Netflix's new original series The Get Down has been flying a bit under the radar since its debut, but it deserves far more buzz.
Set in the Bronx in the 1970s, the show explores disco and hip-hop in the heightened, spirited style of creator Baz Luhrmann. The Get Down isn’t perfect—and indeed much of it is downright messy—but it’s got enough heart and energy to carry viewers through the initial six-episode run. And in a new piece for Fusion, Tahirah Hairston explores one of the show’s most unique aspects: It’s focus on black male friendships.
Hairston writes:
This friendship is more than a Judd Apatow goofball “bromance.” The bond is a means for surviving and escaping violence and poverty. It means having someone when you get your heart broken, or fall in trouble. No judgments, but that doesn’t mean you’ll hold your tongue. The Get Down doesn’t get everything right, but it captures this perfectly through the friendship of its main characters Shaolin, Zeke, Boo Boo and Ra Ra. At a time when we seem to have to prove that the lives of black and brown boys matter, here is a show based in a world of blackness where you can do nothing but root for these boys to win.
You can read the rest of the article on Fusion and watch The Get Down on Netflix.
