Only a few episodes into The Get Down's return on Netflix, and its clear that Mylene's disco career is practically skyrocketing. What started with one hit song lead to TV appearances, a Tiger Beat photo shoot, and even opportunities in Hollywood. Is Gone With The Solar Wind on The Get Down a real movie? Mylene puts herself out there for a chance at a different kind of stardom.
While real artists and films are referenced in The Get Down — Mylene and Zeke even watch The Wiz together Episode 8, this is a fictional film. In the show, Gone With The Solar Wind is a big budget musical produced by Robert Stigwood, a real producer who managed the Bee Gees. He wants Misty Holloway for the lead, but Mylene and Misty's manipulative manager Roy Asheton wants the young ingenue for the role instead. This requires her to shed her church girl image and further distance herself from her parents and community. That's how Mylene ends up performing "Toy Box" in the first place — thankfully with Yolanda and Regina by her side. Roy was pushing her Dreamgirls storyline a bit too fast, don't you think? She can't abandon the girl group and go solo already.
It's not a real movie, but I like thinking about what Gone With The Solar Wind could be about. In Episode 10, a news report describes it as a sci fi disco musical suffering from production trouble. Is it a take on Gone With The Wind set in outer space, the way The Wiz was a modern adaptation of The Wizard of Oz? If "Starlet O'Hustle" is really the lead character, I would say so. Solar wind is a an astronomical phenomenon, and The Get Down has referenced Star Wars and aliens many times before.
In the story, Gone With The Solar Wind also seems to be a way to ultimately pit Mylene against her hero, Misty Holloway. First, Mylene debuts on Platinum Boogie when Misty cancels her appearance on the show. Then, Mylene is considered for a role that should go to the disco diva and sings a song that was written for Misty. The conflict is building, and Gone With The Solar Wind might end up being at the center of it.
