Geeks logo

Why I Love Nola Darling

And Why "She's Gotta Have It" is Important for Women and Womxn...

By Anna LuciaPublished 5 years ago 3 min read
Like
An ink watercolor illustration of Nola Darling, by the author

Let me tell you about my obsession with the TV show, She’s Gotta Have It, by legendary Spike Lee. I’ve rewatched this piece of art maybe four times since I found it on Netflix (and I'm currently dying for the new season to come out next month). Thank you for this creation Spike Lee–THANK YOU–BUT... it was actually his wife’s idea to revive his classic and iconic film into a TV show. So, although it is his righteously beautiful baby, thank you executive producer Tonya Lewis Lee.

She's Gotta Have It is about 20-something year old woman Nola Darling, played by the incredible DeWanda Wise. Nola is a young artist living in Brooklyn, trying to stay true to the core of who she really is, while she deals with her relationships and the challenges of society. Some of her relationships are lovers, some are friends, some family, and so on.

Obviously, Spike Lee is a gifted and creative director. I tend to gravitate towards unconventionally filmed movies and shows that remind me of the creative juxtaposition in comic books, since I’m a huge geek at heart. So there’s that incredibly appealing aspect of his show. Then, there’s this element of freedom of expression and identity embodied in Nola that strongly appeals to me as a young female artist myself.

This show has so many deep elements to it, for example how it comments on race, society, injustice, gender, and more; and I love and appreciate all of them. There's been some criticisms of the show, for example how it portrays polyamory (since Nola identifies as poly). However, I don't find it to take away from the core of the show. The element that hits home the most for me personally, was this idea of Nola expressing herself as she is and wants to be, regardless of how her lovers or other people she encounters are trying to mold her.

In society, women, womxn, and children have really dealt quite a lot with not being allowed to be themselves. Shut down for speaking up, expressing their ideas, for doing what they want, and especially for being different! As an empathic person, I have always been very aware of the pain of others, and it tends to hit me deeply when I really let it in. That’s why I try to educate myself on how others feel–all groups of people, especially marginalized ones. It is important if we are, as a society, to progress into a better future. Maybe I’ll go into this subject in another article, since it obviously is so important, complicated, and can be gone into much more deeply.

There is a part at the end of the first episode, where, after being assaulted in the street and called a "black bitch," Nola begins to create a series of "My name isn't-" statement art she puts in the streets. Nola goes into saying "my name isn’t-" and lists all the offensive, presumptuous, patronizing language that's been forced on her. This scene made me fucking cry. Who wants to have an idea of who or what you are forced on you? Who wants to be called something you definitely are not?

Yes, sometimes people aren’t educated on different subjects, and are unaware of how their language impacts others. And in turn how that impacts our emotions as human beings. It is damn sure time to educate people on emotion–to teach people how to feel, for themselves, AND others, so that we lessen all this fucking pain we keep causing one another (stay tuned because I’m going to create an online course on this). We should be able to fully express ourselves without fearing for our safety. Without fearing being squashed into an idea of who we should be. Fuck. that. Let's move our society and our world forward, into an era where we can fully embody our truths, our lives, the essence of who we were born as, not what we have been molded into.

review
Like

About the Creator

Anna Lucia

Anna is a specialty life coach, energy worker, and artist from the Twin Cities of MN.

Reader insights

Be the first to share your insights about this piece.

How does it work?

Add your insights

Comments

There are no comments for this story

Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

Sign in to comment

    Find us on social media

    Miscellaneous links

    • Explore
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Support

    © 2024 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.