There are numerous excellent celebrity allusions in Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, but only one rule prevents the film’s serious problems. Benoit Blanc joins a group of extremely wealthy celebrities at a murder mystery party on a private Greek island in Rian Johnson’s Knives Out sequel; thus, it makes it reasonable that there would be references to and jokes about celebrities throughout the movie. The celebrity references and jokes could have easily been weak. Yet, they make up some of Glass Onion’s best moments. Glass Onion successfully and thrillingly weaves celebrity references into its script thanks to Rian Johnson.
Rian Johnson recently dissected Glass Onion and described how he created the intriguing cast of celebrity personas in a YouTube video (via GQ). While Johnson acknowledged that there were actual tech billionaires to contrast his views, he felt that doing so would be both dull and unproductive. What Johnson found more intriguing was to “kind of zoom out and look at the peculiar place that these people have in the American consciousness,” as he put it. Glass Onion feels sharp and enjoyable rather than like a dated celebrity parody because of the way Johnson makes fun of billionaires and celebrities.
Glass Onion Helps The Film By Staying Away From Specific Celebrity Parodies
Miles Bron (Edward Norton) and his famous buddies should not be shown as specific celebrities because it would be better for Glass Onion. Although tech millionaire Miles undoubtedly has elements of Elon Musk, it’s nice that his persona is not created to be openly parodied. Making Miles from Glass Onion exclusively a Musk parody would undermine the humor of mocking avaricious and arrogant billionaires. Johnson can create Miles as a fascinating character on his own while still drawing inspiration from other characters and sources, which is better for Miles’ character than trying to perfectly mimic Elon Musk, for example.
The fact that other Glass Onion characters aren’t specific parodies also helps them. Big-hearted socialite Birdie Jay (Kate Hudson), who is grappling with being “canceled” due to a questionable tweet, isn’t making fun of any specific celebrities, for instance. Birdie is a parody of “canceled” superstars and celebrity businesspeople in general. Her mesh mask, a hilarious element of Glass Onion’s COVID-19 environment, maybe a play on Lana Del Rey wearing a similar mask. By avoiding most specifically parodying well-known socialites like Kim Kardashian, Birdie’s eccentric attitude creates to be fascinating and funny. Glass Onion’s characters are funny enough on their own without being impersonations of real people.
Why Glass Onion Still Mentions Certain Famous People
But the script for Glass Onion still makes specific references to famous people. Since Miles Bron is pretty well-known, it is natural and true to his persona for him to mention famous people, which results in some hilarious jokes in Glass Onion. The references to fictitious celebrity items like Jeremy Renner’s hot sauce and Jared Leto’s strong kombucha are also funny digs at how pervasive celebrity branding has become. However, these products also have significant roles in the movie, which enhances the value of their participation. The movie Glass Onion is made much better by the amusing celebrity jokes and allusions.
Glass Onion’s script does, however, continue to make explicit celebrity references. Being very well-known makes Miles Bron’s name-dropping of famous individuals seem natural and true to his persona, which results in some hilarious jokes in Glass Onion. In addition, the amusing jabs at celebrity branding, such as Jared Leto’s strong kombucha and Jeremy Renner’s hot sauce, highlight how pervasive it has grown. This inclusion is even greater because these products have significant roles in the movie. The film is made even better by the amusing celebrity gags and allusions in Glass Onion.