re talking about how much the stock has gone down from 2022 (a time
period when a number of tech stocks went down and companies had layoffs)
Tesla’s stock tanking is due entirely to Musk buying Twitter and everyone seeing him for the incompetent idiot he truly is.
but the relevant question is how much is it worth relative to the amount Musk first invested in it.
No, that’s not relevant to this conversation. I said Musk is an idiot, you said he isn’t, and haven’t shown anything to back up your claim. Your argument is summed up as “He’s rich, so he can’t be stupid.” Meanwhile, I have Musk’s actions over the course of the last year as proof that he’s an idiot.
I am just making an argument of this sort:
And that argument is ridiculous when it comes to Musk. He’s proven himself to be a complete fucking moron who has no idea what he’s doing.
If Tesla is doing worse because Musk is less involved in it now than before, that would be consistent with him being a competent leader of it when he is focused on it. If Musk were actually an “incompetent idiot” it would have been seen MUCH earlier in his career.
Your argument is summed up as “He’s rich, so he can’t be stupid.”
No, an idiot can inherit enough wealth to be rich and yet still be an idiot. I say Musk isn’t an idiot because of how much his wealth has GROWN over time via multiple companies.
Meanwhile, I have Musk’s actions over the course of the last year as proof that he’s an idiot.
The relevant length of time is his lifetime.
Sure, and you can say that about just any uber rich successful CEO.
Yes, you can. You said there was nothing comparable between Musk & Bron, and clearly they have several traits in common. That doesn’t mean that other people don’t also share those traits.
But Bron is truely portrayed as a complete and utter idiot who cannot
think of one thing on his own and has a shit vocabulary. That is not
really MuskThat’s exactly Musk.
And you and I really have no idea what their friends are really like
It’s extremely obvious that Musk’s only friends are his incel fanboys on Twitter.
Musk has proved himself to be a complete asshole. But dumb? Nah.
Yes. His ownership of Twitter has proven that beyond doubt in several ways.
To be fair, almost EVERY character in Glass Onion aside from Blanc and Brand and one or two of the side characters, is a complete idiot.
And Bron is King Idiot. Not really sure what you’re trying to say with that sentence.
There may have been a time where Elon Musk had some good ideas, but they have long since disappeared and been replaced by a progression of dumber and dumber ideas, culminating in the largest vanity purchase in history (which only served to make him look even dumber by the day).
But dumb? Nah… You’ve… been following what’s happening at Twitter, right?
Gosh. It’s almost like Glass Onion was making a reference broadly to the mythology and the patterns of behavior related to billionaires in general rather than clumsily copying one billionaire!
Hence my point.
He was totally based on Musk. The flashback even has Norton’s character losing his hair but in the present day his hairline is perfectly intact.
How about the part where Norton looks exactly like Tom cruise in magnolia.That looked like a shot taken at someone.
I wondered about that, and if it was meant to be a reference, or if in the context of the film and setting, it was a character detail, suggesting Miles saw the movie and was aping Cruise’s character, and trying to fashion himself into a “thought leader” type
Yeah, I interpreted that as both underlining Miles Bron’s lack of original ideas, and that he would idolize a character like that (manipulative, charismatic, outwardly successful) without understanding how pathetic and weak the character actually is underneath.
It genuinely feels like “rich idiot who got rich because of luck and timing, and gets called a genius because he’s rich not because he’s not an idiot” is an archetype, it’s just that we live in a world with several living, breathing embodiments of that archetype.
Now the real question: how many of those hours were Musk himself,
furiously preparing the perfect trolling reply tweet to shoot in
Johnson’s direction?
Oh, come on now. It’s pretty clear he’s lucky to ever clear 30 seconds of thought before tweeting.
The first thing that came to mind for me was, Agatha Christy on 21st century steroids.
Piketty talks about how the “Brahmin Left” tribe is composed of academically minded professionals who value grades and knowledge for its own sake, and the “Merchant Right” is powered by small business owners who value business success, cunning and virility.The big reveal that Ed Norton was actually dumb was that he didn’t pronounce words right. What a perfect example of the worst tendencies of the Brahmin Left – here’s a guy who managed to successfully ruin and kill his (supposedly genius) co-founder, make himself one of the richest and most powerful people alive, and was on the verge of destroying the world. And the best they could do was sneer at him for not displaying meaningless symbols of education. A far more radical critique by Rian Johnson would have been if he had a billionaire character who was brilliant and deserving and had a heart of gold and showed him ultimately to be a malign force anyway.That said, it would be misguided for anyone look to Hollywood in general and Rian Johnson – a Star Wars director! – in particular for serious structural critique of any kind. Of course he’s going to deal in personalities and characters. He’s operating inside the system, a system that’s been extremely good to him and whose values he doubtless sincerely believes in.He’s hardly going to bare his teeth towards the billionaire class when he’s pals with Bob Iger (a figure who would make a fascinating study for the kind of art this is supposedly intended to be: a billionaire who’s apparently a fairly decent guy, an extremely smart guy, doing a good-to-very-good job with an iconic beloved company – yet a guy who could still be very easily depicted as a malign force.) And even if he wanted to, it wouldn’t get made. One might as well complain that their butcher doesn’t sell lettuce.