What I Saw: The Get Down Part II

I’m alive! Been doing some TV watching, and actually been doing some YouTube shows rather than watching full on series. The “throwaway” show that I mentioned in passing a couple posts ago, RWBY, ended up going over some more serious themes so I watched it until I was all caught up. Now I am watching Red vs Blue, which is made by the same group who made RWBY, because my friend is excited for the new season and I need to catch up. I also (embarrassingly) started watching Emma Approved, which is a modern retelling of Jane Austen’s novel Emma, a very relationship and “chick flick” type of story. I do have to admit, the modern retelling seems to be done really well, and almost piques my interest to check out the source material. But as for full on series, I have made some progress which I will report on now!

What I watched:

The Get Down Part II

 
The story of the Bronx youth chasing after their dreams continues! Mylene has started her singing career, but it is in fits and starts as her father, Ramon, restricts her to religious songs and is using her to promote his church. Zeke, Shao, and the rest of the Get Down Brothers have built up their popularity and are getting opportunities to perform on the underground scene; however Zeke is also being given an opportunity for the Ivy Leagues through his internship. Papa Fuerte struggles with a smear campaign and doesn’t know who to trust, but he and Mylene’s mother draw closer together.

What I Saw:

I was excited for Part II and a lot of the same things carried over from Part I, which is to be expected since it picks up one year after Part I.

Race

Racial identity is a major theme of the story, but not the only theme. The show continues to do a good job of showing the complexity of racial identity and the role it plays in the lives of people of color, but does not make it a pity party for the ghetto Black/Hispanic community. This is shown through Zeke at his internship interactions with Mr. Gunns. Right from the beginning Mr. Gunns is promoting the “good ol’ boy” life that led him to be such a success and encourages Zeke to follow the same path so he will be set for life. But his daughter, a white girl, aptly points out that it worked out for Mr. Gunns because he is a white man.

While making the right connections and being a legacy may help white people get int Ivy League schools, for young black man to accomplish the same thing requires a certain level of acceptance within that Ivy League community, which is lacking. We see the homogenized (all white) group of students and alumni at the luncheon, and Zeke is “tested” by one of the students who just spouts racial epithets and challenges Zeke to drinking contest. As any person of color knows, it is all too frustrating to behave assertively but not aggressively in those situations, because if you start acting aggressively you only end up confirming the stereotypes of being “ghetto” or “uncivilized” when in fact it is the racist white person who is acting like that.

That’s why Zeke grew angry with Shao when he pulled a gun and used violence against another racist white boy. In Zeke’s mind, Shao was confirming the stereotype, and Zeke would be seen as not being Ivy League material through association. Shao naturally defends his position and rightly points out that Zeke shouldn’t have to take that kind of abuse from the white students, and he does not need to go to an Ivy League school to be assimilated into white culture. The truth is somewhere in the middle, where it should not be a person of color’s responsibility to prove anything when facing aggression; but until there is more diversity in all tiers of our society people of color will always feel the need to prove their worth.

Politics
In Part I it was Papa Fuerte, and towards the end Zeke, that really highlighted the political storyline. He had to make deals and compromises to get the attention of Ed Koch who was running for mayor. The newspapers are suddenly accusing Papa Fuerte of committing arson on his own buildings, which conveniently gives Mayor Koch a reason to not support his project of affordable housing for the Bronx. Now that Koch was elected mayor after Papa Fuerte rallied the votes in the Bronx, there is no more need to cater to the people of the Bronx. In real life people of color, and I think Latin American’s especially, are familiar with being dropped right after the vote. Anytime a politician arrives to speak to a majority Latin American community, there is talk of the need for immigration reform. But once the politician is voted into office, there are suddenly more pressing issues to deal with and the promises are broken.

Zeke spoke to Mr. Gunns about what it takes to be successful, and while they did not specifically say they were talking about politics it was definitely implied. Zeke pointed out that the level of success that Mr. Gunns and Koch keep talking about was filled with betrayal in order to be able to get ahead. This is different than the betrayal of the voting population at large. This type of a betrayal is on an individual level, and ends up destroying friendships or burning other bridges. Zeke chose not to betray Shao by giving his name to Mr. Gunns, and in staying loyal he lost the opportunity to get a second chance at the Ivy League recommendation.

Mylene even gets caught up in some of the politics of show business. Asheton threatens to drop Mylene because she limits herself on what she can sing and what kind of performance she is willing to give in order to please her father. The real reason is because Asheton was dating a start Misty Holloway and he wants to be able to knock her down a peg by introducing Mylene as a new sexy star. The politics of show business can either jump-start her career or tragically end it, depending on what is needed to make money for the company. That statement could be applied to all politics in general now that I think about it.

Ramon, Mylene’s father, more involved in the community politics now that Mylene has made a name for the church. Ramon selfishly puts his own aspirations of being a prominent leader in the community ahead of his daughter’s desire to further her own music career; and she is the one doing all the work. That eventually comes to a head, and he no longer bothers himself with being a community leader.

Sexuality Spectrum
Dizzy finally is able to admit the feelings he has for Thor, and is discovering where he fits on the sexuality spectrum. His journey has been rather slow, since Thor was in jail for the majority of the season. Dizzy’s interactions with Thor were mostly animated, as he drew a comic of all the adventures he and the Get Down Brothers were getting into and mailing them page by page. On an artistic note, in some of the animated scenes Dizzy is portrayed as an alien, and he refers to himself as much due to his sexuality. He feels out of place since he feels no one would understand his feelings for Thor. This alienation is confronted when Shao tracks down Dizzy at Thor’s loft and sees them asleep in the same bed. Shao shows understanding that there are certain things a person doesn’t feel comfortable sharing, and uses the example that he doesn’t like others to know his real name because he is trying to get away from his past.

The show also makes a shout-out to the LGBTQIA community in the Rubicon and Jackie’s party scenes. The Rubicon song was used to describe choices more than the sexuality spectrum. But the first line in the song “whether it’s boy with boy or girl with girl” and there are flashes of a scene with each pairing. And in Jackie’s scene it is filled with people from all over the spectrum, and apparently are a source if inspiration. The scene shows that yes, even in the 1970’s there actually were people in the LGBTQIA community, and it was more prominent than one might have thought. However, outside Dizzy’s storyline, there isn’t much mention of the community or their highly influential role in music or fashion (other than what was mentioned in Part I).

Social Movements

Despite the fact Part I seemed to take on social issues through both Papa Fuerte’s and Zeke’s storylines, a lot of that gets dropped much to my dismay. Papa Fuerte is sidelined through most of Part II both in his management of Mylene and as a rough but well meaning businessman who wants to help his people in the Bronx. When it is revealed to him that he is being framed for arson by Mayor Koch in order to get out of funding the housing project in the Bronx, Papa Fuerte (the nickname means Strong Father) is anything but and is simply arrested without any means of retaliation. Now I do like depressing endings, but with his character I expected some more resistance; at the very least the mentality of giving them a real reason to arrest him by raising hell against the Mayor.

Ra-Ra on the other hand stumbles into a social movement while trying to go out with a fellow MC of the Universal Zulu Nation. This organization promotes peace, unity, and a righteous way of life, and spreads it’s message through what is now known as hip-hop. Unfortunately the Zulu Nation is only briefly shown, and is used more of a plot device to help the Get Down Brothers escape their contract with Fat Annie. However, during it’s brief scenes they do make mention of some other movements such as the Black Panthers and the Latin American community’s Young Lords.

Existentialism/Choices

The biggest thematic element of the show (besides music) is existentialism. All throughout the characters are left to make decisions about whether to pursue their dream, and really try to figure out what their dream is. For Shao, Zeke, and Mylene, music is definitely what drives them; although it gets revealed that Shao is also driven by something else which I will mention again in a minute. For the others you definitely get the sense that they are tagging along because their friends and the fringe benefits of money, fame, girls, and boys. This is evident by Boo-Boo wanting to get in on the drug trafficking because he liked the money as opposed to the music, and Yolanda who was kind of having fun but did not want to compromise her morals by dancing risqué. I liked that there were different levels of commitment to the music, as it is not only realistic but adds conflict to the story.

The opening scene of the Rubicon club held true to the theme of what Shao, Zeke, and Mylene constantly face

The word rubicon is defined as the “point of no return,” which each person must cross at some point while in pursuit of their dreams. Zeke left his aunt’s house and dropped his pursuit of entering Yale to focus on music. Mylene had to let go of staying dedicated to her father’s sense of morality and break out to do a sexy song and dance number to further her career. Shao’s part-time music and part-time drug dealing were interfering with each other, and he had to pick one or the other.

Each of them had to make a choice, and accept whatever consequences came as a result, the famous “leap of faith” I always reference from Kierkegaard. Cadillac had a good scene where he explained the leap of faith. He mentions that while he hates hip-hop, Shao was willing to risk his life to break away from Fat Annie and pursue the music without the safety net of drug money. It inspires him to take the leap as well, and he tells his subordinates that he is out of the game to focus on his fledgling record label.

None of them really end up as winners by the end of Part II, because even if they were successful it did come at a price. Mylene’s father killed himself due to feeling abandoned and Mylene had to leave Zeke behind to pursue her career in Los Angeles. Zeke ended up betrayed by Shao when Boo-Boo gets arrested for drug dealing. And Shao ends up back with Fat Annie because Zeke, the only real family he has outside of Fat Annie’s gang, abandons him after the arrest. And family is the only other thing besides music that drives him. Without Zeke, who he is the only one he felt comfortable to tell his real name, he has no one, and so he returns to the only only family he knows which is Fat Annie.

In conclusion, the somewhat depressing ending of the show brings up the interesting part of life and storytelling in general. Many shows and movies try to end things with the “happily ever after” and feeling good that everything worked out for everyone. It’s sad to see Mylene and Zeke split because of her career, but maybe she falls in love with someone else and her career really launches; wouldn’t that be a happy ending? But continue the story and maybe the husband cheats, or she miscarries, then it’s sad ending, right? Then continue on and she finds meaning in adoption and her husband mends his ways and the relationship is stronger than ever, then it’s happy again right? A happy ending is not really the end, it is just the point where you happen to stop telling the story. Since we see adult Zeke performing to a large crowd obviously his career took off with something he really loves to do, so is that a happy ending? *shrugs*

Overall, I enjoyed Part I more than I did Part II. I’m okay with open endings, but everything got shut down quick and didn’t really resolve anything. No word on a Part III or anything, so if it does continue I’ll have to judge the ending then. What do you guys think, Part I is better or Part II? Let me know in the comments!