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PRADA coat.
Close your eyes and picture this. near actor Jacob Elordi’s home in Brisbane, Australia lies a lush rainforest, untouched by human hands. This is where Elordi spent a lot of his time thinking during the pandemic. Elordi walks barefoot through the forest, letting the mud, leaves, and mulch create a soft pillow below his feet. It’s here where he finds his escape, amongst the thick golden gum trees densely packed togeth-
er and the warm, wet air. At the end of the path, he reaches a sparkling waterfall. The water makes a thunderous sound as it crashes down below, creating a frothy white pool. Elordi ob- serves the electric blue prawns that play hide and seek amongst the rocks and dives into the refreshing cool water. The shock
of the cold plunge erases all stressful or laden thoughts, wipes away impurities, until Elordi is in a complete state of ecstasy. He lets the water gently handle him, he shares, and he knows he is where he is meant to be.
Away from his ethereal surroundings in Australia, Elordi finds himself in LA—his second home. Here he finds a differ- ent kind of magic—that of cameras and bright lights and fame. The 23 year-old actor has procured a large and faithful fanbase through his definitive performances in the Netflix film trilogy, The Kissing Booth (the final installment of which drops later this summer) and HBO’s Euphoria. The two have been impeccable timestamps of the world of Gen Z.
In The Kissing Booth, Elordi plays confident and hot-headed Noah Flynn, who finds himself having a soft spot for his child- hood friend Elle Evans (Joey King), which evolves into a deep love. Pool parties, secret romances, and the unequivocal smell of sunscreen are all the rage in The Kissing Booth, somehow perfectly depicting that youthfulness and nostalgia we all yearn
for, whatever our age.
In Euphoria, Elordi plays Nate Jacobs, star quarterback of
East Highland High School, with a hard to miss sense of toxic masculinity that he uses to mask his personal struggles with
his upbringing and sexuality. Through flashing purple lights, intoxicating music, and daring characters sporting gems across their cheeks, Euphoria captures the darker side of youthfulness, one that deals with physical abuse, drugs, mental health, and struggles with identity. The first season enraptured most of Gen Z, who have fallen in love with the portrayal of the world it knows so well. The raw stories that each character portrays feel relatable yet untouchable, a combination that Elordi unmistak- ably brings to searing life.
If a group of people living 100 years from now sat down
to watch a movie from the 2020’s, what would they think of youth culture? “We’re an introspective bunch,” Elordi remarks. “There’s a lot of conversations about self. A lot of what is on the television now are individual stories. I think if you go back through time, you see that we’ve always had a distinct voice, an original voice, a voice that is there to instill and inspire change. I think now, with this generation, a lot more voices get heard.” Although we live in much different times, Elordi believes that, with the nuances of technology and social media, we are able to voice our opinions and thoughts to a larger audience. He believes that the connectivity that the internet provides is a huge part of our existence on Earth now. “You grow up and you get told things,” he continues. “And you take that on—you start to form yourself as a person—and then you reach a certain age, and you start seeing things. And then when you hit that age, sort of where I’m at now, and where a lot of people are that are
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