Why was the Mona Lisa in ‘Glass Onion’?

If there’s one factor author/director Rian Johnson excels at, it is assembling a crew of artists to nail down all these little particulars in the case of manufacturing design, costumes, and props. Whereas Knives Out had loads of opulence (and autumnal sweaters), Glass Onion boasts a whole villa embellished with priceless artwork items, together with the Mona Lisa herself. 

In Glass Onion, billionaire Miles Bron (Edward Norton) has made a cope with the Louvre to borrow the Mona Lisa whereas the museum is closed for the pandemic. Is smart, proper? Nobody’s going to museums anyhow — may as properly get probably the most priceless paintings identified to mankind and hold it round for shits and giggles. 

Whereas the movie’s thriller unravels, the Mona Lisa sits on the sidelines, idly watching a bunch of frenzied millionaires making an attempt to piece collectively what occurred. Although it looks like a bit of caprice, the portray is vital to the movie’s pointed class commentary on billionaires and their obsessions with legacy — a fantasy that depends on huge quantities of intergenerational wealth and privilege, to not point out loads of help and coddling from others who’re much less lucky (i.e. wealthy).

Who’s Edward Norton’s character, Miles Bron? 

Credit score: Netflix

Miles Bron is a self-styled Tony Stark — a ridiculously wealthy man with an inflated ego that skews his self-perception into considering that he is an entitled superhero. (Sound familiar, Elon?). However in contrast to Iron Man, who actually does save the world, Miles Bron is only a tech bro chasing after a delusional dream of being the primary ever to do one thing. Like lots of our real-life billionaires, his concepts had been by no means truly his personal. 

Bron is the CEO and co-founder of a tech firm known as Alpha, the place his newest endeavor is implementing a brand new various power supply he calls Klear, although it is by no means been examined. Nevertheless, we quickly study that it was truly Andi (Janelle Monáe) who got here up with the thought of Alpha and who informed Bron that Klear was unsafe, leading to a grueling lawsuit the place Bron fabricated proof to counsel that he was truly the unique creator of Alpha and forcing Andi out as CEO.

So, what is the cope with the Mona Lisa in Glass Onion? 

Credit score: Netflix

In Glass Onion, the Mona Lisa is a logo for legacy. The portray serves as a moodboard for Bron’s life, if you’ll, embodying the tip purpose he needs to realize. All through the movie, Bron recurrently mentions that he needs to be remembered in the identical breath because the Mona Lisa; he has a want to be remembered as one in all historical past’s biggest, standing the take a look at of time and becoming a member of the world’s greatest artists and inventors membership. 

However can that timelessness exist within the twenty first century, not to mention by means of a tech billionaire? Not likely, as a result of in contrast to Leonardo da Vinci, whose legacy was established by means of his distinctive inventive expertise, Bron finds his which means in what he owns, not what he contributes. He was keen to distribute an untested power supply only for the sake of being the primary one to do it. He even owns Paul McCartney’s guitar, which he destroys only for enjoyable. It is that actual perspective that marks his downfall. 

It is Bron’s obsession with holding titles that do not belong to him that guides Glass Onion‘s complete arc and thriller. He by no means was a creator or a genius to start with, and when Helen (additionally Janelle Monáe!) destroys every thing within the movie’s last act — utilizing Klear as an accelerant — the Mona Lisa goes up in flames, granting him his want in a most ironic method.

Bron will ceaselessly be referred to as “the fool who destroyed the Mona Lisa,” which circles again to Glass Onion‘s commentary on trendy wealth as a automobile for worldly destruction. Billionaires aren’t truly there to assist folks or contribute to society in life-changing methods; they only need to personal every thing and get a gold star for being a mannequin of an American dream that does not exist. 

Glass Onion is now streaming on Netflix(opens in a new tab).