Will the rebirth of Spike Lee’s Original Film “She’s Gotta Have It” find a new voice with today’s “IT” girl?Posted by Dominga Martin
November 15, 2017
1986. New York City. Brooklyn to be exact. A cultural revolution was brewing. Artists were at the crossroad of the past and a future that appeared to be stifling. Black people were not seeing themselves (enough) on television (and) certainly not in pop culture. MTV was still playing a majority of white rock artists. There were a few hit shows with a few black folks in it, like FAME or the A Team…yet…Mr. T was just another “Arnold Jackson” with his “I pity the fool” tagline, reminiscent of “what you talking about Willis?!” Black culture was null and void, almost as if — we did not exist in mainstream ideas.
It wasn’t until The Cosby Show broke ground, introducing us to a nuclear black family in Brooklyn with style and prominence, that began to open minds and dialogue about what was missing in film and TV. A lot has changed since then, yet some things remain the same.
1986, the culture stood at the juncture of the hip hop revolution (getting ready to jump of) and a wave of black talent that will usher in the term “black film” after the release of the original She’s Gotta Have It — simply because the film had an all black cast, black crew, and at it’s helm, a young black writer/director known to us all, as Spike Lee. He introduced the world to “Nola Darling” (Tracy Camilla Johns) a Brooklynite with a cropped fade and insatiable appetite for sex. She had three boy toys in which she juggled: Jamie, Greer and Mars (portrayed by Spike). This black, independent film made $7 million dollars that year, giving birth to voices that shaped a generation.
Yet, Nola Darling just wanted everyone to know one thing: that she wasn’t a “FREAK”.
Fast forward to 2017, Spike Lee’s wife Tonya Lewis Lee is now at the helm of this ship, steering his vision to make sure the images and situations are told “from a woman’s gaze” VS. 1986 when Nola was shaped from a male perspective. Spike has enlisted a team of female writers to join in, on creating the new “She’s Gotta Have It” for today’s empowered woman.
While the film opens the same, with Nola rising out of one of the dopest beds one has ever seen, to declare that she is not a freak — this thought still looms—-FREAK—- not used much today, but back then, it was a word used to describe a woman who was promiscuous. While the term “freak” no longer fits a culture where young women revert to terms like “hoetation” for juggling partners—we get the gist.
“Nola Darling”, now portrayed by the stunning beauty Dawanda Williams, is juggling three men — on a rotation. There’s Jamie (Lyriq Bent) — older, wiser, and appears to be married. There’s the self indulgent Greer (Cleo Anthony), and the wild and free spirited “Mars Blackmon” — portrayed by Spanish actor Anthony Ramos, a #fckbuddy she stole from her girlfriend and ex-roommate “Clorinda” (Margot Bingham). Now, we all know this is fictional because your homegirl would not take your man, sex him, and ya’ll still smoke buddies. Maybe. Maybe not?
“She’s Gotta Have It” begs the question: Is Nola Darling a liberated woman or, dare I say — a hoe? Or what the old ladies would call a “hot ticket” back in the day? Nola will tell you, she is definitely not a freak, a hoe or a slut — because calling her a slut in today’s world would be #slutshaming. Another term used by some women to empower themselves for having sexually freedom.
Nola Darling is none of these things—-she has sex with multiple men because she wants to and society will not dictate how she lives her life. I am not certain how many women are out there living a life with an insatiable diet for sex with multiple partners — I don’t know when it begins, when it ends or when she decides less fun, more stability or just something safer — however, in She’s Gotta Have It, Nola is definitely getting her groove on. This series, which is Spike Lee’s first TV series on Netflix is a great fantasy to indulge in. A perfect binge for Thanksgiving Day.
This is a nostalgic journey into a past that has been resurrected in today’s cinema. The Spike Lee aesthetic is prominent, and his voice is threaded throughout this love letter to Brooklyn, incorporating imagery from back in the day to today’s hot topic of gentrification. However what I am most exited about are the new voices that will add depth and empowerment to the Nola Darlings of today. Spike Lee has ushered in the writing talent of female voices including Eisa Davis and Radha Blank who shared that in the writers room there was a constant battle between the boys and the girls, and they were often holding each other up and accountable to . check the male perspective.
I am anticipating the evolution of Nola. I am interested in seeing what choices she makes as she discovers who she is this time around (because) while Nola Darling is no longer a freak, does she know her self worth? Will she leave the married man? What is she left with, when all is said and done?
What I love most about the film is her artistic journey — Nola is a visual artist with a beautiful home in a Brooklyn brownstone. She can afford to live a good life. To indulge as she pleases. Spike Lee captures the beauty of Brooklyn and the women who live here. The style. The sass. That go-getter mentality. The creativity and the swag.
Writer Radha Blank stated: “The “it” in She’s Gotta Have It” has changed.” I am excited to see how this “it girl” evolves and after you see it, I’d like to know what you think: Nola Darling: still a “freak” or nah?
