It's one thing when your father gets himself banned from the Oscars, but it's something else entirely when you support his actions with a tasteless tweet. Between box office bombs and his alleged beef with China, we're not sure if Jaden Smith will ever recover.
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00It's one thing when your father gets himself banned from the Oscars, but it's something
00:04else entirely when you support his actions with a tasteless tweet. Between box office
00:08bombs and his alleged beef with China, we're not sure if Jaden Smith will ever recover.
00:14The importance of critical reviews is an unfortunate truth of the film industry. Even before the
00:19age of Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic, a critically panned project could easily damage a fledgling
00:24star's hopes of making it to the next level, or be used retroactively alongside a string
00:29of critical misses to dismiss their credibility. The Pursuit of Happiness did alright critically,
00:33though it arguably wouldn't have had much of an impact either way. Jaden was, after
00:37all, only eight years old and made up for what he might have lacked in acting chops
00:41by looking like Will Smith's actual child.
00:44Don't ever let somebody tell you you can't do something. Not even me.
00:53For his future in the industry, however, each film following would matter more and more,
00:57especially since his father's star shone so bright that Smith's presence in any film
01:01would be noticed. At just nine, Smith was cast in The Day the Earth Stood Still, a 2008
01:06remake starred Keanu Reeves, who was also wading through something of a critical slump
01:10following The Matrix. Sadly for both Reeves and Smith, the science fiction film drew a
01:14harsh response from reviewers, who broadly felt it to be lacking in terms of story and
01:19performance. To this day, it is regarded as one of Reeves' worst movies.
01:24But even if it wasn't the hit needed to elevate Smith's career at the time, the young actor
01:28did manage to get a Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor, shockingly
01:33beating out Slumdog Millionaire star Dev Patel. If nothing else, The Pursuit of Happiness
01:38and The Day the Earth Stood Still were opportunities for Smith to gather some experience as a young
01:43supporting actor before he would be thrown into the deep end with a starring role before
01:46the age of 12.
01:48Leading up to its eventual release in 2010, parents Will and Jada joined the production
01:52team of Columbia Pictures' The Karate Kid, transparently reworking it so that Jaden
01:56Smith could use the remake to become a movie star in his own right. Smith was given the
02:00role of Dre Parker, a character very loosely based on Ralph Macchio's Daniel LaRusso from
02:05the original 1984 film. Unlike the latter, who actually learns the titular Japanese martial
02:10art from karate master Mr. Miyagi, Dre learns the Chinese martial art of Kung Fu from Jackie
02:15Chan's Mr. Han.
02:18In other words, there is no karate in the remake. Such changes from the original were
02:28part of the reason the film received lukewarm reviews, as was its two-hour-plus runtime.
02:33Some critics seemed sold on Smith as a leading man, while others were less convinced. He
02:37was often compared to his father, though the comparison was far from unanimously positive.
02:42Furthermore, it appears that Smith won't be joining Chan and Macchio in the franchise's
02:46next film, which was reportedly set for release in 2025. Despite the fact Smith won a Young
02:52Artist Award for his role as Dre, his karate — or rather, Kung Fu — journey ended there.
02:58Smith's next career move was arguably his most important so far, as it would dictate
03:02for the foreseeable future whether he genuinely had the makings of a movie star himself or
03:07was simply the lucky son of one. Had this been the feeling at Camp Smith following The
03:11Karate Kid, it's hard to imagine a larger misstep than After Earth.
03:16Years after the success of The Pursuit of Happiness, Will Smith decided to once again
03:20cast himself and Jaden as father and son, this time in a sci-fi survival thriller. If
03:25this weren't already an obvious recipe for career stagnation, Will made the baffling
03:29decision to ask M. Night Shyamalan to direct, who was still freshly reeling from the epic
03:34backlash that followed his disastrous The Last Airbender adaptation. When it was finally
03:39released in 2013, After Earth was critically panned, and Jaden Smith, now older and more
03:45familiar to audiences as a leading man, began drawing criticism without qualifiers based
03:49on age or experience.
03:51You're wrong!
03:54Though the sci-fi flop regularly kills it on Netflix, Will Smith has since described
03:58it as one of his biggest career mistakes, particularly because he feels responsible
04:03for putting his son in such a damaging position.
04:06The critical and commercial failure of After Earth is heartbreaking in many ways, chief
04:10among them that it debatably prevented Jaden from stepping outside his father's shadow
04:14as an actor. To the most cynical, casual observer, it seemed that Will had merely tried to force
04:19his son into the spotlight with no success. Given how close together The Karate Kid and
04:23After Earth were, it seems as though Jaden never had a chance to develop on his own or
04:27take the time needed to find his own place in the acting world. Instead, the Smiths lined
04:32up back-to-back big-budget projects that would need to generate several hundred million
04:37dollars in box office revenue to justify themselves, much less Jaden Smith's startup. Because
04:42neither reached that level of success, the entire early stage of Jaden's career can
04:46seem less like the efforts of an aspiring actor and more like the failed machinations
04:50of his father. As time goes on, it looks like the term Nepo Baby is here to stay.
04:56Jaden never would have been immune to its use, but had his father not been so closely
04:59tied to his most high-profile projects, it wouldn't be a term one could use to dismiss
05:04them.
05:06On the lighter side of things, relating to his career as an actor, Jaden began drawing
05:09mixed attention in the late 2010s for his habit of posting bizarre and often hilarious
05:13tweets. On X, then known as Twitter, he had become infamous for posting cryptic statements
05:18and personal maxims, with each word notably capitalized. Classic posts from this era include
05:23—
05:24I don't want you guys to think because I was born in America that I speak and abide
05:27by English grammar. I speak Jaden indefinitely.
05:30Another banger was —
05:31All of your idols are going to start writing their own articles, and these uninformed journalists
05:35will become obsolete.
05:38Right.
05:40While these statements are entirely harmless if not simple jokes, they've been wrapped
05:45into Smith's broader interest in conspiracy theories. In an interview with HuffPost, he
05:50opined that a civilization of technologically advanced humans exists on Earth, saying —
05:54The technology that we're currently at is not the maximum of the human capability, and
05:59that there are places in the world where their technology supersedes what we see here on
06:02a daily basis. It's made by humans, and it should be acknowledged, and it should be looked
06:07at because it could heal a lot of problems.
06:09The interviewer offered that the places sounded like Wakanda from Black Panther, to which
06:13Jaden agreed. He has, at various points, also expressed beliefs in extraterrestrials, the
06:18uselessness of traditional education, secret orders like the Illuminati, and government
06:22production of chemtrails.
06:24Inarguably, the biggest reason why Jaden isn't working more as an actor is that he's diverted
06:29his attention to other artistic pursuits, and seen considerable success while doing
06:33so. After debuting on Justin Bieber's Never Say Never, he built an impressive career as
06:37a musical artist. With help from Will Smith's management company Westbrook Entertainment,
06:42he has proved to be a commercially viable musician, and he has worked with industry-heavy
06:46hitters like J. Cole and Tyler, the Creator. Critically, his work is consistently divisive,
06:50often focusing on high-concept narratives and genre experimentation. Most reviewers
06:54praise his boundless creativity, but also tend to criticize his struggle for musical
06:58cohesion.
06:59In response to his 2019 effort Iris, The Guardian's Tara Joshi wrote,
07:03"...at best, it's dreamily creative. At worst, overwrought."
07:06In a 4.7 out of 10 review for Pitchfork, Reed Jackson described the same album as, quote,
07:12"...mostly a slog. The sound of an artist with a blurry vision and too many resources
07:16at his disposal."
07:17Ouch.
07:18In 2022, possibly the most memorable and controversial Oscar moment ever came out of nowhere. Will
07:26Smith struck comedian Chris Rock after Rock joked about Jada's shaved head. The scene
07:31ended in a brief but deeply discomforting back-and-forth between the two as Smith shouted
07:35at him from the audience. Smith went on to win Best Actor that night, and later apologized
07:39to Rock for the outburst. He was banned from attending Academy events for 10 years.
07:44In reaction to the slap, Jaden Smith tweeted, "...and that's how we do it," seemingly
07:47supporting his father's decision to charge the stage and strike Rock.
07:51Though there were some voices online that felt Rock had overstepped by laughing at Pinkett
07:55Smith, who had been publicly sharing her journey with a form of alopecia, the general consensus,
08:00especially among industry professionals, was that Smith had no right to assault another
08:04entertainer over a joke.
08:06While likely no one was expecting any of the Smiths to immediately denounce their father
08:10or husband, Jaden's approval had the potential to rub powerful industry professionals the
08:14wrong way. However you might feel about it, his attitude probably wasn't the most media-savvy
08:19move at the time.
08:22As we all know by now, Jaden is not one to shy away from sharing his honest opinion on
08:25just about anything. This became a somewhat major problem when the actor was accused of
08:30disparaging the People's Republic of China. According to the Global Times, allegations
08:34began spreading on the Chinese social media app Xiaohongshu in August 2023. They accused
08:39Smith of having made derogatory comments about the country to fans while riding on a public
08:44train in Tokyo, Japan. His remarks reportedly included the phrase, "[Bleep China]. The incident
08:49was not recorded, leading some to question the validity of the allegations entirely. It
08:53would honestly be pretty surprising to learn that Smith held strong, negative opinions
08:56about the country as a whole. Given his presence in the region, the Karate Kid was a joint
09:01venture between Hollywood and Hong Kong studios, and he has performed at venues in China numerous
09:06times."
09:07I don't know. Sure seems fishy.
09:11Curiously enough, however, the allegations preceded Smith, unexpectedly delaying musical
09:15performances in China without explanation. Though he didn't address the post on Xiaohongshu,
09:20it had gone viral, and negative sentiments toward him from Chinese fans eventually found
09:25its way into his Instagram comments, which he quickly turned off. It's worth stressing
09:29that Smith has neither confirmed nor denied making the alleged remarks, and may have canceled
09:34the show dates for an unrelated personal reason. Even so, the narrative spreading among his
09:38large Chinese fan base doesn't seem as charitable.
09:42Because of how long Jaden has been in the spotlight, it's incredibly easy to forget
09:45one crucial fact. He's only 26 years old as of late 2024. Sure, Will Smith was only 22
09:51years old when he landed The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. But if there's anything you should
09:55take away from this video, it's that it's fairly useless to compare the two entertainers
09:59given how different their circumstances were.
10:02As Jaden has articulated himself in past interviews, he and his father essentially experienced inverted
10:06career trajectories. Will started his journey as a talented musician, but didn't really
10:11start exploring his full potential until he started acting. As of yet, Jaden's beginnings
10:15as a fairly decent actor seem to be leading him toward a unique musical identity that's
10:19all his own. And with only three albums out so far, there's nothing to suggest that he's
10:23reached his full potential in this area, either.
10:26This isn't to say that Jaden has chosen one path definitively over the other. He's taken
10:30sizable roles in smaller, less financially risky projects like 2018's Skate Kitchen and
10:352020's Life in a Year, both of which performed better critically than any of his first four
10:40films. Just because he's no longer leading $100 million blockbusters doesn't mean he's
10:44no longer an actor. In fact, he's arguably found himself in a more promising position
10:49than he's ever been in.
10:50While he may be one of Will Smith's best co-stars, that prestige is only so meaningful compared
10:55to this new journey of discovering his own voice, style, and artistry in his own time.