Warning: SPOILERS AHEAD.
Jaden Smith, offspring of Will and sayer of some of the most profoundly philosophic shit you’ll ever hear, has always had a rep for being proudly gender fluid: he’s been wearing dresses and skirts since before he could zip them up himself, and doesn’t shy away from rumours that he’s bisexual (there has long been speculation of something between him and rapper Lil’ B).
His latest role – as Bronx kid / aspiring graffiti artist Marcus “Dizzee” Kipling in Baz Luhrmann’s musical extravaganza and Netflix original drama series ‘The Get Down’ – is getting quite a bit of attention because his character locks lips with another guy a few episodes in.
If you’re not already around the show (you should stream eps 1 – 6 now tbh), it’s a vibrant bio of the birthing of hip hop and disco in the ’70s that dips its platform boots into sex, drugs, gang violence and homosexuality / bisexuality, which is where Dizzee comes in.
In ep 6 – and yes, SPOILER AHEAD – Jaden’s character meets a fellow graffiti enthusiast, the v. handsome Thor, at an underground club; it’s made immediately obvious they share a connection via confused, protracted stares etc.
As Christina Aguilera‘s new disco track (!!) ‘Telepathy’ pulsates in the background, Dizzee and his resplendent ‘fro get closer and closer to Thor until their foreheads touch and we spiral into a not-unstrange montage of sexual imagery, including someone licking a boob.
Then – in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it-moment – we’re brought back to Dizzee and Thor, and we see them smooch for a nanosecond before it turns into a more watered down Eskimo Kiss.
It’s sparked some serious debate: on the one hand, people are disappointed Baz didn’t go all-in and fully commit to the moment between the two characters and, on the other, props for addressing an issue that was super taboo in the world of ’70s hip hop.
Dizzee is part of a hip hop group with his brother and mates, who casually toss around the word “f*ggot”, so it’s a touching moment of personal bravery and self-discovery – especially as hip hop was, back then, an ultra-masculine artform.
Whether or not this part of Dizzee’s journey continues in Part 2 of the series, we’ll have to wait and see.
You can watch the kiss for now:
The kiss comes as Jayden spoke to Variety about his gender-bending reputation as one of the cover stars of its Power of Young Hollywood series alongside Elle Fanning and Ansel Elgort.
“I’ve always been super-duper fly and super-duper different,” he told the site, adding he’s worn dresses for the last 10 years. “People just start caring when they have a reason to start caring.”
You do you, Jaden.
Stream Part One of ‘The Get Down’ on Netflix now; netflix.com.au.
Photo: Netflix.
